While the Raspberry Pi boards are mostly promoted as tools to teach STEM to kids and adults alike, they have found their way in a fair amount of industrial products, including ModBerry M500 industrial computer, Janz Tec emPC-A/RPI3 industrial embedded controller, and Kunbus RevolutionPi RevPi Core among others.
There’s yet another option with Brainboxes BB-400 Neuron Edge industrial controller that was announced last year with Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3, but recently got an upgrade to Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+. The controller features two Ethernet ports and also includes an Arduino compatible microcontroller to control the system’s eight configurable digital inputs and outputs.
BB-400 Neuron Edge industrial controller specifications:
- SoM – Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+ with Broadcom BCM2837B0 quad-core , Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.2GHz, 1 GB LPDDR2, 32GB eMMC Flash storage
- MCU – Unnamed Microchip Atmel Arduino compatible microcontroller
- Connectivity
- Ethernet Uplink Port – 1x RJ45 jack, 10/100Mbps autosensing, crossover autosensing (Auto MDIX)
- Ethernet LAN Port – 1x RJ45 jack, 10/100Mbps autosensing, crossover autosensing (Auto MDIX)
- Protection – 1500V Magnetic Isolation between ports and network
- Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4 with detachable antenna
- Bluetooth 4.0 (2.1+EDR, LE) Class 1
- NFC – Coming soon via software update
- Digital Channels – 8 Ports individually selectable as Inputs or Outputs
- Inputs
- User programmable counts positive or negative transitions up to 200Hz
- Logic Level 0: 0V to +1V; Logic Level 1:+2V to +30V
- Latched Inputs – Triggered by user-programmable positive or negative edges, stays true until acknowledged
- Outputs
- Open drain output, protected MOSFET intelligent short circuit protection up to 36V
- Max output load Voltage – 30V
- ESD Production – 16kV
- Inputs
- Serial Port – 1x RS232, RS422/485 Full Duplex, or RS485 Half-Duplex software selectable
- USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG port to connect USB drives or flash firmware
- Misc – RTC with CR1220 3v Lithium battery (not included), reset pinhole, DIO LED’s, 8x status LED’s
- Power Supply
- Power Supply Input – +5V to +30V DC, dual power inputs, reverse polarity protected
- Max input – 35V
- Power Consumption – 4 Watts typical, 15W Max dependent on the application
- Isolation: 1500VRMS Magnetic isolation from Ethernet
- UPS function via internal backup supply, and controlled shutdown
- Dimensions – 120 x 99 x 45mm (DIN rail enclosure)
- IP Rating – IP20 enclosure
- Temperature Range – Operating: -25ºC to +80ºC; storage: -40ºC to +80ºC
- Humidity – 5 to 95% (non-condensing)
The controller runs Raspbian Lite operating systems with SSH and TLS security, secure web administration, Docker container support with a pre-installed web admin interface, and customized containers available for Node-RED. The digital I/O lines run on an Arduino compatible microcontroller, and can be controlled over WebSocket, ASCII TCP, REST, or ASCII over Serial protocols. The Arduino code is said to be open source and the project is part of Arduino at Heart program. Brainboxes team is also working on supporting various cloud platforms including Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google cloud platform, and IBM Watson.
BB-400 Neuron Edge Controller can be purchased for $538.65 (or 399 GBP) on the product page, where you’ll also find some more information including a quick start guide, and fairly detailed datasheet.
Via LinuxGizmos
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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