Maria Wilde, Product Portfolio Manager, Kontron America08.10.22
From data capture and reconstruction to AI and robotics, data-intensive applications are revolutionizing the way healthcare happens. Modern healthcare technologies such as MRI systems and X-ray rely on near-real-time image processing, creating new challenges for healthcare OEMs in developing high-performance edge computing solutions that quickly capture, process, and transmit data at the point of generation.
COM Express modules play a pivotal role in enabling these advances, offering designers a customizable, long-life, small form factor approach to handling data-rich applications with rigorous regulations.
As real-time data and heavy workloads come to define more and more medical applications, designers need to understand the unique characteristics of the COM Express standard. These products are optimized for high-compute performance at the edge, including options validated for harsh environments and extreme temperatures, and featuring hardware-based security to protect systems, applications, and data from malware and other cyber threats.
Perhaps even more importantly, the flexible approach of a standalone module with a carrier board positions healthcare designers with a scalable, upgradable path – ideally suited for the continued evolution of data-intensive healthcare applications.
COM Express Computer-on-Modules integrate all important computing core features, such as processor, graphics, and memory. They also offer a comprehensive set of standardized interfaces creating a consistent and interchangeable building block. Developers have a defined path to integrate these components via an application-specific carrier board – for example, to connect the signal converters of an ultrasound device – to arrive much more quickly and efficiently at a solution that exactly matches the specific requirements of the application at hand. Design risk is reduced as developers are empowered to stay within their own areas of expertise and benefit from proven design.
The separation of carrier board and computing unit provides further advantages relative to certified medical devices. For example, OEMs can avoid complete requalification of their EN60601-certified carrier board when one COM is replaced with another off-the-shelf option.
For long-term cost management, COMs decouple a custom application from its processor technology, adding value by efficiently scaling design performance or upgrading to a newer module with a simple swap. Using the basis of a single design, OEMs can implement an entire COMs product family with different performance levels. This holistic design strategy significantly extends the deployable life of the end-use device with minimal total cost of ownership, and even beyond the service life of the current processor generation.
To strike a balance between cost and performance, the specification defines four module sizes, which primarily differ in physical size and some performance capabilities. These are the mini, compact, basic, and extended options, each of which has a pinout configuration or ‘Type’ to one or two 220-pin connectors. Revision 3, the latest version of the COM Express specification, classifies earlier pinouts as legacy (Types 1 through 5), and recommends only Types 6, 7, and 10 as current. Revision 3 also provisions as many as four additional 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) interfaces on the board, while the Type 7 pinout facilitates greater connectivity and deployment of GPGPUs with up to 32 PCI Express lanes.
These gains, especially the multithread performance boost, significantly accelerate processing for AI, graphics, and other data-intensive applications. In the healthcare industry, improved graphics help ensure that medical imaging data is displayed at the highest resolutions. As high-resolution images are processed faster, healthcare systems can combine deep learning inference with ultrasounds, MRIs, and other medical imaging devices.
COMs-based systems augment visibility during procedures by identifying physical structures with consistency and precision in real-time, tapping into data close to where it is generated to empower caregivers with greater intelligence about the patient. As surgeons and clinicians are armed with more consistent and precise tools, treatment and diagnosis improve and accelerate – for example, tapping into tools that enable faster recognition of anomalies in medical images and flagging them for closer review. In one scenario, fetal measurements can be automated during ultrasounds, with richer visualizations shared in treatment or surgical suites using up to four 4K displays or a single 8K display.
11th Gen Intel Core vPro and Intel Xeon W-11000E Series processors help harden platforms and thwart attacks, integrating hardware-enabled security features that protect data down to the chip level. Secure boot capabilities provide a foundation for safe computing, and a series of tools and capabilities help defend against hardware-level attacks such as cold boot, freeze spray, and DIMM removal. Performance is ensured with tools that further accelerate ‘encrypt’ and ‘decrypt’ operations.
Medical devices often have very specific individual requirements for which they need a customized set of interfaces. With new AI, graphics, robotics, and other data-intensive applications driving healthcare advances, the demand for secure, high-performance edge computing has never been greater. COM Express empowers developers to incorporate graphics and AI-rich processor technology into their individual designs as quickly, efficiently, and sustainably as possible.
Maria Wilde is the Product Portfolio Manager for Medical at Kontron. She's been managing the Industrial and Medical product lines at Kontron for ten years and holds a Master of Science in Engineering degree from Lund University.
COM Express modules play a pivotal role in enabling these advances, offering designers a customizable, long-life, small form factor approach to handling data-rich applications with rigorous regulations.
As real-time data and heavy workloads come to define more and more medical applications, designers need to understand the unique characteristics of the COM Express standard. These products are optimized for high-compute performance at the edge, including options validated for harsh environments and extreme temperatures, and featuring hardware-based security to protect systems, applications, and data from malware and other cyber threats.
Perhaps even more importantly, the flexible approach of a standalone module with a carrier board positions healthcare designers with a scalable, upgradable path – ideally suited for the continued evolution of data-intensive healthcare applications.
COM Express as a Design Building Block
Developed by PICMG (PCI Industrial Manufacturers Group), the COM Express specification defines a family of Small Form Factor (SFF) and Computer-on-Module (COM) single-board computers. It is designed for the latest chipsets and serial signaling protocols, including PCI Express Gen 3, 10GbE, SATA, USB 3.0, and high-resolution video interfaces.COM Express Computer-on-Modules integrate all important computing core features, such as processor, graphics, and memory. They also offer a comprehensive set of standardized interfaces creating a consistent and interchangeable building block. Developers have a defined path to integrate these components via an application-specific carrier board – for example, to connect the signal converters of an ultrasound device – to arrive much more quickly and efficiently at a solution that exactly matches the specific requirements of the application at hand. Design risk is reduced as developers are empowered to stay within their own areas of expertise and benefit from proven design.
The separation of carrier board and computing unit provides further advantages relative to certified medical devices. For example, OEMs can avoid complete requalification of their EN60601-certified carrier board when one COM is replaced with another off-the-shelf option.
For long-term cost management, COMs decouple a custom application from its processor technology, adding value by efficiently scaling design performance or upgrading to a newer module with a simple swap. Using the basis of a single design, OEMs can implement an entire COMs product family with different performance levels. This holistic design strategy significantly extends the deployable life of the end-use device with minimal total cost of ownership, and even beyond the service life of the current processor generation.
To strike a balance between cost and performance, the specification defines four module sizes, which primarily differ in physical size and some performance capabilities. These are the mini, compact, basic, and extended options, each of which has a pinout configuration or ‘Type’ to one or two 220-pin connectors. Revision 3, the latest version of the COM Express specification, classifies earlier pinouts as legacy (Types 1 through 5), and recommends only Types 6, 7, and 10 as current. Revision 3 also provisions as many as four additional 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) interfaces on the board, while the Type 7 pinout facilitates greater connectivity and deployment of GPGPUs with up to 32 PCI Express lanes.
Accelerating Healthcare Workflows
The small form factor nature of COMs furthers the use of data at the edge, enabling AI and other data-rich workloads via mobile or cart-based devices. Kontron’s COM Express Basic Type 6 Tiger Lake provides an example. Integrated with 11th Gen Intel Core vPro and Intel Xeon W-11000E Series processors, this module can accelerate healthcare workflows without data bottleneck. These processors boast significant gen-over-gen performance gains, including up to a 32 percent gain in single-thread performance, up to a 65 percent gain in multithread performance, and up to 70 percent faster graphics performance.These gains, especially the multithread performance boost, significantly accelerate processing for AI, graphics, and other data-intensive applications. In the healthcare industry, improved graphics help ensure that medical imaging data is displayed at the highest resolutions. As high-resolution images are processed faster, healthcare systems can combine deep learning inference with ultrasounds, MRIs, and other medical imaging devices.
COMs-based systems augment visibility during procedures by identifying physical structures with consistency and precision in real-time, tapping into data close to where it is generated to empower caregivers with greater intelligence about the patient. As surgeons and clinicians are armed with more consistent and precise tools, treatment and diagnosis improve and accelerate – for example, tapping into tools that enable faster recognition of anomalies in medical images and flagging them for closer review. In one scenario, fetal measurements can be automated during ultrasounds, with richer visualizations shared in treatment or surgical suites using up to four 4K displays or a single 8K display.
Protecting Healthcare Data Down to the Chip Level
Because today’s medical devices gather and potentially share sensitive data, connected health stands out in embedded design as uniquely complex from a security perspective. The data collected and applied at the edge, right where the patient is being treated, is invaluable in optimizing clinical workflows and improving outcomes. While information shared within treatment teams and applied at every stage of a patient’s healthcare journey may improve care, it also creates new security risks along the way. With more connected points in the data chain (i.e., hospitals, specialists, health networks and facilities, insurers, and researchers), security perimeters must extend all the way to the edge device to protect against network vulnerabilities and on-site tampering.11th Gen Intel Core vPro and Intel Xeon W-11000E Series processors help harden platforms and thwart attacks, integrating hardware-enabled security features that protect data down to the chip level. Secure boot capabilities provide a foundation for safe computing, and a series of tools and capabilities help defend against hardware-level attacks such as cold boot, freeze spray, and DIMM removal. Performance is ensured with tools that further accelerate ‘encrypt’ and ‘decrypt’ operations.
COM Express Fits into Medical Design
The simplicity of pairing a COM Express module with a custom carrier board reduces development costs and accelerates time to market – sparing designers the engineering complexities of evolving chipsets. Upgradability is manageable, a crucial factor in long-life medical designs that aim to avoid unnecessary requalification over the product life.Medical devices often have very specific individual requirements for which they need a customized set of interfaces. With new AI, graphics, robotics, and other data-intensive applications driving healthcare advances, the demand for secure, high-performance edge computing has never been greater. COM Express empowers developers to incorporate graphics and AI-rich processor technology into their individual designs as quickly, efficiently, and sustainably as possible.
Maria Wilde is the Product Portfolio Manager for Medical at Kontron. She's been managing the Industrial and Medical product lines at Kontron for ten years and holds a Master of Science in Engineering degree from Lund University.