BeagleBone Black is a great little board for hobbyists with plenty of I/Os, and decent software support, but the development board has not been designed to be used in low or high temperatures as found in some industrial settings, so Element14 has designed BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G with the same specifications as BeagleBone Black Rev C, but a red PCB, support for an extended temperature range between -20 and +85°C, and additional board protection with a conformal coating.
BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G Specifications:
- SoC – Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358BZCZA10 Cortex A8 @ 1 GHz + PowerVR SGX530 GPU
- System Memory – 512 MB DDR3L @ 800 MHz
- Storage – 4GB eMMC + micro SD slot
- Video Out/Display I/F – HDMI and LCD interfaces
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (RJ45)
- Serial Port – UART0 access via 6 pin 3.3V TTL Header. Header is populated
- USB – USB 2.0 Client port: Access to USB0, Client mode via miniUSB; USB 2.0 Host port: Access to USB1, Type A Socket, 500mA LS/FS/HS
- Debugging – Serial header, optional on-board 20-pin CTI JTAG
- Expansion Headers – LCD, UART, eMMC, ADC, I2C, SPI, PWM
- Misc – Boot Button, Power Button, LED power indicator, 4 user configurable LEDs
- Power Supply – 5V via miniUSB USB, DC Jack, or external via expansion heade; rTPS65217C PMIC is used along with a separate LDO to provide power to the system
- Dimensions – 8.64 x 5.34 cm
- Temperature Range – -20°C to 85°C
The board ships with a miniUSB to USB Type A Cable, and a Quick Start Guide. It is fully software compatible with BeagleBone Black, works with existing BeagleBone Black Capes, and Element14 claims it to be a “BeagleBoard.org compatible product”.
BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G can be purchased for $69 on Element14 or MCM Electronics.
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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You can get 7 orangepi for that price.
And 7 OPi can’t do what one BBB Industrial can do, IF you are using the BBB for the right application (e.g. industrial temp range, long term availability, PRU, QEP, HR PWM)
I agree with TonyT, low price is not everything.
Give me the update information
@TonyT
There are similarly priced Freescale iMX6 for industrial usage that you don’t have to sign an NDA to develop on.
@RK
TI AM335x Sitara MPU has freely downloadable datasheet, no NDA (unlike many Broadcom & Marvell chips).
NXP iMX6 is also a good choice for industrial, but has different feature set (e.g. no PRU, but dual & Quad core available).
We are currently in the development of one industrial system, and I gave BBB a chance. The best thing which attracted my attention was conformal coating, as our devices will run in industrial environment. After I received BBB, I found out, that conformal coating is there just to say, that it has it … Some of the chips are fully covered, others are covered 1/2, one is covered 3/4. I would expect, that they are all covered equally, otherwise it makes no sense to cover them.
One thing, which I’m also missing in a industrial ‘computer’ is a possibility to keep time in case you have a power outage.
Tim, we had similar thoughts / issues here and looked for an alternative. We stumbled upon the BeagleCore BCM1 and have received a starter-kit from Conrad Electronics a few weeks ago. Right now we are evaluating it and things are looking very promising, including the possibility to have Gigabit Ethernet running instead of just 10/100 Mbit max. Actually you will need to develop your own circuit board and use the BeagleCore module within. Looks like a good and solid approach for industrial applications.
hi,
I purchased BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G is Red. I trying to power up using external power supply which is working perfectly with my old Beaglebone Black which has xAM3359AZCZ100 Black PCB board, where i can do ssh to the BBB but the same external power supply board if i connect to BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G is Red i cannot do ping/SSH no ethernet get up. Plz can any one suggest what wrong is there….
hi,
I purchased BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G is Red. I trying to power up using external power supply board which is working perfectly with my old Beaglebone Black which has xAM3359AZCZ100 Black PCB board, Here External power supply board have 4 isolator with rs485 IC connected for UART of xAM3359AZCZ100 (UART0, UART1, UART2, UART4). where i can do ssh to the BBB but the same external power supply board if i connect to BeagleBone Black Industrial 4G is Red i cannot do ping/SSH no ethernet get up. Plz can any one suggest what wrong is there….
@gururaj
Probably the wrong place to ask. Try to ask on BeagleBoard.org, or better, to the seller for support.