Applied Data Systems (ADS) has introduced an Intel Atom-based development system built around a 3.9 x 2.8 inch computer-on-module (COM). The Catalyst targets ruggedized handheld, medical, and industrial designs, has a wide variety of interfaces, and runs Windows XP Embedded or Windows CE, the company says.

Like other development systems of its type, the Catalyst is designed so manufacturers can begin their hardware development by plugging the COM into a generic carrier board. The carrier board supplies as many standard PC-style interfaces as possible. At a later stage, as ADS notes, a simplified, task-specific carrier board can be designed, lowering cost.

Like other ADS COMs, the Catalyst uses a proprietary form factor, in this case measuring 3.9 x 2.8 inches. It uses Intel's Z500 series Atom processor, which is available at clockspeeds from 800MHz to 1.6GHz. It also uses Intel's SCH companion chip, the only chipset available for Atom. (For more details, see our earlier coverage, here.) It can be configured with 512 or 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM.

The module's I/O interfaces, as shown on the block diagram above, clockwise from the top), include:

• HD audio
• IDE
• SD
• SMBus
• LPC (low pin count) bus
• LVDS video
• SDVO (serial digital video out)
• 8 x USB 2.0

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Intel, Atom, Processor, Development System, COM, ADS COMs, Intel Z500, Windows CE, Windows XP Embedded, eXP