Congatec and Etteplan, a technology service company, have entered into strategic partnership to digitalize smart mobility and robotic applications in rugged environments such as industrial machinery and agriculture. The partnership combines congatec’s capabilities in designing and building edge computing ready Computer-on-Modules for rugged applications and Etteplan’s comprehensive expertise in embedded software and rugged system platform engineering. The partnership aims to provide mobility OEMs and system integrators with application ready products designed for the digitalization of mobility in rugged environments. Typical targets include fleets of intralogistics vehicles in factories, warehouses and distribution hubs, heavy construction machinery, and agricultural machinery for farmers and cooperatives.

The digitalization of mobility in rugged environments is an enabler not only for more efficient logistics, optimized fleet management and improved predictive maintenance. It is also an enabler and accelerator for new business models such as pay-per-use and agile subscriptions with configurable features and agile services.

“We want to serve this market with best in class solutions for excellent user experiences. Collaborating in this context with the world leading vendor of Computer-on-Modules is a strategic lever that enables us to move forward faster with tailwind from congatec’s strong engineering team,” says Jaakko Ala-Paavola, Director Digital Solutions at Etteplan.

“通过我们的战略伙伴关系Etteplan we will be able to add more value for our customers. In addition to offering Computer-on-Modules designed to meet the harshest rugged mobility requirements, now together with Etteplan, we will also develop customer specific application ready system platforms and cloud connectivity solutions. And our strong sales presence all over the world will give a good platform for future success,” says Diethard Fent, Sales Partner Manager at congatec.

First joint project

The Etteplan Rugged Evaluation Platform for logistics vehicles and forklifts is the first project where congatec and Etteplan have collaborated. The mobility platform provides a precise positioning solution by integrating an RTK-enabled GNSS unit with accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer to one rugged industrial device, that is powered by congatec’s Computer-on-Module. The device is capable of providing positioning with an accuracy of ±10 cm. The congatec Computer-on-Module offers versatile options for edge computing along with flexible industrial networking capabilities. All this makes it easy for OEMs to develop and productize their ideas, services and products with the Etteplan Rugged Evaluation Platform.

Designed for harshest environments and automotive voltage ranges up to 36 V, the Intel Atom processor based platform comes with a wide operating temperature range of -40 to 85°C and IP65/67 protection. For connectivity towards the vehicle communication networks, it offers extension options for real-time Ethernet (TSN), RS232, RS485 and CAN. Further edge connectivity options include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as LTE/5G. Ambient pressure, humidity and temperature sensors round off the feature set. The platform is already available as prototype and can be ordered engineering purposes immediately. Customization is possible on a project basis for larger quantities. The series production of the standard system platform is scheduled for the second half of 2022.