Computer-on-Module

A computer-on-module (COM) is a type of single-board computer(SBC), a subtype of an embedded computer system. It is also called System on ModuleSystem-on-Module as an extension of the concept of System on Chip (SoC) and lying between a full-up computer and a microcontroller in nature.

Today's COM/SOM modules are complete computers built on a single circuit board. The design is centered on a single microprocessor with RAM, input/output controllers and all other features needed to be a functional computer on the one board. However, unlike a single-board computer, the COM module will usually lack the standard connectors for any input/output peripherals to be attached directly to the board. Instead, the wiring for these peripherals are bussed out to connectors on the board.

The module will usually need to be mounted on a carrier board (or "baseboard") which breaks the bus out to standard peripheral connectors. Some COMs also include peripheral connectors and/or can be used without a carrier.

A COM/SOM solution offers a dense package computer system for use in small or specialized applications requiring low power consumption or small physical size as is needed in embedded systems.

Some devices also incorporate Field Programmable Gate Arrays.

The terms "Computer-on-Module" and "COM" were coined by Venture Development Corporation (Natick, MA, USA) to describe this class of embedded computer boards. The term became more notable upon industry standardization of the COM Express format.

A number of manufacturers offer products which are defined as system-on-module or computer-on-module. Among those are e-con Systems in St. Louis, Mo; Advanced Knowledge Associates (www.a-k-a.net) in Santa Clara, CA; BCM Advanced Research (www.bcmcom.com) in Irvine, CA; Embedded Systems (www.embedded-systems.net); MEN Micro (www.menmicro.com) in Ambler, PA; CompuLab in Israel; DAVE Embedded Systems (www.dave.eu) in Italy; Kaynes Technology in New York and India; PHYTEC America in Seattle, WA; Variscite in Israel; Toradex in Switzerland and Seattle, WA; MYIR (www.myirtech.com) in Shenzhen, China; Technologic Systems near Phoenix, AZ.

Computer-on-Module Provider

 * TS-4900 - Freescale/NXP i.MX6 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, WiFi & Bluetooth enabled 1 GHz i.MX6 Computer Module, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4740 - Marvell PXA168 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, High-End Module w/ High Capacity FPGA and GbEth, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4720 - Marvell PXA168 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, High-End CPU Module with eMMC Flash and Dual Ethernet, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4600 - Freescale/NXP i.MX28 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, Low Cost ARM9 Embedded Computer-on-Module, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4712 - Marvell PXA168 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, 1GHz ARM9 Computer on Module with Dual Ethernet, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4710 - Marvell PXA168 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, 1GHz ARM9 Module with Video and DoubleStore, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4800 - Freescale/NXP i.MX515 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, Video GPU & FPU ARM9 Embedded Computer-on-Module, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4700 - Marvell PXA166 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, High Performance Video ARM9 Computer-on-Module, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * TS-4200 - Atmel AT91SAM9G20 Computer-on-Module by Technologic Systems, Very Low Power Atmel ARM9 Computer-on-Module, approx. credit card sized at 75mm x 55mm
 * KY-iMX6 - by Kaynes Technology, WiFi & Bluetooth enabled 1 GHz i.MX6 Computer Module, single/dual core Cortex-A9 based, 60x50mm
 * CL-SOM-iMX7 - Freescale i.MX 7 System-on-Module by CompuLab, extensive connectivity and networking, miniature size and power efficiency, 204-pin SO-DIMM, 42x68x5mm
 * CL-SOM-AM57x - TI AM5728/AM5718 System-on-Module by CompuLab, high performance and rich connectivity, 204-pin SO-DIMM, 60x68x5mm
 * CL-SOM-iMX6UL - Freescale i.MX6 UltraLite System-on-Module by CompuLab, extensive connectivity in a tiny foot-print, 204-pin SO-DIMM, 36x68x5mm
 * CM-QS600 – Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600 System-on-Module by CompuLab, 1.7GHz quad-core APQ8064 based, 204-pin SO-DIMM, 65x68x5mm
 * CM-T335 – TI AM335x System-on-Module by CompuLab, tiny and very cost effective, 204-pin SO-DIMM, 30x68x5mm
 * CM-T43 – TI AM437x System-on-Module by CompuLab, extensive connectivity, 204-pin SO-DIMM, 36x68x5mm
 * CM-T54 – TI OMAP5432 System-on-Module by CompuLab, dual-core Cortex-A15 based, TMS320DM64 DSP, 204-pin SO-DIMM, 73x68x5mm
 * CM-FX6 – Freescale i.MX6 System-on-Module by CompuLab, single/dual/quad core Cortex-A9 based, 75x65x6mm
 * eSOMiMX6-micro - by e-con Systems, Inc. of USA, NXP/Freescale i.MX6 Quad/Dual ARM™ Cortex-A9 based CPU @ 800MHz Core, comes with a very small form factor of 54mm x 20mm with 10mA in suspend current.
 * eSOMTK1 - by e-con Systems, Inc. of USA,nVIDIA Tegra K1 4-Plus-1 ARM™ Cortex-A15 Quad core, 70 x 55mm
 * eSOMiMX6 - by e-con Systems, Inc. of USA, Freescale i.MX6 single/dual/quad core Cortex-A9 based, 70 x 45 mm
 * eSOM3730 - by e-con Systems, Inc. of USA,ARM Cortex A8 DM3730/AM3703, 55 x 35 mm
 * eSOM270 by e-con Systems, Inc. of USA,XScale®/ARM PXA270 application processor, 67.5 x 31 x 4 mm
 * CIP - by tinayeit, That provide series of 40x40x3.5mm Size, Weight about 10g, the smallest and lightest Computer-In-Package in the World!
 * CIP30x - by Tinaye, TI 720MHz AM335x based cost effective Applicattiion Processor,LQA188, 40x40x3.5mm
 * CIP31x - by Tinaye,TI 600/800/1G DM3730/OMAP3530/AM3715 based cost effective Application Processor,LQA242, 40x40x3.5mm
 * CIP41x - by Tinaye,TI 1G/1.2G/1.5G OMAP4430/4460/4470 based Dual Core Contetex-A9 Powerful Computer In Package,LQA242, 40x40x3.5mm
 * SOM - by TECHOR.COM of China, series of 40x40x4mm Size, Weight about 10g, the smallest and lightest System-on-Module in the World!
 * SOM2416 - by TECHOR.COM of China, Samsung 400MHz ARM926EJ-S based cost effective Application Processor,120pin out, 40x40x3.5mm
 * SOM6410 - by TECHOR.COM of China,Samsung 667Hz ARM1176JFZ-S based cost effective Application Processor,120pin out,40x40x3.5mm
 * SOM3530 - by TECHOR.COM of China, TI 600MHz CORETEX-A8 + 430MHz TMS320C64x+ dual core SOC/AP,120pin out, 40x40x3.5mm
 * Mini8100 - by Timll of China, TI 600MHz CORETEX-A8 + 430MHz TMS320DM64x+ dual core,67 mm * 37 mm
 * Mini8100 by Embest, TI OMAP3530 ARM Cortex-A8, 67mm*37mm
 * Mini6045 by Embest, Atmel SAM9G45, 82mm*67mm
 * Mini6245 by Embest, Atmel SAM9G45 ARM926EJ-S, 70mm*49.9mm
 * Mini6300 by Embest, Atmel SAM9263 ARM926EJ-S, 52mm*52mm
 * Mini9261-I by Embest, Atmel SAM9261S ARM926EJ-S, 67.6mm*47mm
 * Mini3250 by Embest, NXP LPC3250 ARM926EJ-S, 75mm*55mm
 * MYC-AM335X by MYIR, TI AM335x (AM3352/3354/3356/3357/3358/3359) ARM Cortex-A8, 50mm*70mm, pin header expansion interface
 * MCC-AM335X-Y by MYIR, TI AM335x (AM3352/3354/3356/3357/3358/3359) ARM Cortex-A8, 65mm*35mm, stamp hole expansion interface
 * MCC-AM335X-J by MYIR, TI AM335x (AM3352/3354/3356/3357/3358/3359) ARM Cortex-A8, 67.6mm*45mm, goldfinger expansion interface
 * MYC-IMX28X by MYIR, Freescale i.MX28 (i.MX283/287) ARM926EJ-S, 62mm*38mm
 * MYC-JA5D4X by MYIR, Atmel SAMA5D4 (SAMA5D42/44) ARM Cortex-A5, 45mm*67.6mm
 * MYC-SAMA5D3X by MYIR, Atmel SAMA5D3 (SAMA5D31/33/34/35/36) ARM Cortex-A5, 45mm*67.6mm
 * MYC-SAM9X5 by MYIR, Atmel SAM9X5 (SAM9G15/G25/G35/X25/X35) ARM926EJ-S, 35mm*67.6mm
 * MYC-SAM9X5-V2 by MYIR, Atmel SAM9X5 (SAM9G15/G25/G35/X25/X35) ARM926EJ-S, 35mm*67.6mm
 * MYC-C7Z010/20 by MYIR, Xilinx Zynq-7010/7020 ARM Cortex-A9 + FPGA
 * MYC-C7Z015 by MYIR, Xilinx Zynq-7015 ARM Cortex-A9 + FPGA
 * MYC-C437X by MYIR, TI AM437x Sitara ARM Cortex-A9
 * VAR-SOM-OM54 by Variscite, TI OMAP 5 (OMAP5432)
 * VAR-SOM-OM44 by Variscite, TI OMAP 4 (OMAP4460)
 * VAR-SOM-MX6 by Variscite, Freescale iMX6 Quad,Dual,Single core
 * VAR-SOM-AM33 by Variscite, TI Sitara AM335x (AM3354, AM3352)
 * CSB7xx - by Cogent Computer Systems, Inc. of USA
 * CM-XXX - by CompuLab of Italia
 * STM32F7-SOM by Emcraft Systems, STMicroelectronics STM32 F7, 30 x 46mm, Linux BSP
 * STM32F4-SOM by Emcraft Systems, STMicroelectronics STM32 F4, 30 x 46mm, Linux BSP
 * K70-SOM by Emcraft Systems, Freescale Kinetis K70, 30 x 57mm, Linux BSP
 * VF6-SOM by Emcraft Systems, Freescale Vybrid VF6, 30 x 57mm, Linux BSP
 * M2S-SOM by Emcraft Systems, Microsemi SmartFusion2, 30 x 57mm, Linux BSP


 * Colibri PXA270 by Toradex, Marvell® PXA270, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri PXA310 by Toradex, Marvell® PXA310, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri PXA320 by Toradex, Marvell® PXA320, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri VF50 by Toradex, NXP®/Freescale VF50, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri VF61 by Toradex, NXP®/Freescale VF61, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri iMX6 by Toradex, NXP®/Freescale i.MX 6, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri iMX7 by Toradex, NXP®/Freescale i.MX 7, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri T30 by Toradex, NVIDIA® Tegra™ 3, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Colibri T20 by Toradex, NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2, 67.6 x 36.7mm
 * Apalis T30 by Toradex, NVIDIA® Tegra™ 3, 82.0 x 45.0mm
 * Apalis iMX6 by Toradex, NXP®/Freescale i.MX 6, 82.0 x 45.0mm
 * Apalis TK1 by Toradex, NVIDIA® Tegra™ K1, 82.0 x 45.0mm
 * Inforce 6401™ Micro System-on-Module (SOM) by Inforce Computing, Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 600 processor, ARM®v7 ISA compatible, ultra-small form factor of 28mm x 50mm and weighs less than 8 grams
 * Inforce 6501™ Micro System-on-Module (SOM) by Inforce Computing, Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 805 processor, ARM®v7 ISA compatible, ultra-small form factor of 28mm x 50mm and weighs less than 8 grams
 * OMAPMOD by Magniel Inc., TI OMAP3503 / OMAP3530 CORTEX A8, 67mm x 44mm, stand-alone system in a 144-pin SO-DIMM format.
 * i.MX6 Nano SOM by Mistral Solutions, Freescale/NXP i.MX6, 44mm x 26mm, System-on-Module weighing just 7 gms.
 * VISE Board by Mistral Solutions, Freescale/NXP i.MX6 based development platform.
 * AM437x POM by Mistral Solutions, based on Sitara AM437x SoC from Texas Instruments.
 * Rico Board by MYIR, based on Sitara AM437x SoC from Texas Instruments.
 * Z-turn Board by MYIR, based on ZYNQ-7010/7020 SoC from Xilinx.