STMicroelectronics used Embedded World North America 2026 to detail the STM32C5 microcontroller, a 144-MHz Arm Cortex-M33 part that draws under 80 µA/MHz in dynamic operation and packs 1 MB of flash, 256 kB of RAM, 64 kB of data flash and 4.5 kB of one-time programmable memory on a single die.

The chip targets cost-sensitive, low-power designs without giving up math throughput. A floating-point unit works alongside a CORDIC processor that accelerates trigonometric functions. ST also integrated a 1%-calibrated RC oscillator that holds its tolerance from −20 to 105°C, which trims bill-of-materials cost by eliminating an external crystal in many applications. Packages go down to 3 × 3 mm.

Connectivity spans 10/100 Ethernet, two FD-CAN interfaces, USB 2.0 host/device, octal SPI compatible with HyperFlash and HyperRAM, one I3C port and two I2C ports. The analog side includes three 12-bit ADCs supporting up to 30 channels at 2.25 MSPS, or 4.5 MSPS in dual interleaved mode, plus a single 12-bit DAC and a comparator.

Security gets dedicated silicon. Two AES coprocessors carry differential power analysis (DPA) resistance, and separate accelerators handle hash functions and public-key operations. A true random number generator and a 96-bit unique ID round out the security block.

ST backs the part with the STM32C5 Nucleo board, which brings Arduino Uno V3 headers and ST Morpho headers, and the chip works within ST's STM32Cube IDE and ecosystem.

Rugged Ethernet switching

Diamond Systems showed the EPS-12002C managed Ethernet switch, built for rugged environments including transportation. The Layer 2+ switch also handles Layer 3 routing and switching and supports the IEEE-1588 precision time protocol.

The module carries up to two 2.5G ports and eight or twelve 1G ports, and a variant — the EPS-12002L — adds 10G SFP+ sockets. Conduction cooling is the design assumption: the switch works with a heatsink or heat spreader rather than a fan. It operates from −40 to +85°C.

All connectors are latching I/O parts rated to MIL-STD-202G for shock and vibration resistance. Power input spans 5 to 36 V, and configuration runs through an RS-232 port with GUI-based software.

COM Express moves to Panther Lake

SECO brought its SOM-COMe-BT6-PTL, a COM Express Type 6 module that supports Intel's Core Ultra Series 3 processors, code-named Panther Lake-H. The AI-enabled platform pairs an Intel GPU with a dozen Xe cores delivering up to 180 TOPS, plus a low-power NPU rated at 50 TOPS.

Memory comes through two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots that accept up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600. I/O includes 20 PCI Express lanes, eight high-speed USB ports, four 10-Gb/s SuperSpeed ports and a pair of 40-Gb/s USB 4 ports. A 2.5G Ethernet port supports time-sensitive networking (TSN), and buyers can specify a soldered 1 TB NVMe SSD on the module itself.

The SOM-COMe-BT6-PTL runs Linux, including SECO's own Clea OS, as well as Windows 10 IoT Enterprise.

VersaLogic builds for shock and vibration

VersaLogic's Raptor is an 80- × 95-mm COM-HPC Mini single-board computer that meets MIL-STD-202H shock and vibration standards. The board ships in two configurations: an Intel U300e with UHD Graphics, or a Core i5-1345URE with Iris Xe graphics.

Expansion comes through one M.2 2242 slot and one M.2 2280 slot, which can also carry an ADC or CAN bus support. Networking runs on two 2.5G Ethernet ports, magnetically isolated and fitted with latching sockets; both ports support TSN. USB coverage includes eight USB 2.0, two USB 3.2 and two USB 4.0 ports, plus two serial ports.

The show's through-lines

A few patterns cut across the roundup. The boards on display skew toward rugged applications — a positioning that raises unit cost but buys reliability in transportation and industrial settings, and pushes design choices such as conduction cooling, latching connectors and MIL-STD compliance into the mainstream.

Ethernet is moving up in speed and determinism. Multiple vendors now ship 2.5G ports with TSN support, and 10G SFP+ appears as an option rather than an outlier. M.2 slots have become the default expansion mechanism, serving NVMe SSDs, AI accelerators and specialized I/O alike. And AI-enabled processors have spread from premium compute platforms into standard COM Express modules, with Panther Lake-class silicon bringing triple-digit TOPS figures to boards that integrators drop onto a custom carrier.

Expect those three vectors — ruggedization, TSN-capable multi-gigabit networking and onboard AI inference — to define the next round of module and board releases as vendors compete on integration density and validated reliability rather than raw silicon alone.