Industrial fanless mini PC arrives with quad-core ARM SoC and 4 GB RAM

Forlinx is a pretty well-known brand that specializes in industrial-grade SOMs, SBCs, and other edge computing and IoT terminals. The brand has now introduced the new FCU3101, which happens to be a fanless edge compute unit.

Spotted by LinuxGizmos, the FCU3101 compute box is powered by the ARM-based Rockchip RV1126 SoC. To be specific, the FCU3101 can be equipped with either the Rockchip RV1126B or the RV1126BJ, the latter of which features a slightly lower boost clock speed in favor of more resilient operating temperatures.

Both SoCs feature a total of four Cortex-A53 cores with up to 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. To be more specific, the industrial-grade variant can operate between -40°C and 85°C and comes equipped with 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, and the aforementioned -BJ variant of the SoC. 

The commercial-grade variant, on the other hand, supports twice the RAM and 64 GB of storage but can only operate between -20°C and 85°C. Both variants feature microSD expansion up to 128 GB. 

The SoC is capable of delivering up to 3 TOPS of AI performance, courtesy of its NPU.

As with any SBC/compute box aimed at industrial usage, the quality and quantity of interfaces play a huge role in determining its feasibility on the factory floor. The FCU3101 features the following I/O:

• USB 3.0 Type-A, USB 2.0 Type-A
• Dual RS-232, RS-485 COM ports with peak 115200 BPS
• Optional LTE module
• TF card slot (up to 128 GB)
• WiFi 4, Bluetooth 4.2
• 3.5 mm AUX port
• HDMI
• Dual Ethernet (1G, 100M)
• Type-C Debug Port
• 2x DO (relay output, 5A/30VDC), 2x DI

Power comes courtesy of a DC 24 V input, with support for a wide 9 V to 36 V range and built-in reverse polarity as well as overcurrent protection. The enclosure measures in at around 202 x 123 x 42 mm (roughly 7.95 by 4.84 by 1.65 inches), and tips the scales at around 800 g (roughly 1.76 lbs).

Alongside some lightweight AI inference, the Forlinx FCU3101 edge compute box is also useful as a communications hub, designed to handle sensor data, upload transmissions, and handle other forms of crucial communications, which is where its industrial-grade I/O comes into play.

According to Forlinx, the FCU3101 edge compute box is already in production. Pricing details, like many other devices aimed at industrial usage, have not been publicly shared. For more information, interested customers are requested to contact Forlinx directly.

Typical hobbyists, on the other hand, might want to check out the $66 Orange Pi 4 Pro SBC as a starter kit for IoT projects.