Description
Application Scenarios
A specialty machine builder in the packaging industry had a fleet of fifteen-year-old cartoning machines that were mechanically sound but computationally orphaned. Each machine ran a PC-based controller built on a passive backplane: one CPU card, one ISA motion control card driving three servo axes, and one ISA digital I/O card reading photo-eyes and driving solenoids. When the original CPU cards began failing, the maintenance team discovered that no current motherboard offered ISA slots, and replacing the backplane architecture would have meant re-engineering the motion card, the I/O map and the safety logic.
The ROCKY-4784EV solved this without touching a single line of application software. Dropped into the existing PICMG 1.0 backplane, the IEI ROCKY-4784EV recognised the same ISA and PCI slots, booted the existing CompactFlash image, and handed control back to the installed ISA cards exactly as before. The real value of the ROCKY-4784EV in this scenario is not raw computing speed; it is architectural continuity. The machine keeps its original I/O card set, its original wiring, and its validated control logic, while the plant avoids a capital project that would have cost far more than the board itself.
The same logic plays out across thousands of installed systems: semiconductor handlers, wire-bond and test equipment, CNC retrofits, printing presses, textile machines and laboratory instruments. In each case, the question is not “which CPU is fastest” but “which CPU board will let this machine keep running.” That is precisely the problem the ROCKY-4784EV exists to answer.
Parameter
| Main Parameters | Value / Description |
|---|---|
| Product Model | ROCKY-4784EV (ROCKY-4784 EV series, IEI ROCKY CPU card family) |
| Manufacturer | IEI Integration Corp. (also distributed as ICP / ICP Deutschland) |
| Product Category | Full-size PICMG 1.0 industrial single board computer / CPU card |
| CPU Support | Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4 and Celeron, 400/533 MHz FSB, up to 2.53 GHz |
| System Chipset | Intel 845E + ICH2, PCI 2.2 compliant |
| System Memory | 2 x 184-pin DIMM sockets, up to 2 GB DDR 200/266 SDRAM, ECC supported |
| Graphics | SiS 315 2D/3D engine, AGP 4X bus up to 533 MB/s, 32 MB onboard SDRAM, DB-15 CRT connector, up to 1600 x 1200 |
| Ethernet | 1 x 10/100 Mbps Intel i82562 (ICH2) with RJ-45; Gigabit Broadcom BCM5702 on the EVG variant |
| Storage Interface | 2 x IDE ATA-100/66/33 channels, 1 x FDD channel (1.44 MB / 2.88 MB / 3-mode), 1 x CompactFlash Type II socket |
| I/O Interfaces | 2 x RS-232 (16C550 compatible), 1 x LPT (SPP/EPP/ECP), PS/2 keyboard and mouse header, IrDA (SIR), USB 1.1 ports, AC’97 audio (Line-in, Line-out, Mic-in) |
| Expansion Bus | PICMG 1.0 with ISA Plus enhanced ISA drive capability at 64 mA, plus PCI via passive backplane |
| Watchdog Timer | Software programmable, 1 to 255 seconds, system reset |
| Hardware Monitoring | CPU Vcore, Vcc, CPU and system fan speed, temperature detection |
| Power Requirement | +5 V at 5 A and +12 V at 6.6 A typical configuration; supports AT and ATX power control, ACPI 1.1 compliant |
| Environmental Limits | Operating 0 °C to 60 °C with CPU cooler fitted; 5% to 95% relative humidity, non-condensing |
| Form Factor and Weight | Full-size PICMG 1.0 CPU card, approximately 338 mm x 122 mm; gross weight approximately 1 kg |
Technical Principles and Innovative Values
Innovation Point 1: Passive backplane architecture instead of a consumer motherboard. The ROCKY-4784EV places only the CPU, memory, graphics, LAN and basic I/O on the card itself; every other function lives on plug-in cards in a passive backplane. Passive backplanes have no active components to fail, so the MTBF of the overall system rises sharply compared with an active motherboard, and a failed expansion card can be swapped without disturbing the CPU. For a machine that has to run for twenty years, this architecture is the reason the is still being purchased long after consumer Socket 478 boards vanished.
Innovation Point 2: ISA Plus high-drive bus for legacy expansion. Standard ISA drive capacity limits how many legacy cards a backplane can reliably support. ISA Plus on the raises that drive capability to 64 mA, which is what allows a fully loaded backplane of ISA motion control, data acquisition and digital I/O cards to operate without signal integrity problems. This single feature is often the deciding factor when a plant must keep ISA-based control cards alive.
Innovation Point 3: Independent SiS 315 graphics with dedicated video memory. Unlike integrated solutions that share system RAM, the carries 32 MB of dedicated SDRAM for the SiS 315 graphics engine at AGP 4X bandwidth. The CPU and the operating system are never starved of memory by the display, which matters on older HMI and SCADA software where the graphical layer is continuously repainting.
Innovation Point 4: Solid-state boot with CompactFlash. The onboard CompactFlash Type II socket lets the boot from a solid-state card instead of a rotating hard disk. In a vibrating machine cabinet or a dusty control room, removing the last moving part from the system eliminates one of the most common causes of industrial PC failure. Combined with the watchdog timer, this produces a control node that can recover from a software hang unattended.
Innovation Point 5: Supervisory hardware that watches itself. The continuously monitors CPU core voltage, supply rails, fan speed and temperature, and pairs that with a software-programmable watchdog capable of a full system reset between 1 and 255 seconds. If the application locks up or the cabinet overheats, the board acts on its own rather than waiting for an operator, which is the difference between a momentary restart and a full shift of lost production.
Application Cases and Industry Value
Case 1: CNC retrofit control node at a precision machining subcontractor. A shop running legacy CNC controls needed a replacement computing node that could host an ISA-axis control card, talk to a serial drive interface over RS-232, and run its existing DOS and Windows-based setup utilities. Modern hardware offered none of these three at once. Installing the into the existing chassis let the shop keep the ISA motion card, keep the serial drive link through the onboard 16C550-compatible UARTs, and boot the same software image from CompactFlash. Commissioning was limited to seating the card, fitting the cooler and loading the image. The measurable outcome was the avoidance of a full control retrofit on a machine that was still producing parts within tolerance, and the restoration of a spare-parts path for the remaining machines in the cell.
Case 2: Vision inspection and data acquisition workstation in an electronics assembly line. A board-level assembly line used a PICMG-based inspection station with a PCI frame grabber, an ISA digital I/O card for reject actuation, and a serial link to the line PLC. When the station’s CPU card failed, the alternative quoted by a system integrator was a complete platform migration costing several weeks of downtime and re-validation. The restored the station in a single shift because the PCI frame grabber and ISA I/O card stayed exactly where they were. Maintenance staff reported that the hardware monitoring and watchdog features of the also gave them earlier warning of cabinet temperature rise, a problem that had silently shortened the life of the previous board. Over the following year the site standardised on a small buffer stock of boards, converting what had been an unmanaged obsolescence risk into a controlled spare-parts line item.
