Ultra

RuggON Corporation was established in 2014 as a provider of ruggedized computing products. RuggON's stated mission is to raise the productivity of rugged computing solutions through creative, pioneering technology. Their lineup consists of RuggTAB tablets and RuggVMC vehicle mounts. On this page we're describing the VM-521 10.4-inch ultra-rugged vehicle mount computer.

Designed from the ground up as a vehicle mount system, RuggON's VM-521 brings tablet computer functionality into any cockpit. It does so with a compact 10.8 x 9.9 x 2.7 inch enclosure that weighs about 8.5 pounds and can be mounted in numerous ways.

The RuggON VM-521 has a 10.4-inch display with conventional XGA 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, making for the 4:3 aspect ratio that was the standard on almost all computer displays until wide formats became prevalent (though the Apple iPad continues to use 4:3). The anti-reflective display is sunlight readable with its very strong 1,000 nits backlight that can also be dimmed down to just 0.1 nits for nighttime use. Protective Gorilla Glass and a defroster are optionally available.

The VM-521 uses traditional 5-wire resistive touch, still a good choice for tablets using the standard or embedded versions of Windows 7 or 8.The screen size and aspect ratio make the VM-521 well suitable for use with virtually all Windows-based legacy vertical and industrial market apps.

The RuggON VM-521 is powered by a quad-core 1.91GHz Intel Atom E3845 processor. Note that this is not one of your father's poky Atom chips. Instead, the E3845 is part of Intel's 'Bay Trail' lineup of vastly improved CPUs that are powerful enough to not only be sold under the Atom brand, but also the Celeron and Pentium brands. 'Bay Trail' is based on the 'Silvermont' processor architecture, which is really the first true architectural update to Atom since its introduction in 2008. Bay Trail processors use up to four Silvermont cores, and for the first time in an ultra mobile Intel SoC pairs them with Intel's own graphics IP. In fact, Bay Trail leverages the same GPU architecture as in the Ivy Bridge Core processors, just with fewer EUs (execution units).

In terms of connectivity, the VM-521 excels. There are two USB 2.0 ports, two legacy serial ports (one RS232 and one RS422/485), two RJ45 Ethernet jacks, CAN bus ports, and separate audio in and out jacks, and both internal and external antennae. For video surveillance and similar projects, there's optional 4-port video in, and RuggON includes an SDK for it as well. Note that all ports are facing down and also meet the NMEA0183/NMEA2000 National Marine Electronics Association physical layer standard.

Integrating optional components is not as easy with thin and light designs such as the PM-522, and so RuggON offers a variety of bolt-on modules instead. The picture below shows, from left to right, a Smart Card reader and GPS combo module, a mag stripe reader module, and a 2D barcode reader module.

For wireless communication, the VM-521 includes Bluetooth 4.0 Class II, 802.11ac WiFi, and GNSS (GPS/QZSS or GLONASS). Optionally available is 3.5G or 4G LTE mobile broadband capability.

The VM-521 is an ultra-rugged unit, designed to handle whatever abuse or extreme environmental conditions it may encounter while on vehicle duty. That includes a very wide operating temperature range of -22° to 131°F (-30° to 55°C) as well as IP66 sealing, which means the unit is totally protected against dust and also against strong jets of water (meaning it can even be hosed down). RuggON claims MIL-STD-810G testing for shock and vibration (we;d like to see which tests and what results).

For power, there's isolated 9~36VDC or 18~75VDC and also an internal 22 watt-hour battery to guard against unstable power during vehicle operation.

In summary, the RuggON VM-521 is a very rugged vehicle mount computer using the latest WiFi and PAN communication standards, Intel Bay Trail quad-core processing, and a large and very bright resistive touch display, while also offering CAN (Controller Area Network) and legacy serial interface support.

Taiwan-based RuggON was launched in 2014 when First International Computer spin-off Ubiqconn decided to focus on ODM business only. RuggON took over Ubiqconn's tablet and vehicle mount computers, which are now sold under the RuggON brand. http://ift.tt/1hgKyaM For tablet reviews of the best budget tablets