The image below shows the top view and all four side views of the ARK-1123. The device consists of a steel chassis the system board is mounted on, and a large U-shaped heat spreader with fins machined from solid aluminum. The heat spreader is a thing of beauty, and meticulously machined. It conducts the heat away from the CPU and related components and also dissipates additional heat through the device's metal frame, thus eliminating the need for a fan. Note the clean and purposeful design and execution that facilitates easy integration as well as painless maintenance.

The device is precision-engineered and exudes quality, like a fine Swiss watch. Everything makes sense, down to the smallest detail. Advantech even uses identical small Philips head screws throughout the device. Anyone who's serviced an electronic device just to find seven different screw types and sizes knows how important that is. Mounting options include DIN rail, VESA, and wall mount adapters.

In terms of functionality and connectivity, this super-compact full-function PC meets IoT gateway requirements, and also the requirements of any number of other deployments where small size matters. Our review ARK-1123H was configured to offer the following external ports:

• 2 x USB 2.0
• 1 x USB 3.0
• 1 x Serial RS232/422/485 (BIOS-selectable)
• 2 x RJ-45 gigabit LAN
• 2 x Antenna WiFi
• 4 x Antenna cut-outs
• Power (12 Volt DC)
• 2 x HDMI video
• Audio line-in and line-out

The internal design of the ARK-1123 is actually quite complex. There are two small circuit boards on top of each other, each with the type of connectivity and expansion and slots and connectors you'd find on a standard PC motherboard. So despite its very small size, the ARK-1123's guts are not hyper-integrated and concentrated into a sliver of a circuit board as is the case, for example, in the iPad or a modern smartphone; no, this is a real PC.

From a ruggedness standpoint, the enemy of embedded devices such as the ARK-1123 are usually temperature extremes and shock/vibration. Since they are not carried around, the drop spec and IP rating (sealing against solids and liquids) that in part define the durability of mobile devices are essentially irrelevant. As a result, there's no IP number and no drop spec, but a wide operating temperature range (-4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit), as well as detailed shock and vibration test numbers. Note that Advantech differentiates between standard and extended temperature configurations, with extended temperature range models requiring special RAM and use of a solid state disk.

Advantech stresses that the ARK-1123 provides three times the performance of the predecessor ARK-1122 (which we also tested, see here). Whereas the older model used a dual-core 1.86GHz Intel Atom N2800, the ARK-1123H has a quad-core 2.0GHz "Bay Trail" processor with burst frequency up to 2.41GHz. This is a significantly more sophisticated chip employing 22nm process technology and integrated Intel HD Graphics. Despite the Celeron brand name, Bay Trail chips actually use an updated Atom processor architecture.

To provide an idea of the relative performance of the ARK-1123, we ran our two standard benchmark suites, PassMark and CrystalMark. For comparison, we're also listing the results of the ARK-1123's predecessor ARK-1122, as well as the also Celeron-powered ARK-3500, and the Core i7-based AIIS-1240 designed for automated optical inspection systems.

Advantech ARK-1123 IoT gateway Benchmarks and Comparisons

PERFORMANCE COMPARISON	Advantech	Advantech	Advantech	Advantech
Model	ARK-1123	ARK-1122	ARK-3500	AIIS-1240
Model (click pic for review)
Year tested	2015	2013	2015	2014
Intel processor	Celeron J1900	Atom N2800	Celeron 1020E	Core i7-3770
CPU base Speed	2.00GHz	1.86GHz	2.20GHz	3.40GHz
CPU turbo Speed	2.14GHz	no turbo	no turbo	3.9GHz
Cores/threads	4/4	2/2	2/2	4/8
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	10 watts	6.5 watts	35 watts	77 watts
Storage type	SATA hard disk.jpg	mSATA SSD	SATA hard disk	SATA hard disk
CPU Mark	2,023.4	546.1	2,198.0	8,820.9
2D Graphics Mark	181.4	NA	415.0	696.5
Memory Mark	444.2	254.3	923.3	1,420.5
Disk Mark	594.6	948.2	733.0	519.5
3D Graphics Mark	138.1	57.0	233.0	476.4
Overall PassMark	787.2	389.7	974.9	2,895.9
CM ALU	26,844	11,474	25,977	84,049
CM FPU	22,649	9,003	20,351	68,910
CM MEM	19,657	8,757	27,444	47,498
CM HDD	9,048	25,739	11,377	8,325
CM GDI	5,593	1,271	11,377	17,856
CM D2D	3,959	370	1,991	8,411
CM OGL	3,511	8,016	5,010	10,417
Overall CrystalMark	91,261	64,620	104,074	245,466

Now what do those numbers mean? First the comparison between the ARK-1122 and the successor ARK-1123. Advantech claims a 3X speed improvement, but the bottomline benchmark numbers show much less. Why? Because our test ARK-1122 had a speedy mSATA SSD whereas the ARK-1123 came with a conventional rotating hard disk. In terms of CPU performance, the new ARK-1123 is indeed about three times quicker. However, customers who need the full power and potential of this new compact IoT gateway should definitely uses SSD storage. SSD, however, is still considerably more expensive than standard hard disks, and since the ARK-1123H comes with dual HDMI ports, in many media-oriented applications it makes sense to go with the less expensive, higher capacity hard disk.

Interesting is the comparison between the ARK-1123 and the larger ARK-3500 designed for those who need PCI or PCIe expansion. The unit we tested in January 2015 came with the lowliest of four processor options, a dual-core Celeron 1020E based on Ivy Bridge technology. Though both of those chips are Celeron-branded, one uses Intel Atom and one Intel Core technology. So even though the Celeron J1900 in the ARK-1123 is a quad-core chip and the Celeron 1020E only a dual-core design, the 1020E's Core technology and standard voltage 35 watt TDP design provide more grunt.

As for comparison with the Core i7-3770 used in Advantech's optical inspection specialist AIIS-1240, well, that's a desktop-class 77 watt TDP high performance chip that's in an entirely different performance universe. It illustrates the importance of always carefully studying all available processor options and then pick the right one for the job.

Are such processor options available for the ARK-1123H? No. It is not possible to offer a wide range of processor performance levels in such a small and fanless package due to the different thermal characteristics of different processors. There are, however, three different versions of the ARK1123 platform. In addition to the ARK-1123H we tested, there's the ARK-1123C that supports dual COM ports for factory/machine automation applications. It uses a lower-performance 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Atom E3825. There's also the ARK-1123L that has adds GPIO for advanced Input/Output control, and also uses the Atom E3825.

Now where does the "intelligent self-sensing" come in? We're not talking artificial intelligence with plenty of sensors here. Instead, intelligent self-sensing is provided via integrated software services that provide self-management, in-time communications, protection and security. The system can perform real-time remote monitoring and has dynamic adjustment capabilities for internal parameters and externally linked devices. The ARK-1123 can also dispatch notifications and alarm messages to address impending system or peripheral failures. All of these functions are powered by Advantech's SUSIAccess software management services.

In summary, the three available configurations of the ARK-1123 provide a super-compact IoT gateway solution for numerous applications. It's economically priced, too. A bare-bones ARK-1123 starts at just US$555. -- Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, April 2015

Advantech ARK-1123 Embedded Box PC Specs: