Elegant, modern, competent all-in-one in-vehicle panel PC for emerging IoT applications
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Ubiqconn stands for "Ubiquitous Connectivity" and is a subsidiary of First International Computer, one of Taiwan's premier forces in technology research, product development and manufacturing services. In late summer 2016, Ubiqconn announced the MT7000, a durable, all-in-one vehicle terminal for fleet management, asset management, and Electronic Logging (ELD) applications. The MT7000 was created as a modern, fanless vehicle PC implementation designed to leverage emerging IoT applications.

Measuring a compact 8.7 x 6.0 x 1.57 inches, the MT7000 all-in-one in-vehicle terminal provides a comprehensive, easy-to-use interface to all sorts of dispatch systems, asset and fleet management applications, diagnostic monitoring systems, as well as vehicle navigation and tracking metrics.

Equipped with dual WiFi, dual mobile broadband, and dedicated GPS antennae, the MT7000 is completely connected both in-vehicle and as part of IoT/cloud wide area applications. This enables a vast range of productivity enhancement and value-added functionality.

In terms of specifications, the MT7000 is a well-connected, well-equipped device. Wired onboard connectivity includes full-size USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, RJ45 gigabit LAN, legacy serial RS232 as well as RS232/422/485, digital I/O, CANBus, as well as a standard headset jack. There's a micro-SD card slot to augment the internal mSATA solid-state disk. There's embedded GPS, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth v4.0, as well as optional 3.5G or 4G LTE mobile broadband.

On the processor side, the MT7000 comes with an Intel "Bay Trail" 1.46GHz Intel Atom E3815, with an optional dual-core Atom E3826 available for demanding applications. The device uses 9~36Volt vehicle power, but also has an internal backup battery that allows brief independent operation.

On the operating systems side of things, the MT7000 may be configured with various embedded versions of Windows, with most customers likely to opt for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, which provides a wealth of security and advanced lockdown features.

The MT7000 is a pure tablet without integrated keyboard, but it does have five programmable function keys for easy one-click access to often used apps and utilities.

On the ruggedness and durability side, the MT7000 offers IP65 sealing, which means the device (except for the downward-facing I/O block) is totally dustproof, and can also handle low-pressure water jets from all directions. It has a very wide operating temperature range of -22 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and has been tested according to MIL-SDT-810G procedures for resistance to vibration, mechanical shock and several other criteria.

Overall, the MT7000 is an interesting and well-executed example of the rapidly growing class of IoT building blocks, devices that merge sensor, communications, processing and advanced human interface technologies to offer unprecedented tracking, control, and opportunity in organically connected I0T systems.