Delkin Blog

Introduced back in 1994, the age of the CompactFlash form factor has not made it any less popular or desirable. In industrial applications, Industrial CompactFlash—or CF—cards offer continuous uptime, unparalleled data integrity, and extended temperature operations. Here are the answers to some of the questions that engineers and OEM designers frequently have about using industrial CF cards.

Why have industrial CF cards remained so popular?

Despite an incredible number of changes and advances in technology since 1994, CF cards have endured. There are a few reasons for this long-lasting popularity. CF cards use the Parallel ATA (PATA) interface, which is well known, widely used, and reliable. Industrial CF cards are also easy to integrate into a range of applications and are remarkably robust. Despite their power, CF cards are small in size, making them easy to fit into even small applications. The combination of familiarity, reliability, and flexibility make industrial CF cards the clear choice for many engineers and OEM designers.

How are industrial CF cards and consumer CF cards different?

Industrial and consumer CF cards both offer reliable storage, but they do have some differences. Industrial CF cards are manufactured to withstand more extreme use than consumer CF cards. Although consumer CF cards must be reliable for use in commercial goods, industrial CF cards have to operate in applications that require unfailing reliability, even in the face of extreme environments and usage demands. When compared to a commercial CF card, industrial grade CF cards can:

• Operate in wider temperature ranges.
• Withstand extreme storage temperatures.
• Withstand high levels of shock and vibration.

Industrial CF cards are also available with large capacities and faster speeds than consumer cards in order to meet the operating needs of the systems in which they are installed. Typically, industrial CF cards use SLC NAND Flash, while consumer grade products use MLC or TLC. Controlled BOMs are also available to ensure the reliability of industrial CF cards.

What industries use CF cards?

Industrial CF cards can be found in an enormous range of applications. Some of the industries that rely on CF cards for storage include:

• Healthcare
• Aerospace
• Military
• Embedded Computing
• Transportation

Industrial CF cards can be used for logging data and as a boot drive with an OS image load. Customized solutions are also available.

Delkin is ready to help you determine if industrial CF cards are right for your system’s needs. Contact our product team, or download the technical information for our CF cards here.