cots journal

An RTC Group Publication

Tech Focus: FPGA Processing Boards Roundup

Volume 14 Number 5 May 2012

PLUS:VME and OpenVPX Team Up for Hybrid Solutions—Mil Batteries and Power Supplies Adapt to Changing Needs

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

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The Journal of Military Electronics & ComputingThe Journal of Military Electronics & ComputingThe Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

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CONTENTS

COTS (kots), n. 1. Commercial off-the-shelf. Ter-minology popularized in 1994 within U.S. DoD by SECDEF Wm. Perry’s “Perry Memo” that changed military industry purchasing and design guidelines, making Mil-Specs acceptable only by waiver. COTS is generally defined for technology, goods and services as: a) using commercial business practices and specifi-cations, b) not developed under government funding, c) offered for sale to the general market, d) still must meet the program ORD. 2. Commercial business practices include the accepted practice of customer-paid minor modification to standard COTS products to meet the customer’s unique requirements.

—Ant. When applied to the procurement of electronics for the U.S. Military, COTS is a pro-curement philosophy and does not imply commer-cial, office environment or any other durability grade. E.g., rad-hard components designed and offered for sale to the general market are COTS if they were developed by the company and not under government funding.

The Journal of Military Electronics & ComputingThe Journal of Military Electronics & ComputingThe Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

Departments

Digital subscriptions available: cotsjournalonline.com

May 2012 Volume 14 Number 5

On The Cover: The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program creates a common family of vehicles with multiple variants and associated companion trailers. Lockheed Martin’s JLTV is designed to meet standards for IED-protected vehicles, while weighing approximately 40 percent less than other all-terrain models. Tests verified that it can protect soldiers from powerful blasts and still be transported by vertical lift transports such as CH-47 and CH-53 helicopters. (Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin).

Coming in JuneSee Page 68

6 Publisher’s Notebook Military Systems and Security

8 The Inside Track

62 COTS Products

70 Editorial Superheroes and Supercomputing

TECHNOLOGY FOCUSFPGA Processing Boards

56 FPGA Boards Crank Up Their Processing Muscle Jeff Child

58 FPGA Processing Boards Roundup

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENTMilitary Batteries and Power Converters

42 Mil Batteries and Power Supplies Advance Their Game Jeff Child

48 Thermal Management: Key to Designing for Harsh Environments Dennis Scott, Noren Products

TECH RECONHybrid Systems Blend OpenVPX and Legacy VME

32 Hybrid Backplanes Link Legacy VME with OpenVPX Performance Jeff Child

SPECIAL FEATUREMilitary Vehicle Upgrades and Modernization

10 Computing and Comms Enable Mil Vehicle Modernization Efforts Jeff Child

16 VICTORY Initiative Lays Path to Improve Vehicle C4ISR Designs David Jedynak, Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions

22 IEEE Instrumentation Standard Suits Needs of Military System Designs Neal Stollon, HDL Dynamics

Computing and Comms Enable Mil Vehicle Modernization Efforts10


COTS Journal | May 20124

PublisherPRESIDENT John Reardon, [email protected]

PUBLISHER Pete Yeatman, [email protected]

EditorialEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jeff Child, [email protected]

MANAGING EDITOR/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Sandra Sillion, [email protected]

COPY EDITOR Rochelle Cohn

Art/Production

ART DIRECTOR Kirsten Wyatt, [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Michael Farina, [email protected]

LEAD WEB DEVELOPER Hari Nayar, [email protected]

Advertising

WESTERN REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Stacy Mannik, [email protected] (949) 226-2024

MIDWEST REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER Mark Dunaway, [email protected] (949) 226-2023

EASTERN REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Shandi Ricciotti, [email protected] (949) 573-7660

BILLING Cindy Muir, [email protected] (949) 226-2000

COTS Journal

HOME OFFICE

The RTC Group, 905 Calle Amanecer, Suite 250, San Clemente, CA 92673 Phone: (949) 226-2000 Fax: (949) 226-2050, www.rtcgroup.com

EDITORIAL OFFICE

Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief 20A Northwest Blvd., PMB#137, Nashua, NH 03063 Phone: (603) 429-8301

Published by THE RTC GROUPCopyright 2011, The RTC Group. Printed in the United States. All rights reserved. All related graphics are trademarks of The RTC Group. All other brand and product names are the property of their holders.


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NOTEBOOKPublisher’s

Pete Yeatman, PublisherCOTS Journal

In the summer of 2006, the Army mandated that all comput-ers it acquires will have a chip on the processor board that is dedicated to performing security function known as Trusted

Platform Module (TPM). While talking about the industry with several users and suppliers this month, they were saying that the Army is going to stop giving waivers this year to that require-ment. That motivated me to learn more about TPM and its im-pact, since I’ve seen this feature called out in some—but not all—product news releases that have been coming across my desk.

In September of 2011, Jeff Child stated the following in his column: “For several years anti-tamper technology has been re-quired in all new military programs per the 5000-series directives from the U.S. DoD. In the language of DoD Directive 5200.39, the mission of anti-tamper in electronic design is to deter (or delay) reverse engineering of critical program information (CPI), defined as ‘information, technologies, or systems, which, if compromised, would degrade combat effectiveness, shorten the expected combat-effective life of a system, or alter program direction.’ For the past several years, system developers have been able to get waivers al-lowing them to use anti-tamper ICs in their systems. But some pre-dict that within five years, those waivers will no longer be given.” Those timing predictions may now be a little too generous.

Developed by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), TPM conforms to the group’s standard specifications. TCG was founded in 2003 to produce industry-standard, vendor-neutral specifications for hardware and software security that will work across multiple platforms. The group has 120 industry members. For this type of security to be meaningful, it has to be universal and based on standards, otherwise what you have are fragmented solutions and it’s impossible for IT managers to have a compre-hensive security strategy. TPM alone only addresses some of the more basic security issues; networking and joint operation issues are more complex and require additional hardware or software.

The Intel TPM module-AXXTPME3 chip (Figure 1) is a hard-ware-based security device that addresses the problem of provid-ing integrity for the boot process and increased data protection. In conjunction with the TPM, Intel also offers another piece of hard-ware, the Trusted Execution Technology (TXT), which is a hard-ware extension to their processors and chipsets that further en-hances tamper resistance. Full detailed information on TPM and TXT can be found in the Intel Trusted Platform Module Hardware User’s Guide. And I’m not going to attempt to address it here.

The Army’s interest and support for the TPM came from the fact that the TCG was an open standard for both hardware and

software, and was supported by a large number of key industry suppliers and users. One of the major reasons the Army has pro-vided waivers willy-nilly is that they have not implemented all the software, network and joint operation requirements to take ad-vantage or even utilize TPM. Impending reduction or elimination in providing waivers indicates that some of the Army’s problems have been resolved. System product developers that have imple-mented TPM in their designs may be at an advantage. Companies like Adlink, General Micro Systems, Kontron and Trenton Systems have highlighted the TPM feature in several of their product re-leases. If the Army is in fact leading the way for implementing TPM throughout all of the DoD and other government agencies, then we may soon not only see TPM featured on all new computing systems products but also other enhancements to expand security.

Military Systems and SecurityI/O

Storage Execution Security Enablement

Non-VolatileSecure Storage

Opt-InOff by Default

Secure ProgramExec Engine

SecurePlatform

ConfigurationRegisters

Key Generation

Hash

Random NumberGenerator

PlatformIdentity Keys (AIK)

Figure 1

A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a hardware-based security device designed to provide integrity for the boot process and increased data protection.

Untitled-5 1 5/9/12 10:31:20 AM

http://goelma.com/cuff

8 COTS Journal | May 20128

INSIDE TRACKThe

Figure 3

The center section of the James Webb Space Telescope flight backplane has been completed by ATK at its facility in Magna, Utah. Watch a FAQ video about the telescope at www.cotsjournalonline.com/jameswebb

DRS Defense Solutions Tapped for Boeing KC-46 Tanker IBR2 Program

DRS Defense Solutions, a DRS Technologies sub-sidiary, announced that its Intelligence, Communica-tions and Avionics Solutions (ICAS) business unit received a contract award from Boe-ing’s Defense Space & Security group to integrate its Intelli-gence Broadcast Receiver Block 2 (IBR2) tactical terminal onto the KC-46A Tanker aircraft (Figure 2). The IBR2 tactical terminal provides the user with the ability to receive near real-time situational awareness information, such as threat data and locator informa-tion for search and rescue operations, as well as Blue Force Tracking data. The IBR2 tactical terminal receives this critical data via Integrated

opment of Webb’s sunshield, telescope and spacecraft.

The PMBSS will support the telescope’s beryllium mirrors, instruments, thermal control systems and other elements during ground tests, launch and most importantly during science operations. The PMBSS holds

Broadcast Service and Com-mon Interactive Broadcast waveforms over UHF SATCOM links.

The KC-46A tanker is a military aerial refueling and strategic transport aircraft being developed by Boeing to replace the U.S. Air Force’s 1950s-era KC-135 Stratotanker f leet. Boeing will replace 179 of the USAF’s existing tankers with the KC-46A. The initial contract calls for Boeing to deliver 18 tankers by 2017. The balance of

the 179 aircraft will be manufac-tured and delivered through the year 2028.

DRS Technologies Parsippany, NJ. (973) 898-1500. [www.drs.com].

Northrop Grumman and ATK Complete Hard-ware for NASA Tele-scope Backplane

Northrop Grumman and its teammate ATK have com-pleted the construction of the center section of the primary mirror backplane support structure (PMBSS) for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, an important milestone in the tele-scope’s hardware development. Northrop Grumman is under contract to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD for the design and devel-

Battle Force Tactical Trainer (BFTT) systems are used in over 100 U.S. Navy warships, including the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57).

Figure 1

GE Intelligent Platforms has secured orders from the U.S. Navy for a quantity of GE’s PowerXtreme Power7E single board computers. These will be deployed as part of the Battle Force Tactical Trainer (BFTT) program that is designed to deliver optimum training and simulation capabilities to U.S. Navy ships. BFTT systems are used in over 100 U.S. Navy warships, including CVN, CG (Figure 1), DDG, LHA, LHD, LPD and LSD class ships. The value of the order is $1.85 million.

The Power7E is one of a range of PowerXtreme 6U VME single board computers using Freescale PowerPC processor technology. The single board computer is a critical element of the BFTT system, provid-ing advanced real-time data processing functions. BFTT is a highly flexible, interactive, single ship-, group-, or force-level tactical combat system trainer. The purpose of BFTT is to provide training to enhance naval combat readiness. BFTT provides a critical over-arching training capability for developing and maintaining proficiencies required for a complex modern shipboard combat system in today’s warfighting environment. BFTT in effect wraps around the ship’s combat system to provide a comprehensive and coordinated training environment.

GE Intelligent Platforms Charlottesville, VA. (800) 368-2738. [www.ge-ip.com].

GE IP SBCs to be Deployed for U.S. Navy BFTT Systems

Figure 2

Artist’s rendering of a Boeing KC-46A tanker preparing to refuel a B-1B bomber in flight.

9

INSIDE TRACK

May 2012 | COTS Journal 9

the 18-segment, 21-foot-diameter primary mirror nearly motionless while the telescope is peering into deep space. The center section backplane (Figure 3) is the first completed flight subassembly of the PMBSS and is several months ahead of the current baseline schedule. The center section backplane of Webb’s PMBSS was designed, constructed and tested at ATK facilities in Magna, Utah. ATK manufactured 1,781 composite parts of the center section using lightweight graphite materials and advanced manufac-turing techniques.

Northrop Grumman Los Angeles, CA. (310) 553-6262. [www.northropgrumman.com].

Cisco Teams with X-ES to Bring Cisco IOS IP into Mil Rugged Systems

Extreme Engineering Solu-tions (X-ES) has announced a pair of embedded products that are the first to host Cisco’s IOS IP routing software. This ap-proach lets the large majority of IT professionals that are trained on Cisco IOS deploy compatible rugged hardware to an already deployed systems with no train-ing time or expense. The first is the XPedite5205 ESR a PMC embedded router module host-ing Cisco IOS. The second is the SFFR, a box-level packaged router hosting Cisco IOS. At less than 72 cubic inches and 3.5 pounds, the SFFR is the smallest available ruggedized router running Cisco IOS. This rugged router, available in either natural convection-cooled or conduction-cooled enclosures, can be added to almost any available surface of a vehicle or aircraft or deployed in the harshest of environments.

Both products incorporates

Cisco Mobile Ready Net capabili-ties to provide highly secure data, voice, and video communications to stationary and mobile network nodes across both wired and wire-less links. When combined with UHF, VHF, Wi-Fi and other radio platforms, the combination can

create mobile, wireless ad hoc net-works, without requiring a con-nection to central infrastructure. Both also offer on-board hardware acceleration and hardware encryp-tion along with integrated threat control using Cisco IOS Firewall, Cisco IOS Zone-based Firewall,

Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), and Cisco IOS Con-tent Filtering.

Extreme Engineering Solutions Middleton, WI. (608) 833-1155. [www.xes-inc.com].

Military Market WatchBudget Tightening Causes Ripples in UAS Programs

Recently, the Navy identified a requirement for a new system called the Medium Range Maritime (MRM) UAS. In the face of dwindling funds, the MRM was cancelled in the 2013 budget. But an ingenious solution to the MRM was found. The Navy is now placing the MQ-8B operating system into a COTS Bell 407 airframe that Northrop Grumman calls Fire-X. This new platform will be designated the MQ-8C Firescout and will be an optionally piloted aircraft (OPA). Hence, it will have more range and payload capabilities as well as the ability to conduct missions where a pilot is required. Missions like flying through airspace that does not currently allow unmanned aircraft. While the Navy maintains that the MQ-8C will not have all of the capabilities it wanted in the MRM, it does provide a close approximation. After all, speculation was that some variant of the MQ-8C would have been Northrop’s entry into the MRM competition.

As Figure 4 shows, the MRM was going to cost about $717 million through 2015. The MQ-8C is forecast to cost about $560 million over the same time period. That amounts to a $157 million cost savings over four years. And that doesn’t account for the fact that all the funding for the MRM was earmarked for research and develop-ment while MQ-8 funding will procure between 26 and 32 MQ-8C aircraft (the number not made into MQ-8Cs will be MQ-8Bs). One could argue that the MQ-8C COTS solution saved the entire $700+ million MRM bill at the expense of having a slightly smaller payload and a slightly shorter range than the MRM would have required.

Unfortunately, all Firescouts were grounded in early April due to concerns after a couple of in-flight acci-dents. Imagine the difference in cost that those accidents would have incurred had the platforms been the result of a development project like the MRM that would have cost nearly $1 billion. The MQ-8C is just one case that shows how the use of proven COTS systems can help keep development costs down until new, more technologi-cally advanced systems and designs are fully tested and vetted. For more information contact Frost & Sullivan.

Frost & Sullivan. San Antonio, TX. (210) 348-1000. [www.frost.com].

While the MRM was expected to cost about $717 million through 2015, the MQ-8C is forecast to cost about $560 million over the same time period.

Figure 4

MQ-8C vs MRM

2012

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ions

($)

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02013 2014 2015 Total

MRM RDT&E MQ-8C Procurement

Military Vehicle Upgrades and Modernization

10 COTS Journal | May 2012

SPECIAL FEATURE


Over the past year the DoD and U.S. Army continued to rethink and revamp their plans for next-gen vehicle requirements, and that necessitated rethinking previ-

ously planned electronics. Onboard communications and con-trol electronics are still expected to multiply in sophistication for both next-generation and Current Force fighting vehicles. But in the short term, tech upgrades of existing vehicles will be the dominant activity in this space.

Over the next ten years, main battle tanks are expected to comprise the largest overall submarket in the global armored ve-hicle upgrade and retrofit market according to market research firm ASDReports. There will also be demand for upgrades to medium armored vehicles and light protected vehicles, while that for medium mine-resistant vehicles is expected to decline from its high level in the first part of the forecast period. Cer-tainly the U.S. will be the largest market in the next few years, as it addresses urgent requirements for armored vehicles deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as retrofitting vehicles return-ing from both theaters and integrating them into its overall ar-mored vehicle fleet. The U.S. military also continues to upgrade its current fleet of Abrams main battle tanks and Bradley ar-mored fighting vehicles. There will be a fall from the high lev-els of MRAP upgrades from 2015, due to the falling intensity of overseas operations and eventual withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jeff ChildEditor-in-Chief

Next-gen vehicle platforms are in the pipeline but moving slowly. In the interim, modernization and upgrades of existing vehicles are stealing the thunder.

Computing and Comms Enable Mil Vehicle Modernization Efforts


SPECIAL FEATURE

Upgrade Programs AboundThe DoD continues to modernize

its ground force capabilities. Some of the existing programs targeted for upgrades include howitzers, Stryker vehicles, M1 Abrams, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and the Light Armored Vehicle (LAV). The current M1 Abrams tank modernization effort supports two variants: the M1A1 Situational Awareness (SA) (Figure 1) and the M1A2 System Enhancement Program (SEP). The M1A1 SA modern-ization includes steel encased depleted uranium for increased frontal and tur-ret side armor protection, suspension improvements, an advanced computer system with embedded diagnostics, a second generation thermal sensor, and a laser rangefinder to designate targets from increased distances. The M1A2 SEP tank modernization includes a com-

mander’s independent thermal weapons station, position navigation equipment, improved fire control system, and an improved AGT1500 turbine engine. The FY 2013 Budget Request provides sys-tem technical support to complete the final M1A2 Abrams System Enhance-ment Package (SEP) production, field-ing and training.

The Army is focused on develop-ing a Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) to provide a new infantry fighting ve-hicle to the warfighter. The GCV has the design growth to adapt to capa-bilities as the operational environment changes and technology matures, to position soldiers for long-term success. The Marine Corps is developing the Marine Personnel Carrier (MPC), an advanced generation armored person-nel carrier that would provide general

support lift to the marine infantry in the ground combat element-based ma-neuver task force.

The Stryker Vehicle under the FY 2013 Budget Request is well supported. The plan calls for the procurement of 58 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Recon-naissance Vehicles (NBCRV) as well as engineering and development efforts, including survivability and integration of targeting under armor (TUA) on the Stryker Fire Support Vehicle (FSV). The Budget Request also includes funding for the purchase of hardware modifica-tions and the installation of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Recon-naissance (C4ISR) obsolescence/safety items. Meanwhile, the Army and Marine Corps have proposed the termination of the HMMWV Recapitalization pro-

Figure 1

M1A1 Situational Awareness (SA) modernization includes an advanced computer system with embedded diagnostics, a second generation thermal sensor, and a laser rangefinder to designate targets from increased distances.


SPECIAL FEATURE

gram. The termination of the HMMWV Recapitalization program maintains the non-deployed HMMWV fleet in its cur-rent condition. The services will con-tinue to sustain their legacy HMMWV fleet until the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle enters the inventory.

GCV Moves toward Starting LineAll eyes for the future are on the

Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV). In FY 2009, the Army initiated the new GCV to provide soldiers essential protected mobility that is required to operate across the full spectrum of activi-ties. Significant delays have hampered the progress of this key program. The Army entered the Technology Devel-opment Phase in August 2011, but the program was delayed due to a contract award protest.

In February the BAE Systems – Northrop Grumman GCV team pre-sented details of its GCV proposal (Figure 2). The team’s offering includes a hybrid

electric drive propulsion system that en-ables force protection and mobility in a lighter vehicle, while accommodating future growth in power requirements and new technologies. That allows the ve-hicles to meet the demands of near-term operations, while providing a platform for future integration and growth at low risk and cost.

According to BAE Systems, this matches or exceeds the mine and EFP protection of RG-33 MRAP. It employs tailorable combinations of armor pack-ages on a tough, space-efficient steel core hull. The vehicle has an unmanned tur-ret that provides improved survivability and an upgrade path for future weapon systems. The BFV dual feed 25 mm provides soldiers with combat proven reliability and more ready rounds. Im-portant to the embedded computing market, the platform’s C4ISR system is an open architecture enabling upgrades and infrastructure support now and in the future.

Embedded Computing Opportunities

The kinds of embedded computing products suitable for military vehicles cover a wide range. Chief among these are traditional slot-card systems using VME now and OpenVPX—either alone or in hybrid VME/VPX systems. But rugged box systems are also a new main-stay solution for military vehicles. One relatively recent trend is the emergence of flat, enclosed box-level systems that offer a much smaller footprint than ATR boxes for example. An example of this type of product is the A175 from Aitech Defense Systems (Figure 3). It’s a rugged, self-contained, EMC/EMI-protected Re-mote Interface Unit (RIU) I/O expan-sion subsystem that provides dynamic mission profile reprogramming. The subsystem uses platform location moni-toring built into the onboard FPGA to recognize its physical location within the platform and communicate with the main mission computer, allowing the

Figure 2

A rendering of BAE Systems’ and Northrop Grumman’s offering into the Ground Combat Vehicle competition—it checks in at 70 tons. For a video describing the details of this proposed GCV design go to www.cotsjournalonline.com/gcv


SPECIAL FEATURE

unit to alter its functionality “on-the-fly” or at power up.

Also classified as a data concentrator unit (DCU), the A175 optimizes SWaP (size, weight and power) with dimen-sions of only 7” x 7” x 1.3” and a weight of less than 2.5 lbs (the approximate weight of one 6U conduction-cooled VMEbus board), while drawing only 10W, or about the same as a standard household incandescent nightlight. A large variety of I/O interfaces and large user-programmable FPGAs make the A175 useful in highly data-centric envi-ronments such as a remote interface data concentrator or an engine and power train data monitor, as well as in vehicle prognostics data collection and condi-tion-based maintenance (CBM).

Security for Vehicle ComputersAnother technology area of military

vehicles is the emphasis on security and secure systems. Along those lines, two months ago Wave Systems received a con-tract from the U.S. Army to implement solutions for the Army’s self-encrypting

drives (SEDs) in support of Army opera-tions. For its vehicle-mounted comput-ers, the Army is exploring the enablement of SEDs with Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) in its systems in order to miti-gate the possibility of data being com-promised if hardware were to fall into enemy hands. Wave has been retained to provide expertise in the area of SEDs and TPMs to help yield the maximum security advantage of these technologies while minimizing the disruptive impact to Army’s fielding and sustainment.

Trusted computing standards pro-vide capabilities that can be leveraged in many mission systems where device assurance and integrity and data pro-tection are required. As the adoption of trusted computing continues to grow across all platforms, there are many ways this industry-standard technol-ogy can be leveraged to reduce costs and improve security and assurance of any computing system.

An aspect of C4ISR that’s specifi-cally vehicle related is the Warfighter Information Network–Tactical (WIN-

T). WIN-T is the Army’s on-the-move, high-speed, high-capability backbone communications network, linking warf-ighters in the battlefield with the Global Information Grid (GIG). This network is intended to provide command, con-trol, communications, computers, intel-ligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) support capabilities. The sys-tem is being developed as a network for reliable, secure and seamless video, data, imagery and voice services for the warf-ighters in the theater to enable decisive combat actions.

The WIN-T program consists of four increments. Increment 1 (Inc 1) provides “networking at the halt” by upgrading the Joint Network Node (JNN) satellite capability to access the Ka-band defense Wideband Global Satellite (WGS). Incre-ment 2 (Inc 2) provides initial network-ing on-the-move to the battlefield. Incre-ment 3 (Inc 3) provides full networking on-the-move via air tier. Increment 4 (Inc 4) provides protected satellite com-munications on-the-move. The FY 2013 Budget Request procures and continues to field WIN-T Inc 1 to the Army, with a Ka satellite upgrade. Fielding of Inc 1 will be completed by the end of this quarter, and Inc 1b Material Work Order (MWO) fielding will start in the fourth quarter of FY2012.

Comms On-The-MoveSeparate from WIN-T, some are

offering point solutions that do Com-munications-on-the-Move (COTM) from vehicle-mounted platforms. An example is Lockheed Martin’s Com-munications-on-the-Move (COTM) kit. It gives warfighters access to vari-ous networks without having to incor-porate racks of equipment in their ve-hicles. This platform-agnostic system is a “network in a box” and its configura-tion can be tailored to meet changing mission requirements, eliminating the need for vehicles to be tailored specifi-cally for mobile communications.

Depending on the mission per-formed, the kit can be integrated from one platform to another in less than one hour. It is completely scalable, provides SATCOM connectivity and can support

Figure 3

The A175 is a rugged, self-contained, EMC/EMI-protected Remote Interface Unit (RIU) I/O expansion subsystem that provides dynamic mission profile reprogramming. The subsystem can recognize its physical location within the platform and communicate with the main mission computer.


SPECIAL FEATURE

anything from small unit missions with critical voice, data and video mission command services to filling the com-munications needs for a brigade com-bat team command post with complete battle staff.

This sophisticated suite of com-munications gear includes servers, solid state storage, a network switch and a router. The kit can push various types of broadband data such as satellite im-agery down to small, company-level units that lack wideband connections. It can also equip vehicles with a com-munications link to satellite, Enhanced Position Location Reporting System, Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System and UHF/VHF Line of Sight. Developed as a Lockheed Mar-tin research and development project, the COTM kit was recently tested last year at the 2011 Joint Users Interoper-ability Communications Exercise. The kit is designated at Technology Readi-ness Level (TRL) 7, which means that the technology is sufficiently proven, and can be immediately incorporated into vehicles.

Vehicle Display SubsystemsNo matter how sophisticated and

robust a vehicle-mounted network is, it’s the warfighter’s eyes that make use of the edge of those networks. That calls for display systems that are suited for the harsh environment of a mobile ground platform. Feeding those needs, GE Intelligent Platforms has developed two rugged intelligent vehicle displays that are designed for deployment in harsh environments such as tanks and other ground combat vehicles for ap-plications including embedded train-ing, 360° situational awareness, terrain visualization and Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) as well as commander and gunner dis-play consoles.

Both integrate advanced process-ing capabilities to deliver a complete, self-contained, COTS display solu-tion with a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) that enables prime con-tractors and OEMs to shorten time-to-market, minimize program risk

and more easily add value to create a competitive advantage. The IVD2010 (Figure 4) and IVD2015 from GE In-telligent Platforms also include the advanced thermal management capa-bilities necessary for deployment in confined spaces.

The 10.4” screen IVD2010 and 15” screen IVD2015 XGA (1,024 x 768) smart displays both incorporate not only an Intel Core2 Duo processor operating at 2.26 GHz but also a 96-core NVIDIA GT 240 GPU. Together with 4 Gbytes of SDRAM3 memory and four simultane-ous video inputs, this equips them to handle the most demanding, sophisti-cated graphics applications such as pic-ture-in-picture and symbology overlay, stitching multiple videos into a single

panorama, and allows high-performance GPGPU applications to be deployed di-rectly on the display unit.

Both the IVD2010 and IVD2015 also include display features designed to deliver optimum screen visibility and usability, thereby maximizing person-nel effectiveness. These features include LED illumination for sunlight readabil-ity and MIL-STD-3009 NVIS (Night Vision Imaging System) compatibility; a multitouch resistive touchscreen; and a high-quality optical stack-up with toughened glass.

Figure 4

The IVD2010 display system has a 10.4” screen and incorporates an Intel Core2 Duo processor operating at 2.26 GHz and a 96-core NVIDIA GT 240 GPU.


SPECIAL FEATURE

The DoD’s commitment to a Mod-ular Open System Architecture (MOSA) is driving the use of open

system approaches both from the tech-nical and the procurement perspectives. An implementation of the MOSA policy is the U.S. Army’s VICTORY (Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperabil-ity) initiative, whose charter is to define a standard approach for intra-vehicle networking to drive interoperability and drastically reduce component redun-dancy and the resulting inefficient use of limited real estate in combat vehicles caused by the use of “stovepipe” or “bolt-on” subsystems.

Today, it is common to find combat vehicles with a SWAP-C (space/weight/power and cost) burden due to the use of separate federated systems that have no ability to share their functionalities or data. This overburdening limits the space available for new capabilities, as well as the space available for the warf-ighter, within the vehicle (Figure 1). The VICTORY initiative encourages the use of COTS open system standards and re-duces redundancy, not only to make ad-ditional space available, but also to reduce weight and drive down the consumption

David Jedynak, Manager, Advanced SolutionsCurtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions

The legacy of stovepipe military vehicle electronics makes for difficulties as more computing systems are added. The VICTORY architecture helps solve those problems by providing a standard approach for intra-vehicle networking.

VICTORY Initiative Lays Path to Improve Vehicle C4ISR Designs


RadiosFBCB2

CREWSensors

PlatformLimits

Com

plexit

y

Power

Weight

Size

Crew CompartmentFlexibility

As current trendcontinues

Military Vehicle Problems to Solve1) Overcrowded / Inflexible Platform Crew Areas2) Need to Add Capabilities / Equipment

Figure 1

The VICTORY architecture helps solve military vehicle issues that get more acute as more electronics are added.

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www.aviftech.com


SPECIAL FEATURE

of power. The additional space in the ve-hicle has very real benefits related to un-der armor storage of ammunition and supplies. Even better, improving SWAP-C conditions inside the vehicle reduces overall vehicle mass, improving vehicle performance.

The VICTORY initiative, which is not tied to any specific program or platform, coordinates input between government, academia and industry participants (Fig-ure 2). The initiative was started by PEO C3T (Program Executive Office for Com-mand, Control and Communications-

Tactical), and the resulting consortium and its work are fully backed by PEO Ground Combat Systems (PEO GCS), and PEO Combat Support & Combat Ser-vice Support (PEO CS&CSS). At its core, VICTORY is developing standards for in-teroperability between Line Replaceable

VICTORY Architecture Composition

The architecture defines setsof component types andsystem types that areinstantiated in a VDB design

C4ISR/EW Systems Platform Systems

Audio & TextualCommunications Automotive

PowerDistribution

Lethality

Logistics

Platform Sensors

Crew ProtectionVDB EnablesIntegration of

C4ISR/EWSystems

VDB EnablesInterfaces to

PlatformSystems

Video &Imagery SA

Threat Detection& Reporting

MissionRecording

SituationalAwarness & C2

Extra-VehicleNetwork Interface

ElectronicWarfare

VICTORY Data Bus(VDB)

Figure 2

The VICTORY architecture abstracts the relationship between C4ISR systems and the military vehicle platforms they’re used on.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Units (LRUs) on combat vehicles. VIC-TORY defines the use of non-proprietary interfaces between heterogeneous LRU subsystems. The resultant open architec-ture standard is not intended to define how LRUs are built, but rather how these LRUs, typically supplied by different ven-dors, can intercommunicate and share data and resources.

A Real-World ExampleTo provide a sense of how today’s

combat vehicles are overburdened, and how the VICTORY architecture will mit-igate this challenge and related perfor-mance limitations, we can consider the example of a vehicle’s Battle Command (BC) application. The BC application in-forms the vehicle commander where the enemy and friendly forces are located in the relevant area of operation. Today’s BC applications rely on a GPS receiver to provide the warfighter’s own location and mapping resources. The vehicle plat-form may also include a Remote Weapon Station (RWS) and an acoustic shot de-tection system that can locate the direc-tion of incoming fire. On today’s combat vehicles these three subsystem types are standalone and do not interoperate with each other.

A useful metaphor for today’s stove-pipe combat vehicle LRUs is to consider what desktop computing would be like if one required a separate and non-interfaced system, likely from different vendors, for word processing, spreadsheets and pre-sentation software. Essentially, this is the operating environment in today’s combat vehicles, where there is limited interoper-ability and almost no sharing of data or resources. This is the exact problem that VICTORY aims to eliminate.

In the example, after the shot de-tection system identifies a location, the vehicle commander must take that data and physically move to another console to enter that data into the BC applica-tion. Next, the RWS must be aimed to-ward the target. With a VICTORY ar-chitecture, the BC application is run on shared processing, reducing the onboard electronics. Using VICTORY standard network messages, the threat detection system is able to communicate with both

the BW application and RWS through the VICTORY Databus (based on Giga-bit Ethernet). The shot detection system is now able to deliver a standard message type, with timestamp, accuracy level and GPS location data that is used by the BC application and enables the RWS to in-stantaneously “slew to cue” to target the imminent threat automatically. The in-teroperability delivered by the VICTORY architecture significantly increases com-bat effectiveness.

IP-Based NetworkingBecause VICTORY LRUs commu-

nicate over distributed IP-based net-works (exploiting cutting-edge com-mercial networking technology such as Web Services, SOAP and XML), it is now possible to eliminate redundant system components such as displays, keyboards and GPS receivers. A single keyboard and video display are all that is required for the user to control all the subsystems.

Figure 3

VICTORY compliance is applicable to a variety of combat vehicle platforms such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.


SPECIAL FEATURE

The use of open system architectures fostered by VICTORY ensures that cus-tomers have true choice with access to best-in-class cost-effective solutions by eliminating the deployment of propri-etary interfaces and non-interoperable technologies. Further, by establishing a standard approach for LRU network in-terfaces, VICTORY will ease and speed the use of LRUs across various platforms, bringing the proven COTS model, al-

ready embraced on the Line Replace-able Module (LRM) level, to the LRU. Open standards and a myriad of vendor choices will lower costs by reducing the subsystem “lock-in” typical in today’s larger programs.

For an embedded COTS vendor like Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu-tions (CWCDS), VICTORY means a level playing field to compete and provide the market with a full range of interoperable

COTS-based C4ISR components includ-ing computers, network switches, applica-tion processors and multiple LRUs for use on many vehicles. VICTORY ensures that products from CWCDS can interoperate with solutions from competing vendors. This eases the customer’s integration task while significantly reducing design risk and time-to-market, all to the benefit of the warfighter’s effectiveness.

Standard Rolls ForwardThe VICTORY standardization pro-

cess began in May 2010. An initial time-line was established, targeting release of a deployable, usable revision 1.0 VICTORY Specification by the June/July 2011 time-frame. The Revision A VICTORY Archi-tecture standard, describing the approach, components and services, was released in April 2011. The detailed 1.0 VICTORY Specification, detailing requirements and message sets, was delivered in June 2011, as scheduled. In early 2012, the VICTORY Specification 1.1 was released, adding more subsystem message sets and recommended standard military rugged (MIL-STD-38999) connectors for Ether-net connections, adopting a standard in use by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA). The VICTORY working groups will continue to incorporate additional vehicle and C4ISR/EW subsystems in the roadmap to VICTORY 2.0.

Vendors are already beginning to see VICTORY compliance as a requirement for new Light Tactical Vehicle subsystems as well as in the emerging modernization requirements for combat vehicle plat-forms. This means that open standard-based rugged subsystem suppliers like CWCDS can provide critical programs such as Abrams, Bradley and Stryker Modernization, and the Joint Light Tacti-cal Vehicle program (Figure 3), with their technology and packaging leadership, delivering standard-compliant products and their resulting flexibility, modularity, compatibility and reduced cost.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense SolutionsAshburn, VA.(703) 779-7800.[www.cwcdefense.com].

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Our technology keeps advancing. Our commitment remains unchanged.GE Intelligent Platforms has a rich history of providing leading-edge rugged computing and communications technologies to the military and aerospace sector. For our part, we strive to ensure that our engineering designs provide best-in-class performance, ease of technology implementation, and the ability to provide the lowest total cost of ownership of your system through the lifecycle of the platform. With high-performance products such as our new 6U VPX SBC625, CompactPCI XCR15 and VME XVR15 single board computers based on 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ technology, we stand ready to provide you with exactly the technology you need to build the best system possible.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

As military and aerospace electronic systems become more complex, new challenges become prevalent.

Effectively locating and resolving prob-lems becomes more complex with the in-creased computing density and complexi-ties of multiprocessor systems. Extensive functional and stress testing of both new system designs and mature systems are also increasingly complex analysis tasks. Better understanding of component and subsystems operations in a variety of en-vironments and over time is important for system qualification, calibration, up-grading, and safety-critical design.

The time and effort related to finding errors and bugs is an increasing amount of the overall system verification budget and typically increases in direct propor-tion to the complexity of a given system and application. Therefore, improving the understanding of computing systems at every level of integration for a range of operations is critical to successful system development and deployment. Detailed functional visibility into the system op-eration is one of the most important tools an engineer can have for optimizing and maintaining the system.

Neal Stollon, CTOHDL Dynamics

As military electronic systems get more complex, the process of doing system debug and verification become ominous. The IEEE Nexus 5001 standard provides a framework that smoothes the way.

IEEE Instrumentation Standard Suits Needs of Military System Designs


NEXUS 5001 Implementation ClassesNexus Class Services Features

Class 1 Basic run controlStatic debugging Breakpoints

Single step Set breakpoints and watchpoints Two breakpoints minimum Device identificationStatic memory and I/O access

Class 2Instruction TraceWatchpoints

Watchpoints Ownership Trace Program Trace

All Class 1 featuresMonitor process ownership in Real-Time program tracing

Class 3Data TraceRead/write Access

Data TraceReal-time read/writeTransfers

All Class 2 featuresAccess memory and I/O in real timeReal-Time data tracing

Class 4Memory and PortSubstitution

Memory SubstitutionPort Replacement

All Class 3 featuresStart traces on watchpoint occurrence program execution from Nexus port

Figure 1

The IEEE 5001 standard roughly groups features in terms of four classes of increasing complexity.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

An effective method to address these requirements is by monitoring and controlling the system hardware to

discover and debug errors. Adding in-strumentation to a design enables bet-ter functional observability and control

of systems to address more subtle issues related to integration and environment. A standards-based approach, IEEE-ISTO 5001 (aka Nexus 5001), is a robust and effective mechanism to implement embedded instruments. Nexus 5001 as a standard provides a consistent frame-work for a spectrum of analysis capabil-ities, over an increasing range of inter-faces, which address support and debug of complex systems.

Whether at a board or a chip level, systems contain diverse subsystem com-ponents, typically including both proces-sors and dedicated logic. System prob-lems may be due to hardware or software, or a combination of hardware, software and external factors. Problems may be masked or obscured by levels of board and system unit hierarchy making detec-tion and resolution difficult. Historically, the process of systems debugging relies on a combination of system level analy-sis, detailed (RTL or gate) simulation and instrumentation-based analysis.

For large and complex systems veri-fication, system level approaches may be limited in ability to simulate and analyze the required functional details of large systems. Where standalone hardware or software errors may be commonly found using various simulation verification ap-

A Basic Nexus 5001 Architecture

TargetProcessor

orSubsystem

Debug Data

Debug Data

In

Out

Debug Ctrl

TCODE &MessageControl/

Formatting

JTAGRegisters

AUX/SerDes In Port

AUX/SerDes Out Port

JTAG Port:

Data InPort FSM

Data OutPort FSM

JTAGFSM

NexusRegisters

Figure 2

This high level overview shows the basic elements of Nexus 5001 architecture. Key to the concept is that information is transferred as packet messages consisting of fields that include information being transferred as well as information about the information.

The Nexus 5001-2012 StandardThe 2012 Nexus 5001 specification release adds support for 1149.7 and Aurora SerDes standard

interfaces. These provide significant systems advantages in implementing more comprehensive debug instrumentation environments. IEEE 1149.7 is an extension to the 1149.1 JTAG standard that defines 2-wire JTAG interfaces as well as parallel chip level data interfaces (as opposed to 1149.1, which typi-cally uses daisy chained serial data interfaces between chips and/or requires external logic for switch-ing signals between multiple devices without daisy-chaining). 1149.7 also supports advanced test and debug features such as Custom Data Transport and Background Data Transport modes, not available in 1149.1, which improve JTAG data transfer flexibility and throughput.

Aurora Gigabit SerDes instrumentation interface, based on the widely used Aurora link-layer protocol, allows for multiple channels to move trace and other bandwidth-intensive data across point-to-point serial links. Aurora is a scalable low-latency protocol that was originally developed for logic-constrained FPGA implementations, which provides a transparent and flexible framing interface to high-speed serial links.

These standard interfaces allow for the introduction of Nexus 5001 instrumentation into systems with pin and wire limited applications such as mobile devices as well as complex networking and com-puting systems that require large amount of debug data to provide a useful view of system operations.

Additional instrumentation interfaces may also be custom implemented based on Nexus com-mands. Nexus 5001 supports memory accesses to both on and off chip memory elements, transferring information to local memory for transfer and capture using other peripheral interfaces in a system. It also allows the import of specific data from memory for use in debug configurations. As an advanced example, debug-specific instructions (imported under Nexus 5001 control) may be loaded as a substi-tute for normal instruction control. This allows the export of trace and other debug information under processor control.


SPECIAL FEATURE

proaches, more complex interacting er-rors may be beyond the ability to model and simulate effectively. Interactions of hardware and software in a real applica-tion environment can be complex, subtle and can increase with field upgrades, changes in environment, loss of calibra-tion and other issues associated with ex-tended use. Instrumentation-based anal-ysis provides tools that can be used both during prototyping and in the field over the system lifecycle for identifying and rooting out of system problems.

For military and aerospace systems, having external instruments available in the field is often not feasible. In addi-tion, external instrument-based analysis has only limited I/O for access to opera-tions embedded in the board or chip and capturing information related to subtle or infrequent errors. The automotive industry, facing similar challenges, has adopted instrumentation approaches to improve analysis capabilities. For essen-tial functions such as engine and drive trains, most U.S. automotive systems use Nexus 5001-based instrumentation as a

standard method for both analysis and calibration, which may be used in the lab and in the field.

What Is Nexus 5001?As military and aerospace electron-

ics systems do not typically mandate standardization in instrumentation as part of requirements, many custom-ized embedded debug features and implementations have been developed. In particular, instrumentation, while included in many diverse systems, may rely on ad hoc solutions developed over the years. These increase the complex-ity and logistics of system level debug. Other industries, in particular automo-tive electronics, have recognized this issue, with the result being the initial development (in 1999) of a suite of stan-dardized debug instrumentation archi-tectures, and their subsequent adoption as the IEEE 5001 standard, also known as Nexus 5001. Nexus 5001 has devel-oped over the last decade as a standard-based instrumentation system that sup-ports debug of multi and heterogeneous

processing systems with capabilities to address debug of many complex appli-cations in computing, automotive elec-tronics, telecom and so on. The same approach is very well suited to military and aerospace system designs.

Nexus 5001 was developed to address the limitations and concerns on instru-mentation in complex systems. Nexus 5001 defines a modular framework, with features such as packet-based messages, standard and user defined instructions, and user definable fields on many in-structions. Standard instructions include industry proven and best in class features for instruction and data trace and data transfer, monitoring, breakpoints and run control for system debug, and im-porting of data for calibration and port replacement operations. Since debug-re-lated concerns and tradeoffs vary, rang-ing from the increased budgeted logic required for effective system debug to adequate bandwidth and resources to de-bug complex architectures and systems, the IEEE 5001 standard roughly groups these features in terms of four classes of

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SPECIAL FEATURE

increasing complexity, which are sum-marized in Figure 1. These classes are guidelines, and not all system debug features will or need to fit into a given class. A comprehensive definition of the various services and features, along with other topics in this section, is discussed in the IEEE 5001 Nexus specification.

Packet-Based Debug-centric Protocol

At its core and one of the differen-tiating features of Nexus 5001 is that it defines a packet-based debug-centric protocol. This allows a variety of debug operations to be defined for different subsystems that can be supported by a single debug core. The debug core can have assorted instrumentation func-tions that are accessed by standard commands. Nexus 5001 defines stan-dard commands for identification of subsystems, loading and access of on

chip data, including memory accesses, and a diverse set of processor instruc-tion and data trace capabilities. Nexus 5001 also allows creation of user de-fined instrumentation logic, functions and commands that can be used along with the standard commands. This al-lows both the ability to debug using a pre-defined and proven instrumenta-tion environment and to implement custom or application-specific instru-mentation solutions that would then co-exist with the Nexus 5001 defined and implemented infrastructure.

A high level overview of the Nexus 5001 architecture is shown in Figure 2, Key to the Nexus 5001 concept, infor-mation is transferred as packet messages consisting of fields that include informa-tion being transferred as well as informa-tion about the information. Each message is essentially self-contained and includes packet level fields of information for or

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A System Level Nexus 5001 Configuration

Subsystem 1

core

core

core core

TraceRAM

LocalNexus

Subsystem 2

Subsystem 3

Subsystem 4

Processor Cross-triggers

1149.1 JTAG chain

JTAG

2-wire (1149.7)

TraceBuffer

TraceCombinerRouter

Serdes

Channels

BidirectionalFor calibrationcapabilities

DebugControlMessages

DebugDataMessages

Figure 3

This example implementation uses 1149.7 and Aurora Gigabit SerDes in a system level configuration.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

from tools about the source or destina-tion, type of information provided, the register location, timing relative to other information and so on. The source or destination of this information can be a set of Nexus registers, some of which are fully defined and others of which are open for vendor or user-specific applications. The type of debug message is defined through a TCODE header field in each packet. The Nexus 5001 specification de-

fines standardized TCODEs, which range from general purpose register accesses to application-specific trace operations.

Multicore with Nexus 5001Nexus 5001 architecture for multi-

core applications allows several different implementations of a debug interface to be instantiated. Specific instruments can be implemented as required for a given subsystem using Nexus 5001-defined

interfacing guidelines for passing infor-mation between the subsystem and the Nexus interfaces and registers. Standard Nexus 5001 commands typically use Nexus-defined registers. Custom or ap-plication-specific instruments can imple-ment user defined registers, which may be mapped to a reserved space or a memory map. Since the transfer of information is message based, a variety of schedul-ing and transfer of messages between the Nexus 5001 interfaces and different cores are possible.

Alternate debug approaches such as instrumented software require that the application software is modified in order to capture debug information. This can introduce changes in processor flow that may change performance or mask errors. Nexus instrumentation incorporates on-chip trace and control logic that oper-ates in a parallel background mode to the processor, which allows capture of debug information from hardware operations running at full speed. As such, Nexus in-strumentation typically does not reduce processor performance and is unlikely to introduce unexpected changes or laten-cies that can mask a problem.

Previous revisions of Nexus 5001, in common with other types of debug instruments, support 1149.1 JTAG and streaming parallel trace ports. New to the 2012 Nexus 5001 specification re-lease, 1149.7 and Aurora SerDes standard interfaces are supported, which provide significant systems advantages in imple-menting more comprehensive debug instrumentation environments. An ex-ample using 1149.7 and Aurora Gigabit SerDes in a system level configuration is shown in Figure 3. The Sidebar “The Nexus 5001-2012 Standard” describes the details of the 2012 enhancements.

Why Use Nexus 5001? Debug instrumentation is valuable

during the design process as both an ex-tension of the verification process and over a system’s life cycle as a method of exploring and debugging those opera-tional scenarios that are not too realis-tically possible with simulation-based tools. The key consideration of including instrumentation in a design is that for a

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SPECIAL FEATURE

modest investment in hardware design and logic, it allows for real-time testing of hardware and software both under con-ditions being simulated and in real-life environments that may be too complex or costly to include in a simulation.

Components with debug resources, such as processors and FPGAs, work dif-ferently, have different data formats and are not trivial to integrate. Nexus 5001 provides a common debug framework

that can be used with both diverse pro-cessor and logic systems. The ability to comprehensively debug systems that in-clude different devices and subsystems is important to the design validation and verification concepts that are central to the DO-254 and 17B initiatives.

Nexus 5001 provides a best in class standards-based approach to the prob-lems of debug of complex and diverse systems. It has application at board level

as well as chip levels of integration to discover and address problems and root causes of issues using real-time trace and analysis features, as well as supporting calibration and BIST operations. Nexus 5001 provides a comprehensive standard set of debug options for processor and multiprocessor systems along with fea-tures to easily integrate in custom and user defined instruments. Nexus 5001 use has been proven on over 15 differ-ent processor architectures and has been used extensively in reliability critical ap-plications such as automotive engine and power train electronics.

More Interface OptionsNexus 5001 has supported industry

standard 1149.1 JTAG and parallel trace and calibration ports since its initial re-lease in 1999. With the release of IEEE 5001-2012, Nexus 5001 also supports emerging debug interfaces such as IEEE 1149.7, which allows new JTAG features such as 2-wire interfaces and parallel chip and board level debug configurations. This allows subsystems to be intercon-nected for debug purposes with a mini-mal pin interface at the chip, board and systems levels.

IEEE 5001-2012 also specifies high-speed trace using industry standard SerDes interfaces, allowing improved real-time trace bandwidth needed to sup-port multicore architectures. Nexus 5001 is supported by an industry organization, the 5001 Nexus Forum, which provides resources for both technical and busi-ness support of the IEEE 5001 standard. In complex environments where system reliability and accessibility are critical, Nexus 5001 in conjunction with other debug instrumentation solutions provide real advantages in helping to observe, control and understand operations of complex computing systems.

Neal Stollon is chairman of the 5001 Nexus Forum, which provides industry support for Nexus.

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Especially in this period of lean budgets, tried and true embed-ded computing architectures like

VME are expected to enjoy continued success. Today more than 400 programs in the military are using VME. VME has been able to remain backward compat-ible and facilitate technology refresh in military programs. Now, VME upgrades and refreshes are much more likely to be funded, rather than forklift upgrades re-quiring new backplanes, packaging and power supplies.

All that said, there are many pro-grams—or parts of programs—that need to make use of the most advanced computing technologies. Aircraft com-puters need to process more sensor data on board in real time to identify targets and react to them (Figure 1). Data rates from front-end sensors con-tinue to climb and require much higher intersystem bandwidth. OpenVPX is needed in such situations. To help the legacy world of VME work along-side OpenVPX, the VPX backplane architecture allows for f lexible hybrid configurations. These configurations include f lexible topologies, multiple signaling protocols, and hybrid core


There are numerous situations where neither serving legacy VME nor accommodating advanced OpenVPX can be sacrificed. That’s where hybrid VME/OpenVPX technologies blend the two worlds.

Hybrid Backplanes Link Legacy VME with OpenVPX Performance

Hybrid Systems Blend OpenVPX and Legacy VME

Figure 1

The F/A-18F Super Hornet is an example where hybrid VME/OpenVPX technology makes sense. Such aircraft have reliable avionics systems based on legacy electronics. Meanwhile, upgrades to sensors call for faster data processing on board in real time to identify targets and react to them.

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architectures comprised of mixed VPX and legacy VME64x configurations.

Designed That Way at the StartThe VPX architecture is designed to

simultaneously support a mix of bus seg-ments. For example, these integrated bus segments can be configured in full mesh, pipeline or single or dual star topologies. It is also permissible to have some slots con-figured as legacy parallel VME. An advan-tage of a hybrid backplane is that it permits the use of existing hardware and preserves years of development and system cost.

Hybrid backplanes are a good strat-egy when an existing legacy board per-forms a function that won’t cause a sys-tem bottleneck and can’t be replaced since it was customized for a unique and very specific purpose. An example is a micro-wave tuning module designed to deliver unique signal detection capabilities in a specific frequency range. To recreate such a module in a new standard form factor, like OpenVPX, would require a prohibi-tive amount of engineering while adding risk to the program.

In many ways, hybrid topology think-ing is fundamental to the basic architec-ture of VPX. Many of the leading vendors of embedded computer boards who col-laborated within the VITA 46 working group had different fabric interconnect topologies in mind for their markets. Some were best served by pipeline archi-tectures; other types of applications are ideal for mesh topologies. Combining to-pologies isn’t that much of a leap—where one group of cards is connected in a mesh and other groups of cards pass data from one card to another in a straight pipeline. With that in mind, it was agreed from the very beginning that the VPX backplane would allow system architects to select the ideal mix of topologies.

The Dot Spec ApproachWith the goal of defining the

proper usage of a variety of optional to-pologies and their mixed use, the VITA 46 working group developed specific “dot-specs” that define each supported topology. VITA 46.0 is the base specifi-cation and sets the requirements for the backplane’s differential signal assign-

ments and location of channels. VITA 46.1 defines parallel VME within a VPX slot as was discussed earlier. The VITA

1000Base-T

AIMVME 64xSlot VITA

31.1

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P1

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Figure 2

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PCIe

Open VPXPayload slot

VXS Slot41.441.6

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Figure 3

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46.1 dot-spec allows the integrator to specify how many slots will support the parallel VME signals. All slots would also conform to the basic requirements of VITA 46.0.

The backplane is where the hybrid system is realized. An OpenVPX back-plane profile is a physical definition of a backplane implementation. That pro-file has details such as the number and

type of slots that are implemented and the topologies used to interconnect them. A backplane profile is a descrip-tion of channels and buses that intercon-nect slots and other physical entities in a backplane. Profile parameters are used to further describe properties of a back-plane profile. It helps to understand some of the general hybrid backplane options in order to see what’s possible, although

there are ultimately many variations that could be implemented.

At one extreme, a relatively simple approach is shown in Figure 2, based on an interface module and a VME VITA 31.1 compact packet switched backplane (cPSB over VME). Since VITA 31.1 is a full 1000BASE-T implementation and VPX uses a 1000-BX SERDES interface, a PHY conversion must be completed in

Figure 4

This Hybrid 3U 8-slot VME64x/VPX backplane is compliant to the VITA 46.0 baseline specification. It offers 8 slots of VME and VPX with a full mesh X4 configuration for PCI Express.

Figure 5

Elma’s VPX Hybrid Backplane has 5 mesh slots and 2 legacy VME64x slots. It features a 16-layer controlled impedance stripline design and provides RTM support.

©2012 Themis Computer. All rights reserved. Themis Computer, Themis and the Themis logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Themis Computer. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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order to interconnect the Ethernet in-terfaces. This can be done on an active interface module, which is created in order to break out I/O. This conversion can be placed onto that module. The hy-brid backplane must be laid out to make the connections from the P0 pins in the VITA 31.1 slot to the designated user-de-fined pins on the AIM module. Figure 3 meanwhile shows an example of a hybrid

system at the opposite extreme. It shows a more advanced approach with the VXS/VME slot wired by the hybrid backplane to both an OpenVPX payload slot and a switch slot, using different communica-tion protocols.

Hybrid Backplane SolutionsWith VPX—and the more rigorously

defined OpenVPX—firmly established

at this point, there’s a whole ecosystem of products to feed the demand for hy-brid VME/VPX designs. An example is Hartmann Electronic’s Hybrid 3U 8-slot VME64x/VPX backplane (Figure 4). Compliant to the VITA 46.0 baseline specification, the unit supports VITA 46.1 VME and VITA 46.4 PCI Express. It offers 8 slots of VME and VPX with a full mesh X4 configuration for PCI Express. M4 studs are provided for power entry, and the product provides a JTAG connec-tor on the first and last slot. Operating temperature is -40° to +85°C, with a stor-age temperature of -55° to +85°C.

Dawn’s Hybrid VME64x/VPX backplane, the VPX-6053, meanwhile is designed to offer a natural migratory development environment and path for upgrading systems to the latest VPX tech-nology. This backplane allows for plug-in of both legacy or VME64x boards and VPX boards into the same backplane. It fits any Eurocard packaging standard-based card cage as it meets the form fac-tor and mounting provisions called out in the VITA specification. This 6U 5-slot Hybrid VME64x/VPX development backplane has 2 slots of VME64x on .8-inch pitch and 3 slots of VPX on 1-inch pitch with TM connectors on one back-plane. Based on a 22-layer, stripline/dif-ferential signal design, the backplane has transition module connectors provided at all rear slots. The backplane may be partially populated for cost savings. Its extremely rigid construction eliminates the need for stiffeners.

Flexible Interconnect SchemeElma Electronic’s hybrid offering is

its VPX Hybrid Backplane with 5 mesh slots and 2 legacy VME64x slots. The 5+2 slot OpenVPX Hybrid Backplane features a 16-layer controlled imped-ance stripline design. The backplane provides RTM support. Bustronic of-fers other VPX configurations in a 3U 6-slot, 6U 5-slot, 6U 17-slot Hybrid and has developed a wealth of custom con-figurations. Offering a highly f lexible interconnect scheme that can support either differential or single ended con-nections, the product supports redun-dant meshes, pipeline topologies and

Untitled-4 1 2/16/11 9:51:50 AM

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cluster computing. It provides built-in ESD ground protection in every slot.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions attacks the hybrid VPX/VME challenge through its custom backplane design service. It’s Hybricon brand en-gineered packaging backplane and mid-plane solutions support all of the major embedded computing bus architectures including OpenVPX, VPX-REDI, VPX,

CompactPCI, VME, VME64x, VXS, MicroTCA. The product line supports hybrid backplanes with two or more of those bus architectures, high-speed switch fabrics to >10 Gbaud, custom buses and custom I/O panel CCAs. Its custom backplane solutions can include rear transition connectors for mid-plane applications using RTMs. They also offer chassis-level solutions with standard or

custom backplanes, as well as integrated enclosures including payload. An ex-ample configuration that Curtiss-Wright has designed before includes a 6U 13-slot VPX-VME64x backplane. It supports VPX (VITA 46/48/65/68) and VME64x.

SIE Computing Solutions addresses the hybrid question up front in the design process with its 522 VPX Series Develop-ment / Test Station. Designed with the development engineer in mind, the 522 VPX Series incorporates the flexibility of hybrid architectures in the form of 5 VPX mesh slots and 2 conventional VME64X slots for legacy applications with unob-structed accessibility to cards under test for probe access with intelligent system monitoring capabilities.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense SolutionsAshburn, VA.(703) 779-7800.[www.cwcdefense.com].

Dawn VME ProductsFremont, CA.(510) 657-4444.[www.dawnvme.com].

Elma Electronic SystemsFremont, CA.(510) 656-3400.[www.elma.com].

Hartmann ElectronicSpringfield, OH.(937) 324-4422.[www.hartmann-electronic.com].

Mercury Computer SystemsChelmsford, MA.(866) 627-6951.[www.mc.com].

SIE Computing SolutionsBrockton, MA.(800) 926-8722.[www.sie-computing.com].

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Today the choice of power supplies, power converters and batteries can rank as a make or break decision

in embedded military computer systems. With more and more computing stuffed into smaller spaces, power has direct im-plications on the size, cooling and mobility of a system. Military programs—land, sea and air—are all in some way dependent on technology trends affecting military batter-ies, DC/DC converters, power supply mod-ule bricks and slot-card power supplies.

Starting on the battery side, vendors continue to advance their power densi-ties both with new chemistry innovations and by refining their existing processes. Lithium-ion for its part remains the favorite choice for today’s computing-based systems. Along those lines, Saft’s advanced Li-ion energy storage system will support the technology development phase of the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program. As a member of the BAE Systems GCV team, which has been awarded a contract for the initial phase of the program, Saft has entered into an agreement to design and build ul-tra-high-power batteries for the vehicle’s hybrid electric drive system.

Battery System for the GCVComprised of ultra-high-power, high-

voltage VL 5U cells, the Li-ion energy

storage system will support the vehicle’s hybrid electric drive system when it is not relying on traditional carbon-based fuels; an example of an operation that would uti-lize this technology would be silent watch missions. In addition, the system will provide thermal management and act as a high-power traction motor battery. The technology development phase of the GCV

program is a 24-month program aimed at completing preliminary design reviews in order to begin building prototype systems for the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program. Saft’s contribution of an ultra-high-power en-ergy storage system will allow BAE Systems to prove the advantages of Li-ion technol-ogy in this hybrid electric vehicle.


Military systems can be as impressive and functional as ever, but without power they’re useless. Battery and power supply technologies continue to advance their solutions to feed the ever power hungry requirements of today’s defense systems.

Mil Batteries and Power Supplies Advance Their Game

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Smart munitions need smart batteries: TLM military grade high-energybatteries. Unlike reserve and thermal batteries, TLM cells require nosquibs or thermal insulation, yet deliver 2Wh of energy and handle 15Ahigh current pulses (5A continuous). These rugged little warriors alsofeature incredibly long life and high survivability, and are fully compliantwith MIL-STD 810G for shock, vibration, acceleration (50,000 gn), andspin (30,000 rpm). Let us shock and awe you with our low COTS pricing.

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

Another direction of battery innova-tion is the drive to power-dense portable solutions. Feeding that need, Contour Energy Systems earlier this year signed a technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel, a strategic investment firm that identifies innovative technology solutions to support the missions of the U.S. Intel-ligence Community. This strategic part-nership between Contour Energy Systems and IQT will advance portable power so-lutions for various terrestrial and emerg-ing applications.

IQT’s strategic investment in Con-tour Energy Systems provides funding for new battery developments that are directly applicable to current application power requirements at many U.S. govern-ment agencies. Contour’s advanced lith-ium/carbon fluoride battery technology has a gravimetric energy density twice that of either sulfur dioxide or manganese dioxide. This is significant for military applications because by doubling the en-ergy density, the weight of a battery pack needed for a mission of a given duration can be cut in half, or the same size and weight in battery packs could double the mission’s duration.

An example of AA-sized battery tech-nology aimed directly at military/aero-space is Tadiran’s high-voltage/high-rate AA-sized lithium battery, the TLM 1550. Packing 2Wh of energy at 4.0 volts into an AA-size cell, the TLM 1550 is specifically designed for applications requiring high power, long life and extended storage, such as military/aerospace systems. The AA-sized TLM 1550 features an open cir-cuit voltage of 4.0 volt, and the ability to handle pulses of up to 15A, with 5A max-imum continuous load. The TLM offers very long life in extreme environmental conditions, including a self-discharge rate of less than 3% per year at room temperature, and a temperature range of (-40° to +85°C). Tadiran’s TLM 1550 bat-tery is also extremely safe, as its solvents are non-toxic and non-pressurized and its anode material is less reactive than that found in other lithium cells. The battery has performed well in a variety of safety tests, including nail penetration, crush tests, high-temperature chambers, short circuit and charge tests.

Robust Power Convertor Solutions

Shifting to the power supply and power convertor side of the equation, power system vendors continue to step up with more efficient products, new parti-tioning strategies and increased ruggediza-tion. Choosing power supplies and power conversion electronics can become make or break technical choices because power supplies and converters are critical enablers for meeting today’s rugged requirements.

Vendors like ATC Power Systems not only make military modules but of-fer entire power systems for the military programs. An example of ATC’s offer-ings is its new MIL Power PAC power supply (Figure 1). The unit provides an output power of 500W. Its output volt-ages (up to four) can be 3.3V, 5.0V, +12V, +/- 15V, or 28V. Output features include current limit / short circuit protection, droop compensation for ease of paral-leling and precision clamp output over-voltage protection. It can be configured for output redundancy operation and all

outputs can be independent (no mini-mum load required) and synchronized to a master clock. Efficiencies of over 75 percent are achieved with PFC and OR-ing diodes. For input voltage, the supply supports 103.5 VAC to 126 VAC at 160 Hz per MIL-STD-1399 and 108 VAC to 118 VAC at 1400 Hz per MIL-STD-704. 180 to 425 VDC is supported over single or 3 phase inputs. Military standards support includes MIL-STD-1399, MIL-STD-704 and MIL-STD-461.

The MIL Power PAC supply comes in three mechanical versions. The first is a VME 6U card slot supply in forced air-cooled version. The second is the same but with “D” style connectors on the in-put and output. The last type is a conduc-tion-cooled version—no fins and thick baseplate—with “D” style connectors on the input and output. ATC can also cus-tomize for any application depending on customers’ requirements. ATC currently sells a similar type of (forced air-cooled) unit to the U.S. Navy that is used on sub-marines and aircraft carriers.

Cooling is an issue at high power dis-sipation levels. Targeting that issue, TDI Power offers its patent pending Liqua-Core power management technology. It employs liquid cooling in a modular and scalable architecture. The technology uses a cold plate to wrap the electron-ics with cooling liquid in a sealed pack-age that enables efficient management of waste heat at very high power densities. The cooling liquid employed is either wa-ter or a mixture of water and ethylene gly-col (anti-freeze). As part of their power management technology, TDI Power has developed a DC/AC Inverter that boasts 95% efficiency and has an MTBF of more than 80,000 hours per MIL-HDBK 217. With a power density exceeding 33W/in3, TDI Power can easily create a modu-lar solution for higher power needs. The inverter can also be used as a standalone single-phase inverter or as a single phase in a multiphase system. It is ideal for harsh environment vehicular applications.

Rugged Power SuppliesRugged operation is a key differen-

tiator for military power supplies. Last month Schaefer announced broadened

Figure 2

The Raptor Series of military power supplies offer an extended output voltage range to provide DC outputs from 12 VDC to 52.5 VDC with power ratings from 1200W to 1800W. Parallel capability and other power levels are also available. Single and three-phase input ranges span from 88 VAC to 265 VAC or 125 VDC to 400 VDC.


SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

capabilities for their Raptor Series (Figure 2) of military power supplies. The supplies are designed for harsh military applica-tions such as shelters, armored vehicles, avionics, naval and open air applications. The Raptor’s output voltage range is now extended to provide DC outputs from 12 VDC to 52.5 VDC with power ratings from 1200W to 1800W. Parallel capability and other power levels are also available. Single and three-phase input ranges span from 88 VAC to 265 VAC or 125 VDC to 400 VDC. The series specifies high effi-ciency (85% nominal) and high power factor correction.

The series meets MIL-STD-810D for operating temperature conditions, vibra-tion and shock, and also meets other crit-ical MIL-STD-461 ratings for EMI, navy MIL-STD-1399 and aircraft electrical power MIL-STD-704D, and environmen-tal test methods. A variety of optional protection features include CARC, dark out switches, alarm/controls, auto tem-perature derating, overvoltage protection and reverse polarity protection.

Navy UPS SolutionOne area where battery and power

supply technologies overlap is in the area of Uninterruptible Power Supplies. UPSs are critical for military systems where a power outage can disrupt a mission. Late last year, Acumentrics, working with Earl Industries, modified an existing Rugged-UPS to power a vertically mounted voice-data-video (VDV) network node for the Ford Class Aircraft Carrier (Figure 3). According to Acumentrics, while the com-pany has fielded many shipboard UPS sys-tems, the specifications for the VDV con-tract required significant modifications. After implementation of the adaptations, the newly designed unit was successfully tested and certified to MIL-STD-1399 and MIL-STD-461. Physically, it had to con-form seamlessly to the overall system and into a shock mount enclosure. The battery also needed to be user replaceable from the vertical orientation when the enclosure was in the “rack out” position.

In terms of changing internal components, the inverter portion of the Rugged-UPS had to be integrated between the server and modem. This

was accomplished through two al-terations. First, the team developed a 1U battery pack that would mount in the vertical position. Next, they re-

designed the chassis to eliminate the space of the existing battery compart-ment to save room and provide cabling and connectors to tie into the sepa-

Figure 4

Falcon Electric added a ruggedized wide temperature (-30° to 63°C) extended runtime battery bank option to its SSG and SSG-RP UPS products. The new battery pack gives users over 10 times the battery runtime, compared to the standard 2U battery pack option.

Figure 3

Artist’s depiction of the next generation supercarrier CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford. The lead ship of her class, the carrier is reportedly 75 percent complete and scheduled for launch in 2013 and delivery in 2015.


SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

rate battery pack. Other features were added including multiple AC inputs for redundancy.

In another example of UPS technol-ogy innovation, Falcon Electric recently added a ruggedized wide temperature (-30° to 63°C) extended runtime battery bank option to its popular SSG and SSG-RP UPS products (Figure 4). The wide-temperature-rated batteries provide long back-up runtimes for protecting con-

nected computers and instrumentation operating in harsh environments during a prolonged power outage. The new battery pack gives users over 10 times the battery runtime, compared to Falcon’s standard 2U extended battery pack option.

The new battery bank carries a UL listing when powering Falcon’s unique UL-listed SSG2.5KRP-1. UL is pending for the remaining models in the SSG and SSG-RP Series wide-temperature-rated

UPS product line. The SSGB-1S40-5U 40AH battery bank is a rugged battery option that consists of eight deep cycle, valve regulated lead-acid, maintenance-free 40 amp hour batteries and two in-ternal one amp chargers. The batteries and chargers are housed in a sleek rack-mount enclosure, which takes only 5U (8.75 inches) of vertical rack space. The battery banks may be interconnected or “daisy chained” to provide exceptionally long battery runtimes and can be easily added in the field after the SSG units are installed and in service.

ATC Power SystemsMerrimack, NH.(603) 429.0391.[atcpowersystems-products.com].

AcumentricsWestwood, MA.(781) 461-8251.[www.acumentrics.com].

Contour Energy SystemsAzusa, CA.(626) 610-0660.[www.contourenergy.com].

Falcon ElectricIrwindale, CA.(626) 962-7770.[www.falconups.com].

Saft AmericaCockeysville, MD.(410) 771-3200.[www.saftbatteries.com].

SchaeferHopkinton, MA.(508) 436-6400.[www.schaeferpower.com].

TadiranLake Success, NY.(516) 621-4980.[www.tadiranbat.com].

TDI PowerHackettstown, NJ.(908) 850-5088.[www.tdipower.com].www.vita.com

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

Ruggedized products are rapidly be-coming the preferred choice over so-called rugged products—and

with good reason. Both rugged and rugge-dized equipment provide protection from the rigors and hazards experienced during ground-based, airborne, or shipboard mil-itary deployments. The process from de-sign to manufacture is what differentiates ruggedized from rugged, which refers to a system that has been designed and built from the ground up to deal with a specific hazard or harsh environment. Ruggedized refers to a system that uses commercially available components and modifies them for severe deployment. Given today’s mili-tary missions, especially the demanding terrain and environment of deployments like Afghanistan, the ruggedized product can use already-tested technology and cost-effective production in high volumes.

The economics of the process cannot be understated. Reduced military spending is the likely result of an intense focus on defi-cit reduction, meaning that the costs for any product will be highly scrutinized. This fis-cal environment will not lessen the military’s requirement for delivery of robust electronics to meet specifications in the most economi-cal package available. As daunting a challenge

as cost-reduction is, an even greater chal-lenge lies in the ruggedizing process itself: the modification of commercial products to make them more reliable, compact and lightweight, yet capable of withstanding the

rigors of a severe environment. Technology offers some efficient solutions particularly in the areas of energy transformation and use, but thermal management of heat generated by advanced power operations, smaller foot-

Dennis Scott, Thermal Solutions ManagerNoren Products

Today’s high-power dissipating electronics in military systems are challenged more than ever to remove the heat and control thermal conditions. That means applying the most effective thermal management hardware to ruggedized systems.

Thermal Management: Key to Designing for Harsh Environments

Military Batteries and Power Converters

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A challenging aspect of UAV system design is that airborne UAVs have different thermal requirements than when they are on the ground.

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Untitled-5 1 4/26/12 11:00:43 AM

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

prints and lighter weight materials that are not thermally conductive, is still among the biggest ruggedizing challenges.

Thermal Management and the Military

When it comes to electronics applica-tions, one of the major challenges, regard-

less of military or civilian use, is always to reduce the effects of heat from excess en-ergy, which is damaging if uncontrolled. In fact, the challenge increases exponentially for COTS military products that must con-sistently function in extreme heat or cold conditions—sometimes both in a 24-hour period as is often the case in climate con-

Figure 2

Managing heat requires an understanding of three basic heat concepts: spreading, movement and dissipation. The implementation shown here shows three phase change concepts in one: input pad, heat pipe and heat sink.

Figure 3

Shown here is a variety of heat pipes some with finned sections for heat dissipation.

Untitled-8 1 1/11/12 9:29:08 AM

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Untitled-18 1 5/13/10 5:09:21 PM

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

ditions such as Afghanistan or in fighter aircraft. However, there is more to thermal management than protecting the product from external temperatures. Sandy terrain, airborne dust and vibrations are constant threats to the product’s functional capa-bilities. At the same time, the military has made it clear to designers that limited band-width will be unacceptable for any COTS product—another major challenge since components enabling larger bandwidth generally emit more internal excess energy.

Thermal management’s traditional role has been to remove heat at the source within the product and let it dissipate into the environment, thereby reducing the threat of potential malfunctions. A Feb-ruary 2012 article by David O’Mara in EE Times emphasized the planning and use of new technologies to meet specifications. “Making early choices about power dissipa-tion, design layouts (and) paths for air flow becomes essential to developing rugged sys-tems suitable for mission critical military environments,” O’Mara wrote. The same applies to the ruggedized application.

Thermal management’s task is some-what daunting due to the growing numbers

of high-tech applications that require more complex heat management systems. Con-sider the increasing use of UAVs. The mili-tary needs highly sophisticated and com-puterized engines and equipment to ensure reliable and successful UAV operations. Fre-quently, airborne UAVs have different ther-mal requirements than when they are on the ground (Figure 1). Also with UAVs, it is critical to extend operational time in the air as much as practical. It is not efficient to re-quire large amounts of energy just to provide cooling, yet the systems that cool them may not be the most efficient to serve both ground and airborne conditions. That’s where green technology for COTS comes into play. The goal is to take that excess energy at its most efficient state and manage it to maximize mission and product life—a perfect illustra-tion of green energy. In fact, that is precisely what is happening with technological ad-vancements that are being applied to rugge-dized off-the-shelf military products.

Thermal Management OptionsA commercial product’s transition to

ruggedized requires more than thermal man-agement, minimizing the size and shape, and

Figure 4

Heat pipes can be built in various lengths. Because they are a passive solution they require no additional energy to function.

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

sealing product internals from the outside en-vironment such as sand or debris. Designers also examine the potential for reduction of weight through the use of tough, durable and non-thermally conductive material. Thermal management is always specific to the details of the individual application and can often times be considered a “differentiator.” The battlefield today requires energy resources that are limited. Successful, efficient use of that energy may mean the difference between operational success and failure. Proper ther-mal management not only impacts initial cost and performance, but also factors into product reliability and mission success.

There are plenty of reasons besides profit for companies to develop these dif-ferentiators. One is the most obvious: the ongoing effort to efficiently cool overheat-ing LEDs—a common concern for just about every military application that has an onboard computer, radio, a technologi-cally advanced firing device or night-vision equipment. Heat management may include liquid cooling or thermoelectric coolers that can be fabricated to enable heat removal re-gardless of the size of the components.

Three Heat ConceptsManaging heat requires an understand-

ing of three basic heat concepts: spreading, movement and dissipation—all accept-able but more effective when combined with sophisticated approaches that offer enhanced energy control for the military product (Figure 2). One of the best examples is the spreader plate of aluminum, copper or diamond that can be a solid conductor. Spreading heat entails heat movement from a concentrated or high heat flux source to a secondary exchanger or surface where the heat flux density is less. Reduced density means the secondary exchanger can typically be produced from less expensive materials.

Moving heat transfers high tempera-ture thermal energy to a second object at lower temperatures. This transfer can occur through radiation, conduction, or convection. Transfer methods may in-clude moving heat through a fluid, mov-ing through thermally conductive solid materials or moving the energy through phase change materials. Regardless of how the heat is moved, there must be suf-ficient amounts transferred to an area

where the heat can be dissipated or col-lected for repurposing.

Heat dissipation is the most frequent thermal management choice particularly for extremely sensitive computerized com-ponents. In this case, the heat is simply dis-persed into the air or water. Heat dispersal does not occur at a standard rate and varies dependent upon the amount of friction the heat generates. Ruggedizing from COTS components usually takes more than one of these concepts to effectively manage the heat. All three concepts must be employed for ef-ficient and successful thermal management.

Heat pipes have long been viewed as important cooling components for spread-ing and transferring heat in COTS compo-nents (Figure 3). They have substantially higher thermal conductivities than do solid materials, up to thousands of times more than copper. Heat pipes use phase change from a liquid to a gas and back to a liquid. In this process, heat applied at the surface will cause the liquid inside the pipe to boil and pick up latent heat of vaporization only to move to a colder location within the pipe. The latent heat of vaporization of the fluid

Untitled-7 1 4/26/12 11:03:44 AM

www.nlsdisplays.com/COTS


SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

within the heat pipe is the core of phase-change technology in which thermal energy is absorbed during the evaporator cycle and released in the condenser cycle—another example of efficient heat reduction that can be modified to suit the application. Despite their complexity, heat pipes can be built in various lengths (Figure 4) and have long been accepted for military applications due to their proven reliability—a major require-ment for all ruggedized products. In addi-tion, heat pipes are a passive solution and require no additional energy to function.

Thermal Management Success Story

No one denies that heat management is the biggest challenge in the modifying and ruggedizing process. Parvus, a major pro-vider of COTS mobile routers and embed-ded computer systems for military and aero-space functions, reported a breakthrough in thermal management in its development of cockpit computer subsystems for U.S. Navy tactical aircraft. According to a June 2011 article posted on defensetechbriefs.com, en-gineers had to assure heat transition through

the “stagnant air inside the main subsystem chassis, the air between the main chassis and the air transport rack aluminum chassis, and the ambient air.” The problem was resolved through the use of conduction cooling where it could be best applied and “heat direct con-duction links to ambient air.” Engineers achieved the imperative of keeping thermal resistance to ambient air as low as possible to ensure optimal performance.

In an October 2011 article in Power Electronics Technology, Parvus engineers, Jared Francom and Dave Turner, described the resolution of a thermal management is-sue for a mission computer system through use of a COTS dual-core subsystem to be fitted “with an optimized heat pipe/heat spreader plate as the default configura-tion to maximize application robustness.” The writers predict a continuing evolution of subsystems concurrent with the never-ending challenge of efficient heat manage-ment. “Because of ever increasing processor speeds, advances in thermal management will continue to rank as one of the most important trends in rugged computer de-sign,” wrote Francom and Turner.

Their prediction is clearly accurate and the challenge has to be met if the COTS industry continues to be a resource for the military. Growing demands for so-phisticated and durable computerized ca-pabilities in the harshest of environments has already led to a greater focus by the Defense Department on efficient thermal management capabilities that will ensure the reliability essential to complete the mission. At the same time, COTS con-tractors and vendors will have to meet specifications with a cost-conscious and cost-effective deliverable given the in-evitability of reduced defense outlays for purchases. Increasing capabilities of ad-vanced thermal management technolo-gies are helping to control costs and, most important, assure that the product will perform its task when needed most, dissi-pating the internal heat from the product in the most efficient manner possible.

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TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Long gone are the days when FPGAs were relegated to use as simple inter-face logic between other more im-

portant silicon like processors and memory. Today FPGAs are now complete systems on a chip. The high-end lines of the major FPGA vendors even have general-purpose CPU cores on them. And the military is hungry to use FPGAs to fill processing roles. Devices like the Xilinx Virtex-6 and -7 and the Altera Stratix IV and V are exam-ple FPGAs that have redefined an FPGA as a complete processing engine in its own right. Using those FPGAs, board-level subsystems are able to quickly acquire and process mas-sive amounts of data in real time.

As the signal processing capabilities of FPGAs continue to climb, they’ve become key enablers for waveform-intensive appli-cations like sonar, radar, SIGINT and SDR. Faster FPGA-based DSP capabilities com-bined with an expanding array of IP cores and development tools for FPGAs are en-abling new system architectures. Board-level product developers continue to exploit those FPGA advances to create power-ful compute engines that perform signal

processing computation on the FPGAs themselves. At the same time, FPGAs are enabling a new class of I/O board solution that enables users to customize their I/O as well as do I/O-specific processing func-tions. The product roundup here shows a representative sample of FPGA processing boards on a variety of embedded form fac-tors—including PMC, PCI Express, XMC, VME/VXS, VPX, CompactPCI and FMC.

System developers can now use FPGA chips and boards to build radar receiver systems with a higher instantaneous band-width thanks to the converters, and can handle the corresponding increase in com-pute power required to process the received data streams. An example program that re-lies heavily on FPGA processing is the U.S. Air Force’s Gorgon Stare Wide-Area Persis-tent Surveillance System. Gorgon Stare (GS), developed by the Sierra Nevada led industry

team under the USAF/Big Safari rapid ac-quisition program, has been flying opera-tional missions since April 2011. Hosted on a USAF/General Atomics long-dwell MQ-9 Reaper UAV (Figure 1), each GS orbit pro-vides uninterrupted, 24/7 visible and IR coverage of city-sized areas, providing real-time motion video directly to theater and tactical forces engaged in operations.

In addition to its primary tactical consumers, this system also provides these products in near real time to the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) enterprise for unprecedentedly rapid exploitation and time-sensitive fo-rensic analysis support. The entire mis-sion data set, which is recorded on board the aircraft in machine-lossless format, is provided post-mission for live, long-term archiving and discovery, and additional current exploitation.


There are many military applications such as radar, SIGINT and software radio where the appetite for FPGA processing is almost infinite. Fortunately, board vendors continue to come through with products tuned to do signal processing and data movement.

FPGA Boards Crank Up Their Processing Muscle

FPGA Processing Boards

Figure 1

Hosted on a MQ-9 Reaper UAV, each Gorgon Stare orbit provides uninterrupted, 24/7 visible and IR coverage of city-sized areas, providing real-time motion video directly to theater and tactical forces engaged in operations.

Untitled-18 1 2/3/12 3:51:36 PM

www.innovative-dsp.com


TECHNOLOGY FOCUS:

3U VPX Card with Co-Processor FPGA FMC Provides Powerful Combo

BittWare’s S4-3U-VPX (S43X) is a commercial or rugged 3U VPX card based on the high-density, low-power Altera Stratix IV GX FPGA. The Stratix IV GX is designed specifically for serial I/O-based applications, creating a completely flexible, reconfigurable VPX board. BittWare’s ATLANTiS FrameWork

and the FINe Host/Control Bridge greatly simplify application development and integration of this powerful board. The board provides a configurable 25-port SerDes interface supporting a variety of protocols, including Serial RapidIO, PCI Express and 10 GigE. The board also features 10/100/1000 Ethernet, and up to 4 Gbytes of DDR3 SDRAM. Providing enhanced flexibility is the VITA 57-compliant FMC site, which supports 10 SerDes, 60 LVDS pairs and 6 clocks. A debug utility header provides 10/100 Ethernet, RS-232 and a JTAG port for debug support. The rear panel VPX interface includes GigE to the FINe, and 15 SerDes channels and 32 LVDS pairs (16 in, 16 out) to the Stratix IV GX FPGA.

The board can use the AAFM, a VITA-57 FPGA Mezzanine Card based on BittWare’s Anemone104 (AN104) floating point co-processsor for FPGAs. Featuring the Epiphany architecture from Adapteva, the Anemone allows users to combine the complex processing ability of a floating point C-programmable compute engine with the versatility and configurability of an FPGA to offer a completely new approach to floating point digital signal processing. Featuring four Anemone processors, the AAFM provides 96 GFLOPS of total processing performance.

BittWare

Concord, NH.

(603) 226-0404.

[www.bittware.com].

OpenVPX Board Sports Three FPGAs and PowerPC CPU

Defense applications such as radar, SIGINT, software radio, image processing and encryption all have something in common: they all have big appetite for FPGA-based processing. Serving those needs, Annapolis Micro Systems offers its WILDSTAR 6 OpenVPX Card, with up to three Xilinx Virtex 6 FPGAs and one MACC 460Ex PowerPC. The FPGAs can be XC6VLX240T, LX365T, LX550T,

SX315T, or SX475T versions of the Virtex 6. The board provides up to 3.1 Gbytes of DDR2 DRAM, 3.1 Gbytes of DDR3 DRAM or 192 Mbytes of DDRII+ or QDRII SRAM in 5 or 6 memory banks for the computational FPGA on board. Meanwhile up to a board total of 4 Gbytes DDR2 DRAM, 4 Gbytes DDR3 DRAM or 256 Mbytes DDRII+ or QDRII SRAM is arranged in 4 memory banks for each of two I/O FPGAs on board. The host AMCC 460EX PowerPC has clock speeds up to 1 GHz and 512 Mbytes of its own dedicated DRAM. Flash on board consists of 64 Mbyte NOR flash in addition to 4 Gbytes of NAND flash to store FPGA images and for application data.

A 4X PCI Express Gen 1 link connects the PowerPC and PCI controller. Host software includes Linux, VxWorks APIs and device drivers. A full CoreFire Board Support Package provides fast and easy application development. Open VHDL Models including Source Code is available for hardware interfaces and chip scope access. An Open VHDL IP package supports communication interfaces. Application software can access current, voltage and temperature monitoring sensors via API software interface. The board accepts standard Annapolis WILDSTAR 4 / 5 / 6 Family I/O modules. The card has an integrated heat sink and full IPMI chassis management support.

Annapolis Micro Systems Inc

Annapolis, MD.

(410) 841-2514.

[www.annapmicro.com].

PMC Modules Do Cost-Effective FPGA Processing

A set of PMC mezzanine modules features the cost-optimized Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA. The PMC-SLX reconfigurable FPGA modules from Acromag can save thousands of dollars, yet still deliver high-performance computing for algorithm acceleration and custom logic processing tasks. Spartan-6 FPGAs have integrated logic, DSP and memory resources that leverage the flagship Virtex-6 FPGA

platform’s architecture and system-level blocks for quicker and smoother system development.

Acromag adds a high-throughput PCI-X interface, large memory banks and easy access to field I/O signals to deliver a ready-to-use FPGA computing module for advanced signal processing applications. All models employ the logic-optimized SLX150 version of the Spartan-6 FPGA, which provides 147,433 logic cells and 180 DSP slices. Dual-ported SRAM (256k or 1M x 64-bit) facilitates high-speed DMA transfers to the bus or CPU. Acromag’s Engineering Design Kit provides utilities to help users develop custom programs, load VHDL into the FPGA, and establish DMA transfers between the FPGA and the CPU. The kit includes a compiled FPGA file and example VHDL code provided as selectable blocks with examples for the local bus interface, read/writes and change-of-state interrupts to the PCI bus. A JTAG interface allows users to perform onboard VHDL simulation. Further analysis is supported with a ChipScope Pro interface. The base price is just $2,895 with extra memory and extended temperature options available.

Acromag

Wixom, MI.

(248) 295-0310.

[www.acromag.com].

FPGA Processing Boards Roundup


FPGA PROCESSING BOARDS ROUNDUP

Upgraded Video Compression XMC Enhances Military Decisions

GE Intelligent Platforms has announced an enhanced version of the ICS-8580 rugged, high definition video compression XMC module. Designed in response to the growing use of video in a broad range of defense applications, it allows very high quality moving images to be captured, transmitted and stored at very high speed with very low latency and with

minimal consumption of precious bandwidth or disk space. As such, it can make a significant contribution to superior decision making and improved troop safety.

The ICS-8580 can capture video inputs and archive or stream them over Ethernet, managing multiple streams and performing capture, manipulation, conversion, compression, storage, decompression and video display. Its rugged XMC form factor means that it is compact, lightweight and consumes little power, enabling it to be easily deployed in systems destined for deployment in harsh environments that are constrained by size, weight and power (SWaP). The ICS-8580 features H.264 video compression/decompression (codec) technology, which is widely regarded as being the optimum solution: it is considered to be up to 3x as efficient as other codec solutions, allowing vital image detail to be retained while occupying the minimum possible bandwidth or storage.

GE Intelligent Platforms

Charlottesville, VA.

(800) 368-2738.

[www.ge-ip.com].

3U VPX Virtex-6 FPGA Processing VITA 57 FMC Front-End

VPX and FMC are two of the fastest growing new embedded computer form factors, and the military has its eye on both. Hitting both of those trends, Elma Electronic offers the TIC-FEP-VPX3b, an FPGA-based 3U VPX front-end processing board that provides an FMC site coupled to a large capacity Virtex-6 FPGA for extremely flexible I/O. Designed for digital signal processing (DSP), the versatile

TIC-FEP-VPX3b is ideal for applications such as radar, sonar, electronic warfare, imaging and communications. The new board offers high-performance logic, increased SerDes-based I/O and powerful DSP slice resources that help meet higher bandwidth and performance demands, while utilizing up to 25% less power.

Supported by low-power and high-speed GTX transceivers at rates up to 6.5 Gbits/s, the board enables the application of interfaces used in today’s embedded systems. Onboard PCIe Gen 1 and Gen 2 protocols, via a hard IP block and Ethernet MAC blocks, allow PCIe x4 and GbE interfaces to be implemented from the FPGA to form data and control planes respectively. Built to the VPX specifications, the TIC-FEP-VPX3b includes four 4-lane fabric ports on the P1, connected by GTX transceivers to the main FPGA. Featuring an onboard Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA, the board comes with two banks of 40-bit 1.25 Gbyte DDR3 memory with transfer rates of 7.5 Gbits/s and a Spartan-6 control node, used to load logic images into the main FPGA. The Spartan-6 control node enables “on the fly” bitstream management for dynamic FPGA configuration. Other resources include zero bus turnaround (ZBT) SRAM with a throughput of 400 Mbyte/s for expedited read/write processing. The board comes in three environmental grades: standard, rugged and conduction-cooled. Pricing for the TIC-FEP-VPX3b depends on the choice of Xilinx FPGAs and environmental grade. The board is currently shipping.

Elma Electronic Systems

Fremont, CA.

(510) 656-3400.

[www.elma.com].

VITA 46/VITA 48 Board Features Dual Virtex-6 FPGAs

FPGAs have caused a true revolution in military embedded processing. The latest version 6 of the Xilinx Virtex line is feeding that flame. Riding that wave, Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions has announced the CHAMP-FX3, the first rugged, high-performance FPGA OpenVPX 6U VPX board that features dual Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGAs.

Available in both conduction-cooled and air-cooled versions, the CHAMP-FX3 provides dense FPGA resources combined with general purpose processing, I/O flexibility and support for multi-processing applications. It speeds and simplifies the integration of advanced digital signal and image processing into embedded systems designed for demanding Radar Processing, Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), ISR, Image Processing and Electronic Warfare applications.

The CHAMP-FX3 combines the dense processing resources of two large Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGAs (SX475T or LX550T) with a powerful AltiVec-enabled dual-core Freescale Power Architecture MPC8640D processor on a rugged 6U OpenVPX-compatible (VITA 65) form factor module. The CHAMP-FX3 complements this processing capability with a rich assortment of rear-panel I/O and memories, including a Serial RapidIO (SRIO)-based switching fabric, 16 high-speed serial links per FPGA and 20 pairs of LVDS links to the backplane that can be used to support high-speed parallel interface such as Camera Link. For system expansion, the board also provides two FMC sites (or a single FMC/VITA 57 site) and a PCI Express (VITA 42.3) or Serial RapidIO (VITA 42.2) XMC site. The FMC sites have been enhanced to support the next generation of FMC cards with 80 pairs of differential signals. Early Access Units will be available in Q1 2011.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions

Ashburn, VA.

(703) 779-7800.

[www.cwcdefense.com].

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PCI Express Net Processing Card Uses Altera Stratix V FPGA

Nallatech has announced the availability of the PCIe-385N. This FPGA network processing card delivers Altera Stratix V Series performance with PCI Express 8-lane Gen3 bandwidth in a “low-profile” half-height, half-length PCIe card. The card’s simple architecture is ideally suited to real-time network processing and algorithm-acceleration applications. The board supports several FPGAs within Altera’s latest Stratix V family. A PCIe Gen3 8-lane bus

provides high bandwidth communications to the host processor.

The FPGA is directly coupled to two SFP+ ports supporting 1GbE, 10GbE, 10G SONET and various OTU standards up to 2f. The PCIe-385N features two banks of DDR3 SDRAM providing up to 16 Gbytes directly coupled to the Stratix V FPGA. The compact form factor is the same size as a standard network card, allowing for easy integration into leading server platforms. Support is provided for slot-powered configuration. Estimated total power consumption in ranges from 25 to 60 watts based on configuration/ Passive and Active heatsink options are available. Tapping into the Altera MegaFunction IP features, the card supports PCIe interface IP and driver software and UniPHY DDR3 memory interface IP. Support is also offered for 10 GbE PHY IP, Parallel Flash Loader CPLD IP and NIOS flash controller IP in the FPGA.

Nallatech

Camarillo, CA.

(805) 383-8997.

[www.nallatech.com].

6U OpenVPX Board Sports Three Virtex-6 FPGAs

The Echotek Series SCFE-V6-4QSFP-OVPX is a new 6U OpenVPX fiber I/O module from Mercury Computer Systems. It combines 16 channels of high-speed fiber with three powerful Xilinx Virtex 6 FPGA processors. With a maximum data transfer capacity of 80 Gbit/s, the new module is well suited to supporting the high bandwidth digitized I/O generated by the current generation of advanced

ISR sensors, as well as accepting unrelenting streams of data packets from all forms of digital communications.

Each of the 16 channels of fiber supports a full duplex data rate of up to 5 Gbit/s, while the three FPGAs enable onboard pre-processing of data streams for maximum application efficiency. The module has a Serial RapidIO backplane connection for communication with other subsystem modules. The board has four QSFP cages and connectors per OpenVPX slot via two IOM-QSFP-FMC Optical Interface FMCs. SFPDP protocol support is provided along with subset components provided for VITA-49 Digital IF development. The modular approach allows for the exchange of fiber media without baseboard removal. FMC HPC connection is provided to Virtex-6 FPGAs (SX315/SX475/LX240T) on Serial RapidIO-enabled SCFE-V6-OVPX baseboard.

Mercury Computer Systems

Chelmsford, MA.

(978) 967-1401.

[www.mc.com].

XMC Blends 1 GSPS ADCs and DACs with Virtex-6 FPGAs

At today’s level of semiconductor integration, computer data conversion signal processing subsystems can be squeezed onto a single mezzanine card. Along just those lines, Innovative Integration has announced the X6-1000M. The X6-1000M integrates high-speed digitizing and signal generation with signal processing on a PMC/XMC IO module for demanding DSP applications. The tight

coupling of analog I/O to the Virtex-6 FPGA core dramatically simplifies SDR, radar and lidar implementations. The board features two, 12-bit 1 Gsample/s A/Ds and four 1 Gsample/s 16-bit DACs. Analog input bandwidth of over 2 GHz supports wideband applications and RF undersampling. The DACs have features for interpolation and coarse mixing for upconversion.

A Xilinx Virtex-6 SX315T (LX240T and SX475T options) with four banks of 1 Gbyte DRAM provides a very high-performance DSP core with over 2000 MACs (SX315T). The close integration of the analog I/O, memory and host interface with the FPGA enables real-time signal processing at extremely high rates. The X6-1000M power consumption is 19W for typical operation. The module may be conduction-cooled using VITA20 standard and a heat spreader. Ruggedization options for wide-temperature operation are from -40° to +85°C and 0.1 g2/Hz vibration.

Innovative Integration

Simi Valley, CA.

(805) 578-4260.

[www.innovative-dsp.com].






Ad Index












PMC Module Serves Up High-Density User-Programmable FPGA

PMC is still going strong as a versatile and proven mezzanine technology. Tews Technologies recently announced the TPMC632, a PMC module providing a user configurable XC6SLX45T-2 or XC6SLX100T-2 Spartan-6 FPGA. Designed for industrial, COTS and transportation applications, where specialized I/O or long-term availability is

required, the TPMC632 provides a number of advantages including a customizable interface for unique customer applications and an FPGA-based design for long-term product lifecycle management.

Three different module versions are available. The TPMC632-10 provides 64 ESD-protected TTL lines and the TPMC632-11 offers 32 differential I/O lines using EIA 422 / EIA 485 compatible, ESD-protected line transceivers. The TPMC632-12 provides a mix of 32 TTL and 16 differential I/O lines. The integrated Spartan-6’s PCIe Endpoint Block is connected to a PCIe-to-PCI Bridge, which is routed to the PMC PCI Interface. The FPGA is connected to a 128 Mbyte, 16-bit wide DDR3 SDRAM. The SDRAM interface uses a hardwired internal Memory Controller Block of the Spartan-6.

TEWS Technologies

Reno, NV.

(775) 850-5380.

[www.tews.com].

VXS/VME Board Provides High-Speed 12-bit ADCs and DACs

VXS continues to provide a “here and now” solution for high-speed VME-based military embedded computing. Feeding that need, TEK Microsystems has announced the latest member of our QuiXilica product family. The new Gemini-V6 supports either one 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input channel at 3.6 Gsamples/s (GSPS) or three input channels at

1.8 GSPS, combined with a 12-bit DAC output channel operating at up to 4.0 GSPS.

Gemini-V6 is based on the National Semiconductor ADC12D1800RF device, which supports either a pair of channels in non-interleaved mode or a single channel using 2:1 interleaved sampling. Gemini-V6 contains two ADC devices, supporting a total of either three channels plus trigger at 1.8 GSPS or one channel plus trigger at 3.6 GSPS, plus a separate 12-bit DAC output channel based on the Euvis M653D that operates at up to 4.0 GSPS. The Gemini-V6 contains two front-end FPGA devices, one attached to the ADCs and one to the DAC. The front-end FPGAs can be configured with LX240, SX315, or SX475 devices, providing both the highest FPGA processing density available in any 6U form factor today as well as the only VME / VXS platform supporting Virtex-6 FPGAs.

The two front-end FPGAs are supplemented with a “backend” FPGA that can be used for additional processing or for backplane or front panel communications. The Gemini-V6 includes six banks of DDR3 memory with total capacity of 5 Gbytes and aggregate throughput of 32 Gbytes/s, supporting a wide range of signal processing algorithms with deep memory buffering of the entire signal acquisition stream.

TEK Microsystems

Chelmsford, MA.

(978) 244-9200.

[www.tekmicro.com].

Virtex-7 FPGA SDR Modules Target UAV, Radar and Communications

The first member of a new high-performance software defined radio module—the Onyx family from Pentek—is a 4-channel, 200 MHz A/D XMC module based on the Xilinx Virtex-7

FPGA family. Pentek’s Onyx modules use the same modular I/O interfaces as the popular Virtex-6 FPGA Cobalt family, while boosting memory, logic and I/O performance. The new Onyx Model 71760, for instance, is similar to the Cobalt 71660, but has twice the memory capacity and I/O bandwidth, addressing the most challenging unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), radar and communication applications.

As the first in the Onyx product line, the Model 71760 demonstrates the relationship of the Onyx and Cobalt families. The Onyx Model 71760 shares many of the same architectural and front-end characteristics as the similar Cobalt Model 71660 module: a four-channel, 16-bit, 200 MHz A/D, external sample clock synchronization and a VITA 42.0 XMC-compatible switched fabric interface.

Architectural enhancements in the Onyx family include a doubling of the DDR3 memory in both size and speed to 4 Gbyte and 1600 MHz, respectively. The PCIe interface has been upgraded to Gen 3, delivering peak speeds up to 8 Gbyte/s. The 71760 FPGA comes preconfigured with a suite of built-in functions for data capture, synchronization, tagging and formatting, making the board an ideal turn-key interface for radar, communications or general data acquisition applications. The Model 71760 XMC module with 4 Gbyte of memory starts at $15,995, with versions also in PCIe, cPCI and VPX formats.

Pentek

Upper Saddle River, NJ.

(201) 818-5900.

[www.pentek.com].






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Rugged Box System Supports TRL 9 Level of Tech Readiness

Aitech Defense Systems offers the highly integrated, compact RediBuilt rugged COTS computer that boots and executes your real-time operating system right out of the box. This flexible computer can accommodate either Intel or Freescale processors as well as a CompactPCI or OpenVPX backplane in a condensed package measuring less than 0.22 ft3, comparable in volume to a 1/4 ATR Short enclosure. Designed to TRL 9 (Technical Readiness Level) as defined by the DoD, NASA and other government agencies, RediBuilt eliminates all NRE (non-recurring engineering) and

customization costs. It is a highly capable, fully functioning embedded computing subsystem proven through successful operation, complete with built-in, real-world I/O and HD (high definition) graphics and video capabilities.

Equipped with standard, circular MIL-DTL-38999 I/O connectors on the front panel and a two-slot 3U CompactPCI or OpenVPX backplane, RediBuilt provides all system interconnections, internal power distribution and filtering circuitry pre-assembled in the unit. The computer’s integrated functionality, combined with its lightweight, rugged aluminum enclosure, makes the RediBuilt ideal for demanding applications where SWaP is important, as found extensively in military and airborne computing environments. The unit measures 202 mm (W) x 260 mm (D) x 126 mm (H) and weighs less than 13 lbs complete.

Aitech Defense Systems, Chatsworth, CA.

(888) 248-3248. [www.rugged.com].

Rugged Box Server Functions as Six-Way Secure Virtual Machine

Demands for high compute density, secure trusted computing and multiprocessing all rank high on the list of today’s top military system requirements. Exemplifying all those trends at once, General Micro Systems (GMS) has introduced the “Zeus” (SCZ91X), a “super-server” that blends high computing performance with security of data and operations in a “Trusted Computing Platform.” The system feeds the military’s need for a server that can run multiple applications on different OSs simultaneously without interrupting the main processor or operating system. The Zeus replaces dedicated processing systems or single-level servers—and through a Hypervisor or Virtual Machine Manager—can concurrently run numerous, fully independent operating systems (guests).

At the heart of the system is an Intel Westmere-EP processor, the most powerful Xeon 5600 processor. The Zeus is based on six physical CPU cores, with hyperthreading for a total of 12 cores. Each core operates at up to 2.4 GHz, with the ability to run in TurboBoost mode up to 2.67 GHz. Each guest, as well as the core, is assured uninterrupted operation through the integration of the Westmere-EP with its fully integrated memory controller and massive high-speed memory. The Zeus boasts up to 96 Gbytes of RAM organized in three banks. Each RAM bank consists of two DDR-3 DIMM arrays with Error Correcting Code (ECC). The ECC RAM supports up to 1333 Mega Transfers per Second (MTS) to/from the CPU.

Accommodating the widest array of ultra-high-speed I/O devices, the Zeus comprises a host CPU I/O and six Virtual Machine I/O (VMIO) sites, several of which are available as standards. Two removable 2.5” SSD drives are supported on the host side, as well as one PMC/XMC site and one mSATA drive for a local boot device. Configured as a “share nothing” architecture, each VMIO site is fully independent and is connected to the host CPU via PCI Express lanes only. (If one I/O input is struck by lightning, for example, all the other channels are unaffected.) All I/O transactions are fully monitored through the TPM/TXT/VT-x security engines to assure access is authorized by the host CPU. VMIO connections to the Zeus are through 38999 military connectors.

The Zeus also features a “Trusted Computing Platform” design. At the philosophy’s center is the “Trusted Platform Module” (TPM), a hardware-based specification that can be used to encrypt or scramble data, enabling the “sealing” of applications and even an entire operating system. The TPM can also encrypt the system’s configuration, allowing it to pick up on any unsecure devices, and block the computer from starting if one is detected. Some branches of the U.S. government are now requiring TPMs on any new systems purchased.

The first fully rugged server in the industry, the Zeus is designed to provide the highest level of server-class performance possible in a ruggedized, conduction-cooled system, operating -40° to +85°C at full load. With conformal coating, the Zeus is unaffected by salt, fog, humidity, fungus or rain; is shock-proof; vibration-proof; and engineered for altitude, all per MIL-STD 810G. The Zeus supports the most common Hypervisors by VMware, Wind River and Microsoft, and can be shipped with operating systems such as Windows 7, Linux and VXWorks already installed. The Zeus (SCZ91X) is available in quantity starting at $24,000.

General Micro Systems, Rancho Cucamonga, CA. (909) 980-4863. [www.gms4sbc.com].



COTS PRODUCTS



PMC Module Serves Up High-Density User-Programmable FPGA

PMC is still going strong as a versatile and proven mezzanine technology. Tews Technologies recently announced the TPMC632, a PMC module providing a user configurable XC6SLX45T-2 or XC6SLX100T-2 Spartan-6 FPGA. Designed for industrial, COTS and transportation applications, where specialized I/O or long-term availability is required, the TPMC632 provides a number of advantages including a customizable interface for unique customer applications and an FPGA-based design for long-term product lifecycle management.

Three different module versions are available. The TPMC632-10 provides 64 ESD-protected TTL lines and the TPMC632-11 offers 32 differential I/O lines using EIA 422 / EIA 485 compatible, ESD-protected line transceivers. The TPMC632-12 provides a mix of 32 TTL and 16 differential I/O lines. The integrated Spartan-6’s PCIe Endpoint Block is connected to a PCIe-to-PCI Bridge, which is routed to the PMC PCI Interface. The FPGA is connected to a 128 Mbytes, 16-bit wide DDR3 SDRAM. The SDRAM interface uses a hardwired internal Memory Controller Block of the Spartan-6.

TEWS Technologies, Reno, NV.

(775) 850-5380. [www.tews.com].

Long Lifespan Laptop Boasts Xeon Processor E5-2690 with 8 CoresEurocom is now supporting the Intel Xeon Processor E5-2690 in its Panther 4.0 Mobile Servers, along with

an entire range of Intel Xeon E5 processors. Eurocom’s Panther line of high-performance Mobile Servers will be bolstered by the introduction of the Intel Xeon Processor E5-2690 and complete line of Intel LGA2011 processors. The Panther 4.0 is the world’s first Sandy Bridge-E notebook with a full X79 chipset using the LGA2011 socket. Eurocom Mobile Servers are ideal for professionals and teams who frequently travel yet need access to high-performance computing. Eurocom Panther 4.0 provides 4 Terabytes of storage with four physical SATA-300 or SATA-600 Solid State, Hybrid or hard disk drives and RAID 0/1/5/10 capability. The system uses quad channel memory, and enables the Panther 4.0 to initially support up to 32 Gbytes of DDR3 1600 MHz RAM via four 8 Gbyte SODIMM 204 pin modules.

Eurocom, Nepean, Ontario, Canada. (613) 224-6122. [www.eurocom.com].

SBC Blends PCI Express, PC/104 and 1.66 GHz AtomGetting legacy I/O to work with advanced computing architectures is not a straightforward

task. Easing the way, WinSystems has announced their PXM-C388-S, a PC/104-compatible SBC powered by an Intel 1.66 GHz Atom processor. This new SBC adds the SUMIT (Stackable Unified Modular Interconnect Technology) I/O expansion connector onto a PC/104 expandable SBC. This combination provides designers easy I/O expansion for the thousands of standard and custom designed PC/104 modules currently available worldwide plus enhanced performance and throughput of stackable PCI Express (PCIe) and USB. The PXM-C388-S processor’s high performance enables designs that need multiple video input data streams and high-speed A/D, which opens up applications for security, automated inspection of production lines, data acquisition and machine-to-machine communications in a small, rugged form factor.

The PXM-C388 provides a rich array of onboard peripherals plus I/O expansion options. It features a Gigabit Ethernet port; simultaneous CRT and LVDS flat panel video support, eight USB 2.0 ports, four serial COM ports, SATA controller, PATA controller for the CompactFlash socket, twenty-four lines of digital I/O, and HD audio. The PCM-C388 has both PC/104 (ISA) and SUMIT AB expansion connectors to allow self stacking I/O modules to be added for even more I/O flexibility. The PXM-C388-S requires only +5 volts and typically draws 2.5A. It supports power savings modes, which will reduce the standby current to 270 mA (S3 power state). The board is RoHS-compliant and can operate over an industrial temperature range of -40° to +85°C. The PXM-C388-S1-0-0 is priced at $499 (qty. 1).

WinSystems, Arlington, TX. (817) 274-7553. [www.winsystems.com].

Fanless, Super Slim System with Intel Atom Dual Core CPU and 1080p Graphics

Logic Supply has introduced the LGX AG150 Dual Core Atom Fanless System. It features the new Intel Atom Cedarview N2800 1.86 GHz Dual Core processor housed in a solid, low-profile chassis

less than 1.5” thick. For I/O connectivity, the front panel offers two USB 2.0 ports and an option for two additional RS-232 COM ports. On the back panel, the system has two USB 2.0 ports, Intel Gigabit LAN, VGA, HDMI and two audio jacks. Two antenna punch-outs for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other networking and a space

for a 4-pin cable harness for use in automotive applications are also available off the back. Completely

fanless and enclosed in an extruded aluminum chassis, the system has full-height and half-height PCIe Mini Card

slots with the latter doubling as mSATA, allowing users to install a solid-state boot drive to supplement a 2.5-inch storage device and take advantage of embedded operating systems.

Logic Supply, South Burlington, VT. (802) 861-2600. [www.logicsupply.com].



COTS PRODUCTS

Chassis Mount DC/DC Converter Delivers 40 WattsCalex has announced the 40-watt NCM single output chassis mount DC/DC Series. The NCM is

housed in a rugged cast chassis mount enclosure with protected, recessed barrier strips facing the top of the case. The recessed barrier strips allow connections to be made in tight quarters while protecting the barrier strip from physical damage. All models are fully encapsulated to further protect the unit against shock, vibration, dust and moisture. The NCM Series offers three input ranges, 9-18 VDC, 18-36 VDC or 36-75 VDC. Output voltages are 3.3, 5, 12 and 15 VDC. The operating case temperature range of the NCM is -40° to +100°C.

Calex, Concord, CA. (925) 687-4411. [www.calex.com].

PCI Express Net Processing Card Uses Altera Stratix V FPGA

Nallatech has announced the availability of the PCIe-385N. This FPGA network processing card delivers Altera Stratix V Series performance with PCI Express 8-lane Gen3 bandwidth in a “low profile” half-height, half-length PCIe card. The card’s simple architecture is ideally suited to real-time network processing and algorithm-acceleration applications. The board supports several FPGAs within Altera’s latest Stratix V family. A PCIe Gen3 8-lane bus provides high bandwidth communications to the host processor. The FPGA is directly coupled to two SFP+ ports supporting 1GbE, 10GbE, 10G SONET and various OTU standards up to 2f. The PCIe-385N features two banks of DDR3 SDRAM providing up to 16 Gbytes directly coupled to the Stratix V FPGA. The compact form factor is the same size as a standard network card, allowing for easy integration into leading server platforms.

Nallatech, Camarillo, CA. (805) 383-8997. [www.nallatech.com].

Noise Reduction Leads to Quiet Rugged Computers In the past, industrial computers were placed in manufacturing sites

or outdoor environments fairly tolerant of noise. However, as industrial computer applications have become more and more diverse, these computers are also being used in indoor placements, in environments more sensitive to noise, including some military applications. With that in

mind, Advantech is introducing its Intelligent IPCs, Quiet Industrial Computers. ISO 7779 is the test specification Advantech is currently using, and the system idle noise level is controlled down to as

low as 35 dBA. A Quiet Industrial Computer line from Advantech features

a full range of selections with acoustic and thermal optimization. The smart fan, for example, adjusts rotation speed while addressing both cooling and noise issues. Advantech Quiet Industrial Computers support the Intel 2nd generation Core i7 processors and DDR3 memory modules. They also feature two form factors—a 4U rackmount enclosure and a compact size wallmount enclosure. Both form factors support Advantech industrial-grade ATX and MicroATX motherboards, the AIMB-781, AIMB-767 and AIMB-581 series.

Advantech, Irvine, CA. (949) 789-7178. [www.advantech.com].

OpenVPX Chassis Morphs from Development System to Deployed UnitCurtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS) has introduced a new rugged chassis designed to support a development-to-deployment

approach that reduces risk, schedule and cost. The new D2D ¾ ATR, a 6-slot ¾ ATR-style forced air/conduction-cooled chassis, eases the design of 3U OpenVPX-based systems by enabling the system integrator to use the same enclosure, via

simple configuration upgrades, throughout the complete program lifecycle, from development to demonstration and all the way to deployment. The enclosure supports up to 6 slots of 3U 1.0-inch pitch payload OpenVPX cards.

The D2D ¾ ATR enables system designers to commence development with a COTS Lab configuration chassis version using rugged conduction-cooled payload and upgrade the enclosure as needed for demonstration and deployment stages. The development version (lab only) has a standard backplane using I/O cabling, a chassis “bottom hat” and I/O cabling. A chassis “top hat” can be used if needed for module faceplate I/O cabling such as fiber optics and RF coax. Connections for external power supplies are available along with industrial grade fans. Next, a demonstration upgrade adds an

internal cabled power supply. And then finally, the rugged deployed upgrade replaces standard backplane and I/O cables with custom backplane, and I/O panel with application-specific I/O signals. The “bottom

hat” is also removed in this version. Power supply is upgraded to an internal MIL grade power supply that plugs into the backplane. Meanwhile, MIL grade fans are added for extended temperature and shock/vibration. The deployment version of the D2D ¾ ATR chassis measures 7.62 inches high, 7.50 inches wide and 12.61 inches deep (without optional fan assembly), and weighs 13.7 lbs (6.2 kg) without fan assembly.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions, Ashburn, VA. (703) 779-7800. [www.cwcdefense.com].





COTS PRODUCTS

Uninterruptible Power Supplies Get Extended Runtime Battery Bank Option

Falcon Electric has added a ruggedized wide temperature (-30° to 63°C) extended runtime battery bank option to its popular SSG and SSG-RP UPS products. The wide-temperature-rated batteries provide long back-up runtimes for protecting connected computers and instrumentation operating in harsh environments during a prolonged power outage. The new battery pack gives users over 10 times the battery runtime, compared to Falcon’s standard 2U extended battery pack option.

The new battery bank carries a UL listing when powering Falcon’s unique UL-listed SSG2.5KRP-1. UL is pending for the remaining models in the SSG and SSG-RP Series wide-temperature-rated UPS product line. The SSGB-1S40-5U 40AH battery bank is a rugged battery option that consists of eight deep cycle, valve regulated lead-acid, maintenance-free 40 Amp Hour (AH) batteries and two internal one amp chargers. The batteries and chargers are housed in a sleek rackmount enclosure that takes only 5U (8.75 inches) of vertical rack space. The battery banks may be interconnected or “daisy chained” to provide exceptionally long battery runtimes and can be easily added in the field after the SSG units are installed and in service. The SSGB-1S40-5U 40AH is priced at $2,995.

Falcon Electric, Irwindale, CA.

(626) 962-7770. [www.falconups.com].

16 Gbyte MicroSDHC Card Suits Extreme EnvironmentsAn industrial-grade MicroSDHC memory card targets high reliability and longevity even in extreme

environments for mission-critical applications. The shock-resistant industrial-grade MicroSDHC memory card from Apacer comes in capacities of 4, 8 and 16 Gbyte. One of the highlights is its firmware and major components that can be fixed right after customer’s recognition and validation. This reduces the risk of out-of-stock and compatibility issues by providing customers stable supply and high reliability. The industrial-grade MicroSDHC memory card is compliant with the SD 3.0 Specification and supports Class 10 high-speed transmissions with sequential read/write speeds reaching up to 20 and 14 Mbyte/s respectively while fulfilling the requirements for high-capacity and high-speed data storage. The Global Wear leveling also helps deliver a phenomenally prolonged lifespan, as well as safer data storage.

Apacer, Milpitas, CA. (408) 518-8699. [us.apacer.com].

Family of Quad Serial FPDP Modules Supports High-Speed Digital Data

Many applications need to deliver high-speed data between systems or from sensors to a data acquisition system over extended distances. As a popular industry standard, Serial FPDP offers a fast, efficient, bi-directional point-to-point interconnect solution. Applications such as military radar, signal intelligence and medical imaging can take advantage of this high-throughput, minimum latency protocol. With all that in mind, Pentek has introduced two Quad Serial FPDP (Front Panel Data Port) modules with a Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA—the Model 71611 XMC module and the Model 7811 native PCI Express card. These new Serial FPDP modules extend Pentek’s Virtex-6 Cobalt product line by providing four channels of serial communication with up to 1 Gbyte per second of aggregate data transfer capability.

These new products provide very competitive alternatives to other sFPDP products in the market. The inclusion of a user-configurable Virtex-6 FPGA allows customers to extend the factory installed sFPDP functions to perform custom signal processing for both inbound and outbound data streams. As an XMC module, the Model 71611 can be installed on any XMC carrier making this an attractive option for VPX, PCIe and CompactPCI platforms. The 71611 has 2 Gbyte of DDR3 SDRAM for FIFO memory buffering of DMA packets and an optional PMC P14 connector for custom I/O through 20 pairs of LVDS connections to the FPGA.

The Model 7811 native PCI Express (PCIe) card can be installed on any motherboard with PCIe card slots. Both the 71611 and the 7811 support Gen2 PCIe and offer a range of Virtex-6 devices so developers can add additional FPGA IP to match custom processing requirements. The Virtex-6 is ideal for modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, encryption/decryption and channelization of signals for transmission and reception. The Model 7811 Quad Serial FPDP PCI Express card starts at $6,495. The Model 71611 is available in XMC, cPCI, PCIe and VPX form factors with options for rugged and conduction-cooled models.

Pentek, Upper Saddle River, NJ. (201) 818-5900. [www.pentek.com].

Network Platform Sports Freescale P1010 Processor

WIN Enterprises has announced the PL-80390, a compact network security platform designed for Internet security applications. The device supports applications

such as firewall, SPAM filtering, VPN, UTM, gateway, router and Internet services. The unit is designed with the Freescale P1010 processor and supports DDR3 onboard memory. It supports two Atheros AR8033/AR8035 GbE Ethernet ports with bypass function and four GbE Switch ports. Each Ethernet interface has its own LED to indicate line activity and transfer rate status. For ease-of-access the back panel has USB 2.0 ports and a console port for local system management, maintenance and diagnostics.

WIN Enterprises, North Andover, MA. (978) 688-2000. [www.win-ent.com].





COTS PRODUCTS

AMD Embedded G-Series-Based Cards Support COM Express Pin-Out Type 2Kontron has announced the availability of two new variants to enhance its COMe-cOH2 range of COM Express

compact Computer-on-Modules. The new modules are dedicated to PCI-based designs and are based on the energy efficient AMD Embedded G-Series accelerated processing units (APUs). The compact Kontron COMe-cOH2 provides increased graphics performance to SFF COM Express applications with pin-out type 2, as well as parallel processing capability and low power consumption.

The Kontron COMe-cOH2 variants, based on the COM Express type 2 pin-out, are available with the 1.2 GHz AMD T44R single-core APU with 512 Kbit cache and AMD Radeon HD6250 GPU (Kontron COMe-cOH2 T44R), or the 1.65 GHz dual-core variant AMD T56N APU with AMD Radeon HD6310 graphics core and 2 x 512 Kbit cache (COMe-cOH2 T56N). The modules can host 8 Gbyte of DDR3 RAM via two memory sockets. Compliant with the new COM Express specification COM.0 rev. 2.0, they implement PCI 2.3, 32 bit / 33 MHz plus six Gen 2.0 PCI Express lanes. They offer up to four SATA 3 ports to connect storage media, as well as Gigabit Ethernet and six USB 2.0 ports. In accordance with the COM Express pin-out type 2, the Kontron COMe-cOH2 features a VGA and 24-bit single channel LVDS interface for resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 pixels.

Kontron America, Poway, CA. (858) 677-0877. [www.kontron.com].

SBC Boasts Intel Gen2 Core i7/i5, Celeron 1.6 GHz - 2.5 GHz

A new SBC features 2nd generation Intel Core i5-2510E (DC), i7-2710QE (Quad) and Celeron B810 processors, which integrate Intel’s HD Graphics 3000 engine and the memory controller functions of a traditional GMCH. The QM67 Platform Controller Hub (PCH) provides PCI Express 2.0 I/O bandwidth at twice the speed (5 Gbit/s) of previous Intel Core or Core 2 Duo platforms. The ADLQM67HDS from ADL Embedded Solutions also supports a broad set of features. The board has a discrete 8-bit digital I/O port as well as separate DVI-I and HDMI interfaces. The onboard DVI-I connector provides signaling for analog VGA, and can be configured as an HDMI output with audio. The card also has 4x RS-232 COM ports, 4x SATA with RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 support. Two of the ports support up to SATA 6G while the other two support SATA 3G. 10x USB2.0 with 4x onboard connectors, two bootable Gigabit Ethernet LAN, HDA 7.1.

ADL Embedded Solutions, San Diego, CA. (858) 490-0597.

[www.adl-usa.com].

VME SBC Uses Freescale P5020 QorIQ ProcessorA VME/VXS SBC offered by Emerson Network Power, the MVME8100,

features the Freescale P5020 QorIQ processor supported by up to 8 Gbytes of high-speed DDR3-1333 MHz ECC memory and 8 Gbyte MMC NAND Flash. The board also features 512 Kbytes of non volatile F-RAM.

The board features a best-in-class operating temperature range of -40° to 85°C.

Rugged models are capable of operating with up to 10G of vibration (15 to 2000 Hz) and can withstand an 11 millisecond shock

of up to 40G. Conformal coating is also available as an option. The

MVME8100 offers extensive I/O including PCIe and SRIO fabric

connectivity and multiple USB, Serial and Ethernet ports. Onboard expansion includes an optional mounting kit for a 2.5-inch SATA drive and two PMC/XMC sites.

Emerson Network Power, Embedded Computing, Tempe, AZ.

(602) 438-5720.

[www.emersonnetworkpower.com/embeddedcomputing].

Second Gen Core i7-Based 6U cPCI Blade Has Remote ManagementA 6U CompactPCI processor blade is based on the latest quad- and dual-core 2nd Generation Intel Core

i7 and Core i5 processors with up to 16 Gbyte DDR3-1600 memory support. The cPCI-6210 Series from Adlink Technology is a performance computing solution with enhanced management features such as PICMG 2.9-compliant IPMI, remote management based on Intel vPro technology, and optional Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for security management.

The cPCI-6210 Series offers enhanced processing and graphics performance. Dual independent display functionality is provided via dual-mode DisplayPort and DVI-I graphics interfaces. The DisplayPort interface supports single-link DVI or HDMI with a passive adapter cable and analog VGA output via an active adapter cable. When coupled with an Adlink XMC-G460 graphics module installed in the XMC site or an Adlink cPCI-R6700 Rear Transition Module, the cPCI-6210 Series supports up to four independent displays.Storage interfaces supported by the cPCI-6210 Series include one SATA 6 Gbit/s direct connector for a 2.5” HDD/

SSD, one 7-pin SATA port for external storage, an optional CompactFlash socket, a built-in CFast socket and three SATA ports routed to the RTM with RAID 0/1/5/10 support. Up to eight SAS/SATA interfaces with hardware RAID are supported by the cPCI-R6200 RTM. The cPCI-6210 Series can operate in a system slot as a master or in a peripheral slot as a standalone blade for high density computing applications. In addition, the series is compliant with the PICMG 2.9 specification and supports system management functions based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) as well as hardware monitoring of physical characteristics such as CPU and system temperature, DC voltages and power status. TPM 1.2 is also supported on selected models to provide efficient hardware-based data protection.

ADLINK Technology, San Jose, CA. (408) 360-0200. [www.adlinktech.com].





COTS PRODUCTS

Intelligent Vehicle Displays Target Harsh Environments

Two rugged intelligent vehicle displays are designed for deployment in harsh environments such as tanks and other ground combat vehicles for applications including embedded training, 360° situational awareness, terrain visualization and Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2) as well as commander and gunner display consoles.

Both displays integrate advanced processing capabilities to deliver a complete, self-contained, COTS display solution with a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) that enables prime contractors and OEMs to shorten time-to-market, minimize program risk and more easily add value to create competitive advantage. The IVD2010 and IVD2015 from GE Intelligent Platforms also include the advanced thermal management capabilities necessary for deployment in confined spaces.

The 10.4” screen IVD2010 and 15” screen IVD2015 XGA (1,024 x 768) resolution smart displays both incorporate not only an Intel Core2 Duo processor operating at 2.26 GHz but also a 96-core NVIDIA GT 240 GPU. Together with 4 Gbytes of SDRAM3 memory and four simultaneous video inputs, this equips them to handle the most demanding, sophisticated graphics applications such as picture-in-picture and symbology overlay, stitching multiple videos into a single panorama, and allows high-performance GPGPU applications to be deployed directly on the display unit.

Both the IVD2010 and IVD2015 also include display features designed to deliver optimum screen visibility and usability, thereby maximizing personnel effectiveness. These features include LED illumination for sunlight readability and MIL-STD-3009 NVIS (Night Vision Imaging System) compatibility; a multitouch resistive touchscreen; and a high-quality optical stack-up with toughened glass.

GE Intelligent Platforms, Huntsville, AL. (780) 401-7700.

[www.ge-ip.com].

PMC/XMC Module Sports Freescale QorIQ P2041 CPU

For designs using a PrPMC/XMC processor mezzanine installed on a carrier baseboard, the XPedite5600 from Extreme Engineering Solutions offers an easy upgrade path to a higher-performance processor mezzanine subsystem. The XPedite5600 features include a Freescale P2040 or P2041

processor with four PowerPC e500mc cores running at up to 1.5 GHz and

implemented on an air-cooled PrPMC/XMC form factor. The module supports up to

8 Gbyte of DDR3-1333 ECC SDRAM along with two rear I/O

SATA 3.0 Gbit/s ports. It includes a x4 PCI Express Gen2 XMC interface or 32-bit

PCI PMC interface plus one front panel and one rear I/O USB 2.0 port. There are three rear I/O

Gigabit Ethernet ports plus one on the front panel and two I/O RS-232/422/485 serial ports each on the front and rear panels.

Extreme Engineering Solutions, Middleton, WI. (608) 833-1155.

[www.xes-inc.com].

Solid as a Rock.. .and twice as Cool!

7142834800PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL IS AS 9100/ISO 9001: 2008 CERTIFIED

R u g g e d i ze d 3 U M u l t i Pro to co l R A I D Sy s te m s

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Index

ADVERTISERS INDEXPhoenix International .........................67 ...............................www.phenxint.com

Pico Electronics, Inc. .........................35 .................... www.picoelectronics.com

Red Rock Technologies, Inc. ..............67 ..........................www.redrocktech.com

RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc. .....2 ......................................... www.rtd.com

RunCore SSD .....................................50 ................................ www.runcore.com

SIE Computing Solutions, Inc. ...........28 ...................................www.sie-cs.com

SynQor ...............................................37 ..................................www.synqor.com

Tadiran Batteries ................................43 .............................www.tadiranbat.com

TE Connectivity Ltd. ...........................26 ..........................................www.te.com

TeleCommunication Systems, Inc......23 ...........................www.telecomsys.com

Themis Computer ...............................36 ..................................www.themis.com

Trenton Technology, Inc. ....................39 ....................www.trentonsystems.com

Triple E Corporation ...........................18.............................. www.tripleease.com

VITA ....................................................46 ....................................... www.vita.com

VPE, VXS and OpenVPX SBCs & Solid-State Disk Drives Gallery ...................69

VPT, Inc. ..............................................5 ...................................www.vpt-inc.com

Xembedded ........................................30 ..........................www.xembedded.com

Acromag .............................................20 ...............................www.acromag.com

AUVSI .................................................34 ............................. www.auvsishow.org

Avionics Interface Technologies ........17 ................................. www.aviftech.com

Ballard Technology, Inc. .....................40 ...........................www.ballardtech.com

Calex Mfg. Co., Inc. .............................4 ..................................... www.calex.com

Chassis Plans, LLC ............................31 ...................... www.chassis-plans.com

Cogent Computer Systems, Inc. ........55 ..............................www.cogcomp.com

Crane Aerospace & Electronics .........47 ................................ www.craneae.com

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions ..............................29 ..........................www.cwcdefense.com

DataBus Products Corp. ....................41 ..................www.databusproducts.com

Design Automation Conference .........53 ....................................... www.dac.com

Elma Electronic, Inc. ............................7 ......................................www.elma.com

Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. ..71 .................................www.xes-inc.com

GE Intelligent Platforms, Inc. .............21 .................................... www.ge-ip.com

Innovative Integration .........................57 .....................www.innovative-dsp.com

Lind Electronics, Inc............................4 ......................www.lindelectronics.com

Linear Technology Corporation .........49 ....................................www.linear.com

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. ......33 ........................................www.mc.com

Nallatech, Inc. .....................................38 .............................. www.nallatech.com

Neuro Logic Systems, Inc. .................54 ...........................www.nlsdisplays.com

Ocean Server Technology, Inc. ..........52 ........................www.ocean-server.com

Octagon Systems Corporation ...........25 .................. www.octagonsystems.com

One Stop Systems, Inc. ......................51................... www.onestopsystems.com

Pelican Products, Inc. ........................27 .......................... www.pelicanoem.com

Pentek, Inc. .........................................72 ..................................www.pentek.com

Company Page# WebsiteCompany Page# Website

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Special Feature: Military Interconnect Strategies: 1553, Ethernet and More Tried and true I/O schemes such as MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429 remain popular for pure control applications, but they’re bandwidth-limited by today’s standards. A slew of multipurpose communications protocols provide options to suit emerging needs, and Ethernet is a top contender among them. Articles in this section compare today’s crop of I/O schemes relevant to avionics and other military users.

Tech Recon: Military Data Storage: SSD and HDD Tradeoffs As military systems continue to rely more and more on compute- and data-intensive software, the storage subsystem is now a mission-critical piece of the puzzle. This section examines the emergence of Ethernet and IP-based storage interfaces, while comparing how traditional interface schemes like SATA, Fibre Channel and SCSI are positioned these days. Rotating drives still offer the best density, but flash-based solid-state disks (F-SSDs) are able to operate under the harshest conditions. This Tech Recon section updates readers on high-density storage systems and provides a product album of representative drives.

System Development: Non-Backplane COM vs. VME/cPCI Slot-Card Architectures COM boards provide a complete computing core that can be upgraded when needed, leaving the application-specific I/O on the baseboard. COM Express adds high-speed fabric interconnects to the mix. As complete systems become more doable using those technologies, they’re beginning to replace some platforms that once relied on slot-card systems like VME and cPCI. But for many military applications, the advantages of a slot-card approach take precedence. This section compares the tradeoffs between busless COM systems versus the slot-card VME/cPCI kind of approach.

Tech Focus: PC/104 and PC/104 Family Boards PC/104 has become entrenched as a popular military form factor thanks to its compact size and inherent ruggedness. Sweetening the deal, a number of special enclosure techniques are used to outfit PC/104 for extremely harsh environments. This Tech Focus section updates readers on these trends, along with a look at the new PC/104 follow-ons: EPIC, PCI-104, PCI/104-Express and PCIe/104. Also provided is a product album of representative boards.

COTS Journal (ISSN#1526-4653) is published monthly at 905 Calle Amanecer, Suite 250, San Clemente, CA 92673. Periodicals Class postage paid at San Clemente and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to COTS Journal, 905 Calle Amanecer, Ste. 250, San Clemente, CA 92673.

Coming Next Month


VME, VXS and OpenVPX SBCs &Solid-State Disk Drives Gallery

Featuring the latest in VME, VXS and OpenVPX SBCs & Solid-State Disk Drives technologies

MACH4 SLC I-Temp (8GB)With applications ranging from -1,000 below sea level to the upper atmosphere and beyond, STEC’s MACH4 CompactFlash (CF) card is designed for embedded applications that demand ultimate reliability with high tolerance to shock, vibration, humidity, altitude and temperature. The MACH4 card is the perfect solution for high-throughput applications and transitioning from low-capacity PATA hard drives to SSD technology. (Temperature: -40°C to 85°C, Shock: 1,500G, Altitude: -1,000 to 85,000ft)STEC, Inc.

Phone: (949) 476-1180Fax: (949) 476-1209

E-mail: [email protected]: www.stec-inc.com

MACH16 Slim SATA SLC I-Temp (50GB)STEC’s SLC fl ash-based MACH16™ Slim SATA SSD is purpose-built to manage your most mission-critical industrial embedded applications. With the MACH16 Slim SATA SSD, less is more—70% less power consumption within a total embedded storage footprint that’s 60% smaller than HDDs, and because of its standard 22-pin SATA connector, it’s an easy HDD drop-in replacement. Add high tolerance to tem-perature, shock and vibration and STEC’s patented Secure Array of Flash Elements™ (SAFE) and PowerSafe™ technologies.STEC, Inc.

Phone: (949) 476-1180Fax: (949) 476-1209


RIO5-8088The RIO5-8088 is a conduction-cooled VXS SBC with two Freescale MPC8640D processors and a user-programmable Virtex-6 FPGA providing eight user-defi ned high-speed links on P0. A switch links the four front-panel and two rear-IO GETH ports to the FPGA and processors.

CES - Creative Electronic Systems SA Phone: +41 22 884 51 00Fax: +41 22 794 74 30

E-mail: [email protected]: www.ces.ch

TRRUST-Stor™ Solid State DiskWith encryption, unparalleled ruggediza-tion and blazing fast erase, Microsemi’s TRRUST-Stor™ solid state drive is designed for secure, high integrity data storage in military applications. TRRUST-Stor delivers reliability, performance, and security even in harsh environments and extreme conditions.

64 to 512 GB densities Hardware-implemented AES-256 encryption Multiple key management techniques Full drive erase in less than 4 seconds Available with unique ruggedized SATA connectors

Microsemi PMGP (formerly White Electronic Designs) Phone: (602) 437-1520 E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.whiteedc.com/trrust-stor.html

mySSD O-SeriesDane-Elec’s new mySSD O-Series is engineered for the harsh environments encountered in the embedded computing, server, notebook, and tablet categories. Dane-Elec offers custom mySSD drives for special programs. The standard O-Series features 64/128/240 GB capacities, MLC/SLC NAND Flash, SATA 3Gb/sec (SATA II) and SMI 2244 controller.

Dane-Elec Phone: (949) 450-2988Fax: (949) 450-9388

E-mail: [email protected]: www.dane-memory.com

MACH16 SATA SLC I-Temp (200GB)STEC’s MACH16™ I-Temp SSDs provide advanced levels of data storage reliability and performance. Unique fl ash manage-ment technologies, including STEC’s proprietary fl ash controller technology, Secure Array of Flash Elements™ (SAFE) Technology and CellCare™ Technology, enable MACH16 SSDs to deliver an un-matched combination of read and write performance, reduced power usage and endurance within extreme environments (Temperature: -40°C to 85°C, Shock: 1,500G, Altitude: -1,000 to 80,000ft).STEC, Inc.

Phone: (949) 476-1180Fax: (949) 476-1209


VPX55-3 DC/DC Power Supply 300W, 3U, VPX

VITA 62 compatible Rugged/Conduction-cooled Meets NAVMAT guidelines EMI Filtering designed to MIL-STD-461F Transient Protection per MIL-STD-704F & MIL-STD-1275 (optional) Remote Error Sensing Current Share 0.08” pitch

North Atlantic Industries, Inc. Phone: (631) 567-1100Fax: (631) 567-1823

E-mail: [email protected]: www.naii.com

cots1205_showcase.indd 1 5/10/12 11:33:01 AM


Jeff Child, Editor-in-ChiefEDITORIALCOTS

With Marvel’s movie The Avengers out earlier this month, superheroes are very popular right now. One staple of comic book superheroes is that they always have that

ever important origin story. That got me thinking about the roots of some of today’s key embedded computing technology that’s vital to military systems, but taken for granted today. Even when switched fabrics started to migrate into the mainstream embedded comput-ing realm almost 15 years ago, the military market expressed quite clearly that they were not interested in them. From the military’s point of view and their decades-long design cycles, it was viewed as too risky to take any long-term development project on an inter-connect scheme that wouldn’t be around in a few years. At the same time, everyone on the technology supplier side knew that the inher-ent performance limitations of parallel buses like ordinary VME64 and PCI meant an eventual shift toward serial switched fabrics.

I recall my long time friend and industry force of nature Ray Alderman debating the merits of different switch fabric alternatives over the years. Only old timers will recall technologies that didn’t make the cut like Sebring Ring, StarFabric, Future I/O, NG I/O…the list was pretty extensive at one time. Along the way the board-level embedded computing community has been an effective filter for these technologies. This community has shown an ability to develop, weed out and then productize technologies critical to the military market, and to do so long before military system designers know what they want or need. And serial switched fabrics to me are one of the most vivid examples of that phenomenon.

For its part, the VME community, with Executive Director of VITA Ray Alderman at the helm, started the ball rolling years ago on the underlying spec development to bring serial switched fabrics into the VME space. Among those are VXS and VPX. The VME realm isn’t the only arena where switched fabrics are making their presence felt. Fabrics—and PCI Express, in particular—have been implemented across all areas of standards-based mid- and high-em-bedded architectures including ATCA, COM Express and others.

Much like the embedded board-level community itself, the ed-itors of COTS Journal and its sister publication RTC magazine were covering switched fabrics long before they were fashionable. Over the years we’ve published more articles on all the various switched fabrics—and all of their ins and outs—than any publication in the industry. So we’ve been on top of the evolution of fabrics all the way through. The ever-cautious military market has warmed to them—in the form of VXS, VPX and others—and they have bro-ken free from their status as exotic, risky solutions. It pleases me,

the notion that these technologies are now moving on to center stage and becoming a real factor in military system designs.

Not resting on its heels, VITA continues to explore new territories of computing that are relevant to the demands of military systems. In the latest example, VITA last month announced the formation of a working group that will develop the pin-outs and the connection diagrams for building 4- and 6-dimensional hypercubes. These hy-percubes enable using the VPX architecture as a standard supercom-puting platform for embedded applications running complex algo-rithms for radar, sonar, SIGINT and other data-intensive applications. According to Ray Alderman, “It may be an addition to the present OpenVPX document as new profiles, or it may be a new specification, if the working group agrees.” Ray explained that a 4-dimensional hy-percube can be designed with as few as four VPX modules, with four nodes on a module. A 64-node, 6-dimensional hypercube could be built with 16 VPX modules, with four nodes on a module.

Apparently a hypercube architecture offers the advantage that each node (vertice) has n number of connections with 2n nodes total. This architecture is very deterministic because the number of links to any node never exceeds n-1. Hypercubes larger than 6 dimensions tend to have too much latency and become too unwieldy for many applications. Hypercubes are more manage-able than a full mesh design that routes each node to every node. With more than 5 or 6 nodes, the number of links becomes too complex to cost-effectively support in a full mesh architecture.

The bottom line is that this need for massively parallel com-puters for complex algorithms continues to grow. The VPX archi-tecture is well positioned to meet the requirements driven by data-intensive critical embedded systems. This need will only accelerate as new algorithms continue to emerge that will require tremen-dous amounts of computing power and interconnect bandwidth. According to VITA, the working group will be developing imple-mentations using existing copper wire based interconnects and mapping out solutions for optical interconnects using the ANSI/VITA 66 Optical Interconnect on VPX specification.

Which reminds me, for more than a decade Ray has never failed to slip optical backplane interconnects into the conversa-tion. And while 10 years ago I may have rolled my eyes, I can’t deny that we’ve moved into an era of computing where such tech-nology finally fits with the computing landscape—which is why I count Ray among my favorite industry superheroes, though I wouldn’t say it to his face. VITA is asking companies interested in participating in the working group to contact them.

Superheroes and Supercomputing

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Pentek, nc , ne Park Way, Upper Saddle Ri er, N 45 � Phone 5 � a 5 4 � e-mail info pentek com � pentek comWorld ide Distribution Support, Copyright Pentek, nc Pentek, ny , Ready lo and ate lo are trademarks of Pentek, nc ther trademarks are properties of their respecti e o ners

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