Rugged single-board computer

Etion Create released the second in its family of 3U OpenVPX COTS modules. The VF370 3U OpenVPX single-board computer (SBC) is based on the Intel Atom E3900 series of embedded processors and Intel Cyclone V FPGA technology. Combined with an FMC mezzanine site, the VF370 provides a scalable platform with real-time processing power and flexible I/O options for reduced size, weight and power (SWaP) applications. It is available in standard air-cooled and rugged conduction-cooled variants.

The Intel Atom E3900 series dual- and quad-core processors offer enhanced processing power in a compact, low-power package running at burst speeds of up to 2GHz with 4GB of DDR3L ECC memory for high-reliability applications.

The Atom’s integrated graphics processor (GPU) with 18 execution units, running at up to 650MHz, provides greatly increased video encode and playback performance, with Ultra HD 4K resolution @ 60Hz for surveillance and other video intensive applications.

Intel’s Time Coordinated Computing technology (TCC) can synchronise networks of devices to within 1μs, greatly improving the real-time deterministic behaviour of time-critical systems. The new Intel Trusted Execution Engine (TXE) offers enhanced data and operations protection, complemented by fast cryptographic execution (through Intel AES new instructions) and secure boot features, such as Intel Boot Guard 2.0 to ensure operating system, application and user data integrity and protection.

The combination of the Atom processor, Cyclone V FPGA and FMC site provides a highly flexible architecture that supports a wide range of I/O requirements for real-time applications requiring FPGA pre-processing together with post-processing running on the multi-core Atom processor.

The Cyclone V FPGA’s logic and DSP resources, combined with dedicated DDR3 memory and high-speed SERDES interfaces, supports processing of algorithms with large memory size and bandwidth requirements. The FPGA connects to a VITA 57 high pin count (HPC) FMC connector through 58 pairs of LVDS/LVTTL signals and four high-speed SERDES interfaces for JESD204B and other protocols.

The novel, zero footprint FMC IO connector routes up to 32 differential signals from the FMC site to the P2 VPX connector for backplane- or rear-I/O from the FMC module, as is typically required in conduction-cooled systems.

The optimised OpenVPX interface with slot profile SLT3-PAY-2F2U-14.2.3 provides a wide range of backplane interfaces and a highly-configurable PCIe Gen2 based data plane, supporting high data throughput into and out of the VF370.

The VF370 Payload module can act as a VPX system controller (PCIe root complex) or PCIe endpoint, and supports non-transparent PCIe bridge (NTB) mode on the DP01 or DP02 PCIe interfaces for applications requiring multiple processing cards or redundant system controllers.

Processor interfaces include USB3, SATA, DP/HDMI, I2C, GPIO, RS-422/485, 2x Ethernet and others. A maintenance USB interface facilitates development, system integration and maintenance of processor software and FPGA firmware.

The VF370 is Mil-Std-810G environmentally qualified and targets applications such as rugged mission computers for aerospace, maritime and land systems, Ultra HD video and graphics processing, industrial control, low-power (SWaP) and many others. The following board support packages (BSP) are available:

  • Linux distribution and BSP
  • Windows 10 BSP
  • FPGA firmware development kit (FDK)

Etion Create’s range of COTS-ZA board level products are proudly South African designed products that provide high local content multipliers to the local industrial and defence markets, and provide additional benefits such as local product support and obsolescence management, software and FPGA firmware development services, and custom FMC development services to accommodate bespoke I/O requirements.

For more information, contact Etion Create, sales.etioncreate@etion.co.za, www.etion.co.za.

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