Quad processor PowerPC board

Quad processor PowerPC board

Keywords: Blue Wave Systems, Printed circuit boards, Defence

Blue Wave Systems has developed its first ever non-DSP based signal processing product in the shape of the VME/4100, a quad processor PowerPC board for high-performance defence applications (Plate 5). Ruggedised and conduction cooled, the new board is said to be suitable for use in aircraft weapons control, mission computer, array processing, FLIR and other high-end computing systems. The PowerPC design reportedly excels at complex decision-making RISC processor operations with comparable performance in certain applications for processing intensive DSP-type functions, much like a conventional DSP/RISC board combination. But, unlike combination systems, the use of a single PowerPC platform provides a unified development environment simplifying system development and reducing board count.

Plate 5 Blue Wave Systems on manoeuvres with delivery of first Quad processor PowerPC board for defence applications

Karl Wale, defence product marketing manager for Blue Wave Systems, said:

The adoption of an all PowerPC platform to execute both DSP- and RISC processor-type functions has definite advantages in certain applications. By unifying the VME/4100's development environment, embedded designers no longer have to work with different types of code or tools. Instead, they need only be familiar with industry-standard PowerPC development tools.

Four superscalar Motorola MPC603r PowerPC processors operating at 200MHz form the engine of the VME/4100. Connecting the processor nodes together is an on-board PCI bus for rapid inter-processor communication and data transfers. For code and data storage, each node has access to local banks of 8Mbytes SDRAM and up to 8Mbytes of Flash.

Off-board communications are provided through Fibre Channel, Ethernet and RS-232 serial interfaces. The Fibre Channel I/O supports SCSI FC-AL and lightweight protocols at a sustained transfer rate of 100Mbytes/sec. A standard Ethernet link permits network connection for software development, debugging and testing and RS-232 interfaces have been provided on each processor node.

The VME/4100 is available in three levels of ruggedisation. Commercial, for benign environment usage, extended temperature air cooled for more demanding environments, and rugged conduction cooled for extreme temperature, vibration and shock conditions. The fully-ruggedised VME/4100 has been designed specifically for airborne and vehicular use. Vibration performance has been validated at 0.12g2/Hz (20 to 2,000Hz) for 2.5 hours (operational) and thermal cycling is rated at 2,000 cycles 100úC delta. All three ruggedisation levels are the same design and software compatible providing a clear migration path from development to deployment.

This new PowerPC board is backed by comprehensive software support that includes bootcode, power-up Built-in Test (BIT), boot monitor and a VxWorks OS board support package. The bootcode initialises hardware, while the BIT power-up routine verifies the readiness of the VME/4100 board checking and exporting on the board operational status. And, in the event of a system failure, the BIT module will enable the board to continue operating in a reduced functionality mode.

Details from Blue Wave Systems. Tel: +44 (0)1509 634444; Fax: +44 (0)1509 634450; E-mail: shaslam@bleuws.com