The Flying Helicopter Simulator (FHS) is an advanced airborne testbed funded by the German Ministry of Defense, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), and industry. It is based on the widely deployed Eurocopter EC135 and refitted with fly-by-light technology, the first helicopter in the world with this type of flight control system.
While many have turned away from VME in favor of VXS, VPX, and even PC-based “computer motherboard” modules, among other iterations, this case study shows that VME is still a viable candidate in FPGA-based data acquisition systems. The primary reasons: Its high pin counts and additional P0 connector – plusses that came in handy when Joerger Enterprises designed its new module’s basecards and daughtercards.
If you thought Ethernet was only a command and control fabric, think again. At 10 Gbps, Ethernet is now ready to serve as the high-bandwidth data plane. VITA 42.6 defines the 10 GbE standard for the XMC platform, giving benign and rugged military applications access to the king of fat data pipes.
With changing political and even social environments driving demand for the latest “run-faster, jump-higher” processing wares, GPUs – combined with GPPs, DSPs, and/or FPGAs – just might make the “miracle” supercomputing system a reality. Variables to consider include power consumption, compute power, life-cycle extension, and physical environment.
Theft of sensitive military designs is not a new problem, but new technology development is providing a novel way to identify IP ownership and trace FPGA design theft with a noninvasive, nondestructive test. This is accomplished via an IP tag that emits coded thermal signals. The thermal signals can only be detected by authorized users to provide a discrete way of signaling internal conditions from a working chip. In addition, it can be adapted to help fight the growing problem of fake devices and monitor system status more effectively than RF tags or electrical signaling.
As multiprocessor systems such as those used in military DSP applications continue their rise in performance and power, it becomes increasingly critical to obtain accurate data on per-slot power dissipation. This can be a real challenge unless boards are provided with advanced power management and temperature monitoring capabilities.
Time-triggered Ethernet represents a path to giving Ethernet networks the determinism they need to be viable in mission-critical, high-reliability, real-time applications such as avionics. It assigns different levels of priority to message types, ensuring the on-time delivery of critical information and optimizing bandwidth usage. How time-triggered Ethernet works and how it supports heterogeneous networks is described, in addition to the operational role of switches and the concepts of safety and fault tolerance.
VPX has a bright future in the defense arena, considered by many as next-generation VME. Mil/aero designers now have the flexibility to evaluate both when looking at their design requirements, assessing the legacy environment and considering rugged application demands and the types of data being processed now and moving forward. Key considerations include power-efficient performance and bandwidth.
Many programs and companies appear to have moved on from classic VME, implying that it’s too much hassle to revamp it to compatibility with more modern technologies such as multicore, 45 nm, low-power, or SWaP-efficient accoutrements. However, Themis Computer begs to differ, with its...
Though sister standard VPX (VITA 46) is overshadowing it – and most other VITA standards at the moment – VXS (VITA 41) also has its share of admirers because of its interoperability savvy. Another perhaps-less-emphasized advantage of VXS though – at least in the case of TEK...
So you’ve acquired the radar data ... how do you display it? That’s the
mission of Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing’s Cougar two-slot VME card set. Designed for military applications, the assembly simplifies the integration of advanced radar image processing and d...
Since every military and industrial application needs to be tested before deployment in their respectively intense environments, the equipment used to test those technologies can become nearly as important as the deployed equipment itself. Of course, VME boards always need I/O, and prototy...
While many individuals seek power, control, and intelligence, North Atlantic Industries has taken action and combined all three intangibles into one tangible form: its iPM intelligent power monitor and control device. The iPM monitors frequency, voltage, DC components, and phase sequences...
Whether we're talking Fort Knox, a bank, business or corporation, one's own electronic ID, or, perhaps even the DoD, one topic is on everyone's minds: Security. Consequently, more secure RTOSs and even middleware are taking up quite a bit of space in print magazines and on bloggers' websit...
AdaCore: GNAT Pro Traceability Analysis Package for DO-178B
Remember those good ol' school days when the stakes for earning "A" grades seemed so high? Allowances, dates, TV privileges, and everything else vital to a kid's or teen's life hung in the balance. Though the pressure to achieve A's is long gone for most of us, those programming DO-178B Le...
In light of today’s slippery economy, there’s always the question of whether to go with the lower price or the more splurgy, higher-priced choice, hoping it will pay off in the long run. Turns out that in spite of all the recent VPX working group hubbub, Kontron has managed to la...
Typically, before development starts on DSP software – for SIGINT, sonar, radar, or other signal processing code types – decisions have to be made. Perhaps most important is: On which type of target hardware platform will the software be executed? Moreover, not having yet receive...
An avid and longtime supporter of both VME
and PICMG standards, Hybricon is routinely at the
forefront of new technology – and their 3U VPX backplane is a good case in
point. While it’s true that VITA 46.0 (VPX) Gen 1 is undergoing some modifications to Gen 2 to accommodate ne...
Solid State Drives (SSDs) continue undaunted in their ubiquity when compared against other storage wares, and Extreme Engineering Solutions’ XPort6170 SATA SSD removable module carrier is a prime example. Designed for easy extraction and insertion, the 3U VPX solid state SLC NAND flas...
Processing analog data quickly is
the mission of GE Fanuc Intelligent
Platforms’ ICS-1556B ADC PMC module.
Designed for SDR, radar, sonar, SIGINT, and
tactical communications, the four-channel PMC relies on
four 14-bit, 400 MHz A/D converters to fire-hose information onto the car...
Everyone’s got a Solid-State
Drive (SSD), but not everyone’s got the street cred in rugged components like White Electronic Designs. The company’s new NAND SSD product line (which strangely has no name or
number at press time) is designed specifically for “demanding d...
The world is a noisy place.
We’re not talking about teenagers’ cars cranking Usher. We’re referring to all that chaff in the EM spectrum. If you’re in the signals intelligence, beamforming, or direction-finding business, it’s essential to extract the golden wheat...
Want dynamic range? Better get a whole lot o’ bits: 14 of them, in fact, and sampled at 400 MHz. Now double this and you’ve just described the front end on Pentek’s Model 7156 Dual Channel Transceiver, residing on a PMC form factor. Based upon the TI ADS5474,
the input shou...
Many programs and companies appear to have moved on from classic VME, implying that it’s too much hassle to revamp it to compatibility with more modern technologies such as multicore, 45 nm, low-power, or SWaP-efficient accoutrements. However, Themis Computer begs to differ, with its...
Though sister standard VPX (VITA 46) is overshadowing it – and most other VITA standards at the moment – VXS (VITA 41) also has its share of admirers because of its interoperability savvy. Another perhaps-less-emphasized advantage of VXS though – at least in the case of TEK...
So you’ve acquired the radar data ... how do you display it? That’s the 
Since every military and industrial application needs to be tested before deployment in their respectively intense environments, the equipment used to test those technologies can become nearly as important as the deployed equipment itself. Of course, VME boards always need I/O, and prototy...
While many individuals seek power, control, and intelligence, North Atlantic Industries has taken action and combined all three intangibles into one tangible form: its iPM intelligent power monitor and control device. The iPM monitors frequency, voltage, DC components, and phase sequences...
Whether we're talking Fort Knox, a bank, business or corporation, one's own electronic ID, or, perhaps even the DoD, one topic is on everyone's minds: Security. Consequently, more secure RTOSs and even middleware are taking up quite a bit of space in print magazines and on bloggers' websit...
Remember those good ol' school days when the stakes for earning "A" grades seemed so high? Allowances, dates, TV privileges, and everything else vital to a kid's or teen's life hung in the balance. Though the pressure to achieve A's is long gone for most of us, those programming DO-178B Le...
In light of today’s slippery economy, there’s always the question of whether to go with the lower price or the more splurgy, higher-priced choice, hoping it will pay off in the long run. Turns out that in spite of all the recent VPX working group hubbub, Kontron has managed to la...
Typically, before development starts on DSP software – for SIGINT, sonar, radar, or other signal processing code types – decisions have to be made. Perhaps most important is: On which type of target hardware platform will the software be executed? Moreover, not having yet receive...
An avid and longtime supporter of both VME 
Solid State Drives (SSDs) continue undaunted in their ubiquity when compared against other storage wares, and Extreme Engineering Solutions’ XPort6170 SATA SSD removable module carrier is a prime example. Designed for easy extraction and insertion, the 3U VPX solid state SLC NAND flas...
Processing analog data quickly is 
Everyone’s got a Solid-State 
The world is a noisy place. 
Want dynamic range? Better get a whole lot o’ bits: 14 of them, in fact, and sampled at 400 MHz. Now double this and you’ve just described the front end on Pentek’s Model 7156 Dual Channel Transceiver, residing on a PMC form factor. Based upon the TI ADS5474, 
