LEESBURG, Va., 2 Oct. 2008. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing in Leesburg, Va., is introducing a Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA-based 3U VPX (VITA 46/48) rugged embedded computer called the VPX3-450 for signal-processing and image-processing applications like radar, sonar, and signals intelligence.

Its compact 3U form factor makes it suitable for space-, weight-, and power- (SWaP) constrained applications on platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and land vehicles. The single-board computer offers software driver and IP development support from Curtiss-Wright's Continuum FXtools developer's kit.

The VPX3-450 "provides computational density and flexibility enabling military system designers to get their custom FPGA-based application out into the field faster," says Lynn Patterson, vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright's modular solutions group.

The VPX3-450 combines the Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA (LX110T or SX95T) and Freescale 8640 Power Architecture processor with VPX's high-bandwidth serial switched fabrics such as PCI Express and Serial RapidIO (SRIO).

Attached to the FPGA is one bank of DDR2 SDRAM and two banks of QDR-II+ SRAM. Two 4-lane high-speed serial ports to the backplane and an additional port to the XMC site provide 7.5 gigabytes per second bandwidth into and out of the FPGA in addition to the primary 4-lane PCI Express link to the on-board fabric.

For more information contact Curtiss-Wright online at www.cwcembedded.com.