CHATSWORTH, Calif., 17 April 2013.Aitech Defense Systems Inc., a provider of embedded and mission-critical computing technologies for demanding aerospace and defense applications, announces its RTCA-compliant C920 rugged 3U CompactPCI PowerPC-based single-board computer (SBC).
The new SBC helps significantly reduce engineering resources typically diverted to RTCA design requirements, saving on overall system and software development costs, says a spokesperson. The C920 features very low power dissipation of typically less than 5 watts.
“Designed specifically for avionics, our new C920 is already safety certified for a major helicopter mission computer application. Its low power, high density, and exceptional reliability offer the right combination for the rugged, compact nature in avionics environments,” says Doug Patterson, vice president of sales and marketing at Aitech.
The C920, the latest product in Aitech’s C92x family of rugged, avionics-centric computing boards, is well suited for high-reliability airborne platforms and safety- and mission-critical applications. The new SBC is safety-certifiable to the highest DAL A levels of both DO-178 (software) and DO-254 (hardware).
“With its existing certifications, Aitech’s new, super-low-power SBC is ideal for flight and mission control computers in avionics platform subsystems destined for FAA-controlled airspace,” says a reprsentative. “In addition to reduced design costs, the C920 saves on DO-254 certification costs by minimizing the use of on-board FPGAs.”
Featuring increased processing power without added heat generation, the C920 incorporates an integrated PowerQUICC II 8349E processor that is hardware-preconfigured to 400 MHz, ensuring the right mix of high processor horsepower and low power dissipation. The processor also features an on-chip 32 KB instruction and a 32 KB data L1 cache that support a powerful e300 core.
The C920’s on-board memory consists of up to 256MB of fast DDR2 266 SDRAM with ECC protection for exceptional data integrity, 128MB of boot Flash, 256MB of user Flash, and 512KB of NVRAM implemented with a fast MRAM (magneto-resistive RAM) for fast read/write storage of critical mission and board parameters as well as user data storage. MRAM’s unlimited write/erase capacity prevents it from wearing out—a problem associated with other Flash or SSD technologies—increasing the board’s long-term reliability.
The C920’s compact 3U form factor accommodates a range of integrated I/O, including two 10/100 BaseT Ethernet ports and two RS-232/-422/-485 serial ports. To control real-world systems, the rugged SBC also provides 21 single-ended, general-purpose TTL discrete I/O lines, where each line is independently user-programmable as either an input or output and able to generate a processor interrupt on a change of state.
An industry standard PMC slot, compliant to ANSI/IEEE 1386 and ANSI/VITA 20, enables expanded board resources or I/O functionality via standardized mezzanine modules. I/O from the mezzanine is brought out to either the front panel for air-cooled versions or routed to the CompactPCI backplane for conduction-cooled modules.
In a subsystem, the C920 can function as a system controller, supporting up to five additional cards on the CompactPCI backplane to provide clock, arbitration, and interrupt capabilities, or it can serve as a peripheral or “slave” board.
System support devices include an avionics-style, windowed watchdog timer, four 32-bit (or eight 16-bit) timers, and Real Time Clock (RTC). The watchdog timer can be set to either generate a non-maskable interrupt or a board reset.
The standard board support package (BSP) is available for WindRiver VxWorks, with a BSP available for Wind River ARINC653 or Green Hills INTEGRITY upon request. Each includes all on-board resources, enabling the user to take advantage of the C920’s features. The COTS board is available in five different build levels, either air- or conduction-cooled.
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