ASHBURN, Va. – The Curtiss-Wright Corp. Defense Solutions Division in Ashburn, Va., is introducing the VPX3-673A rugged 3U OpenVPX module for assured position, navigation and timing (A-PNT) with alternative navigation (ALTNAV) and the pntOS architecture.
The VPX3-673A is a rugged 3U OpenVPX form factor module compatible with the U.S. Army's Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (C5ISR)/Electronic Warfare Modular Open Suite of Standards (CMOSS) suite of standards and aligned to the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) technical standard 1.0.
ALTNAV, a space-based commercial system, is being evaluated by the U.S. Army as an alternative and complementary source of PNT information on the battlefield.
As an open-source, government-owned plug-in architecture for building integrated PNT sensor-fusion applications, pntOS helps reduce the time and effort necessary to develop algorithms and add support for new sensors.
At the heart of the VPX3-673A embedded computing module is a low-noise chip-scale atomic clock (LN-CSAC), with intelligence provided by a Xilinx Multiprocessor System On Chip (MPSoC).
Complementing these devices is an ALTNAV receiver and a 10-degree-of-freedom inertial measurement unit (IMU). The board supports an internal GPS module for Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SASSM) and M-CODE, or an external GPS via a front panel connector.
The VPX3-673A communicates PNT information using standard Vehicle Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability (VICTORY) data messages in compliance with the CMOSS Mounted Form Factor (CMFF) architecture.
Designed to meet the SOSA radial clock profile SLT3x-TIM-2S1U22S1U2U1H-14.9.2-1, the VPX3-673A also acts as systemwide timing master by producing and distributing reliable, phase aligned, clock signals.
The source is user-selectable from multiple options, including the LN-CSAC, GPS, ALTNAV, or external sources via the Ethernet backplane or coax connectors. Additionally, this module supports NTP/PTP protocol.
In compliance with the SOSA radial clock profile, the VPX3-673A can output 11 radial clocks on the backplane and one radial clock on the coax connector. If more clock channels are required, multiple VPX3-673A modules can be daisy-chained together.
For more information contact Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions online at www.curtisswrightds.com.
