LEESBURG, Va., 6 Feb. 2007. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, a designer and manufacturer of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX, and CompactPCI products, has announced the VPX3-125 -- its first VPX (VITA 46) single-board computer (SBC) available in a compact and lightweight 3U form factor.
The company also announced a companion board, the VPX3-215 ExpressReach, a 3U IO expansion carrier card for use with the VPX3-125.
The VPX3-125 is the first Curtiss-Wright SBC to feature the P.A. Semi PWRficient PA6T-1682M, a low-power, compliant power architecture platform processor. The VPX3-125 combines this dual-core processor, running at 1.5 GHz, high bandwidth serial fabric, and a set of IO features together in a form factor ideal for space- and weight-constrained harsh environment defense and aerospace applications.
The VPX3-215 ExpressReach carrier card simplifies IO expansion for system designers integrating high-performance systems based on the VPX3-125. The 3U VPX carrier card provides an XMC/PMC site and two x4 PCI Express (PCie) switch ports.
The VPX3-125 provides the following features:
- Single or Dual Core PA Semi PWRficientTM PA6T-1682M CPU @ 1.5 GHz
- 512 MB/1GB DDR2 memory @ 400 MHz
- 128 MB NOR Flash and 1 GB of NAND FLASH
- 512 KB Non Volatile Memory (NVRAM)
- One XMC/PMC site
- Two x4 lane PCI Express egress ports off board
- Two 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports
- RS-232 and RS-422 Serial Channels
- USB 2.0 Host port and Discreet Digital IO
- VPX-REDI (VITA 48) version available: contact factory for more information.
For applications requiring security functionality, the board supports Trusted Computing (TPM), and hardware encryption using the 1682 crypto engine. The board also provides the SecureErase Utility to easily erase all non-volatile memory elements when required for security purposes.
The optional companion 3U carrier card, the VPX3-215, provides the following features:
- High performance XMC/PMC site supporting x8 lane PCI Express port (VITA42.4) with differential pair IO routing
- PMC site supports up to 100MHz PCI-X (5V tolerant)
- Two x4 lane PCI Express Switch ports on P1 provide access to the PMC/XMC site. These can be aggregated to function as single x8 lane port for higher bandwidth access to XMC.
Both the SBC and the ExpressReach card offer built in conformance with Curtiss-Wright's Continuum Software Architecture (CSA), an interoperability initiative under its COTS Continuum program that eases system upgrades and compatibility across product lines through the use of standardized APIs and abstraction of hardware layers.
Software available for the board includes drivers for operating environments including VxWorks/Tornado (6.x) and Linux. An SSSL VPX-optimized DSP library also will be available.
The VPX3-125 is designed for demanding, high-performance defense and aerospace applications and is offered in a range of rugged configurations including air cooled (Level 0/100) and conduction cooled (Level 100/200). Innovative cooling techniques are employed to handle high performance implementations.
Volume pricing for commercial and rugged versions of the VPX3-125 and the VPX3-215 ExpressReach is available.
