Boarding high bandwidth
31 March 2009
Rugged CPU boards for data intensive applications.
The VITA 46 VPX standard will be supported by Kontron’s new boards: the VX3030 is based on the Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the VX3230 is based on the Freescale MPC8544 32-bit PowerPC processor.
The VX3020 is aimed at high-end processing and the low power VX3230 is for dedicated processing tasks. Through these boards, Kontron has launched its support for next generation high bandwidth applications that need to leverage the performance advantages of serial switched fabrics. These two Kontron VPX boards are the first members of Kontron's new family of VPX products based on the VPX standard that brings maximum serial bandwidth over the backplane to rugged applications.
“VPX is a proposed ANSI standard which breaks out from the traditional connector scheme of VMEbus to merge the latest in connector and packaging technology with the latest in bus and serial fabric technology”, said Ray Alderman, executive director of VITA.
Based on the latest dual-core 1.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo LV processor the Kontron VX3020 VPX CPU board offers high-end processing performance to meet a range of signal and data processing requirements. With the Intel 3100 chipset the Kontron VX3020 supports up to 2 GB of DDR2 SDRAM and features all the high performance I/Os that are available on laptop PCs such as the UXGA graphics controller with PCI-Express, two Gigabit Ethernet network interfaces configurable by software either on the front RJ45 connector or the rear VPX backplane connector, 3 x SATA-150 interfaces and multiple USB 2.0 ports. An onboard USB connector supports a standard USB Flash disk module. The Kontron VX3020 can also run PCI-based applications with support PCI software backwards compatible PCI-Express which is configurable either as x4 or quad x1 over the backplane.
The low power Kontron VX3230 offers the 1 GHz Freescale MPC8544 32-bit PowerPC processor and up to 1 GB of DDR2 RAM on a 3U VPX board that has a low power output of less than 10 Watts. Like the Kontron VX3020, the Kontron VX3230 offers 2 x Gigabit Ethernet ports configurable on either the front or the back. Dual SATA-150 ports provide data storage options and there are 2 USB 2.0 ports on the rear. For application specific I/O expansions there is an optional XMC/PMC slot. The Kontron VX3230 offers dual boot storage, EEC memory and temperature sensors and can be used in redundant architectures.
The Kontron VPX CPU boards combine all the fundamental strengths of the VMEbus architecture such as robustness with the new high bandwidth capabilities of the VPX connector for high speed differential signaling over the backplane. The Kontron VX3020 and Kontron VX3230 are available in versions that support operational temperatures ranging from -40°C to +85°C according to VITA 47 recommendations. These features make the boards suitable for real-time, data intensive and network-centric applications in the defense and aerospace industry as well as the transportation and other sectors.
“Modern defence and aerospace communication applications are moving beyond the processing capabilities of VME,” explained Norbert Hauser, Vice President of Marketing at Kontron. “The high-end Kontron VX3020 and low power Kontron VX3230 VPX CPU boards enable users to fully exploit the high bandwidth possibilities created by the new VITA 46 VPX standard for developing a wide range of next generation network centric applications.”
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