Military Embedded Systems - Fall 2005 - Volume 1 Number 2
Military Embedded Systems - Fall 2005 - Volume 1 Number 2
Military Embedded Systems - Fall 2005 - Volume 1 Number 2
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
In the System<br />
in areas such as SDR and video compression-based<br />
surveillance. Bundled COTS<br />
products reduce time-to-deployment to<br />
satisfy new expectations.<br />
The TS-MPEG-4 bundled product from<br />
SBS Technologies shown in Figure 1<br />
illustrates this product packaging strategy.<br />
It is based on a standard air- or conduction-cooled<br />
PMC module with an<br />
Altera Stratix EP1S30 FPGA, 128 MB of<br />
SDRAM, and a PCI interface to the host<br />
SBC. This PMC can be used in its basic<br />
form in many different applications with<br />
the customer developing code to suit.<br />
The external interfaces can be tailored<br />
by means of a unique micro-mezzanine<br />
mounted on the PMC module itself.<br />
In the module’s bundled form, the deliverable<br />
product includes all the code<br />
Figure 1<br />
required for operation out of the box, plus<br />
physical interfaces to two RS-170 video<br />
COTS vendors support the PMC concept<br />
of I/O, as indeed do many PowerPCbased<br />
DSP cards. The PMC module is<br />
independent of the SBC’s processor type<br />
using the FPGA manufacturer’s toolkits.<br />
Some COTS vendors have taken the idea<br />
further and developed prepackaged applications<br />
for their FPGA. PMC modules<br />
sources and one RS-170 video output.<br />
Instead of using DSPs or general-purpose<br />
processors such as AltiVec-equipped<br />
PowerPCs, the supplied FPGA code compresses<br />
or bus architecture (for example VMEbus 1 the two incoming video channels<br />
that 97917.3p4c.COTS_MES include standard hardware 4/6/05 interfaces 3:16 PM Page<br />
or CompactPCI), making it a versatile<br />
platform for many different applications.<br />
In this example, if the FPGA were<br />
implemented on a PMC-fomat module,<br />
it could then be mounted on a COTS<br />
3U CompactPCI host SBC with either<br />
a Pentium or PowerPC processor. This<br />
combination of SBC and PMC would<br />
form the digital portion of the radio and<br />
would only occupy a single 0.8" slot<br />
width, 6.3" deep and 4" high.<br />
and application-ready code can be used using MPEG-4, offering 15 to 20 percent<br />
Time-to-deployment of new<br />
FPGA designs<br />
Time-to-deployment of new technology<br />
has become a critical factor in the military<br />
procurement process. Whereas projects<br />
would once take many years to reach<br />
combat status, with what was by then<br />
obsolete technology, timescales have<br />
shrunk. Introducing new capabilities such<br />
as security and surveillance now demands<br />
not just the latest technology but all the<br />
tools and application support required for<br />
their immediate use.<br />
Though SOC FPGAs promise the benefits<br />
of technology leadership, there is considerable<br />
development effort required to<br />
reach deployment when undertaking new<br />
application designs. This requirement<br />
is so even if it is based on a typical offthe-shelf<br />
solution such as a PMC module<br />
Switch Mode Power Magnetics<br />
PREMIER MAGNETICS is your source for MIL-STD-1553 databus interface transformers<br />
for avionics, fly-by-wire and guidance systems. And we’re your source for switch mode power<br />
supply components–high-frequency transformers, inductors and filter components–complete<br />
with fully-tested reference designs.<br />
Smallest Industry Package Sizes<br />
Competitive Prices<br />
Prompt Delivery<br />
Free Samples<br />
Reference Circuits<br />
P r e m i e r M a g n e t i c s<br />
20381 Barents Sea Circle<br />
Lake Forest, CA 92630<br />
949-452-0511 fax: 949-452-0512<br />
w w w . p r e m i e r m a g . c o m / m e s<br />
RSC# 17 @www.mil-embedded.com/rsc<br />
<strong>Military</strong> EMBEDDED SYSTEMS October <strong>2005</strong> / 17