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Copyri Copyright ght<br />
© 2010 Kontron Kontron<br />
AG.<br />
G. All All ri ri rights ghts<br />
rreserved.<br />
eserved.<br />
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ecognized.<br />
Rev Rev. . # OCP100g02<br />
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Small Form Factor Boards<br />
CONTENTS<br />
COM Express Compact module features<br />
<strong>in</strong>tegrated condition monitor<strong>in</strong>g 4<br />
Intelligence: WHERE You Need It,<br />
WHEN You Need It 6<br />
Replac<strong>in</strong>g discont<strong>in</strong>ued modules forces<br />
ETX module transplantation 10<br />
M<strong>in</strong>i-ITX boards with AMD processors<br />
hit the ground runn<strong>in</strong>g 12<br />
Small form factor boards embrace<br />
new generation of the Atom family 15<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Comput<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Highlight<strong>in</strong>g the evolution<br />
<strong>in</strong> embedded design 17<br />
COTS<br />
FMC standard benefits high-speed<br />
FPGAs <strong>in</strong> aerospace and defense 20<br />
CompactPCI cards for advanced<br />
avionics systems development 22<br />
DO-178C and COTS: challenges<br />
and opportunities for avionics software 24<br />
Communications<br />
10G Ethernet is poised to be<strong>com</strong>e<br />
the next true standard <strong>in</strong> network<strong>in</strong>g 28<br />
Performance ga<strong>in</strong>s from multi-core<br />
processors partnered with ATCA 32<br />
Built-<strong>in</strong> development and debugg<strong>in</strong>g<br />
tools <strong>in</strong> MicroTCA systems 36<br />
Industrial Comput<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Will Ethernet be the only tra<strong>in</strong> bus<br />
<strong>in</strong> the tra<strong>in</strong>s of the future? 39<br />
Performance to the full -<br />
even under extreme conditions 41<br />
Rugged vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platforms<br />
– design considerations 45<br />
Modular controllers enable platform<br />
concept for custom applications 48<br />
Cover Photo<br />
Lippert <strong>Embedded</strong> Computers<br />
3 December 2010<br />
V-10_2010-WOEI-5262<br />
ETX ®<br />
MSC ETE-PV510<br />
ETX Modul with Intel ®<br />
Atom Dual Core Processor ���<br />
Intel’s 2nd generation Atom with dual core<br />
processor on a long-term available ETX module.<br />
The perfect technology refresh for well established<br />
embedded systems.<br />
Lead your ETX based device to new success<br />
by simply chang<strong>in</strong>g the module!<br />
■ Intel ® Atom D510 (1.66GHz, Dual Core),<br />
<strong>in</strong>tegrated Intel ® GMA3150 graphics core<br />
■ Intel ® ICH8M I/O controller hub<br />
■ Up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM<br />
■ 2x SATA-300, 2x PATA<br />
■ 10/100 Base-T Ethernet<br />
■ LVDS <strong>in</strong>terface (18 Bit)<br />
■ CRT <strong>in</strong>terface up to 2048 x 1536 pixels<br />
■ Dual Independent Displays supported<br />
■ Flash Disk option (up to 8 GB, bootable)<br />
■ 6x USB 2.0<br />
■ Audio <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
■ Legacy <strong>in</strong>terfaces (LPT, COM1/2, PS/2, ISA Bus)<br />
■ ETX 3.02 <strong>com</strong>pliant<br />
■ W<strong>in</strong>dows ® 7, XP (embedded), CE and L<strong>in</strong>ux supported<br />
MSC Vertriebs GmbH<br />
+49 8165 906-122 · boards@msc-ge.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.msc-ge.<strong>com</strong>
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
COM Express Compact module features<br />
<strong>in</strong>tegrated condition monitor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
by Peter Kannegießer, Lippert <strong>Embedded</strong> Computers<br />
With the Toucan-TC, LiPPERT<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Computers offers<br />
a Computer-On-Module <strong>in</strong> the<br />
well-known COM Express<br />
Compact form factor. Its features<br />
CAN bus <strong>in</strong>terface and<br />
condition monitor<strong>in</strong>g are<br />
unique for standard COMs.<br />
n <strong>Embedded</strong> PCs have <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly found <strong>com</strong>mon<br />
use <strong>in</strong> recent years. Their applications<br />
now range from simple data acquisition systems<br />
to <strong>com</strong>plex control systems. Together with<br />
this <strong>com</strong>es a grow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>com</strong>plexity of the application,<br />
requir<strong>in</strong>g extensive flexibility of the<br />
hardware. To meet this demand for flexibility,<br />
small form factor Computer-On-Module<br />
(COM) are often used, which reduce the <strong>com</strong>plexity<br />
of modern processors and chipsets the<br />
developer must handle by us<strong>in</strong>g standardized<br />
<strong>in</strong>terfaces. These COMs can be easily used as<br />
build<strong>in</strong>g blocks, like <strong>in</strong>tegrated circuits <strong>in</strong> an<br />
electronic device.<br />
With the Toucan-TC, LiPPERT <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Computers offers a Computer-On-Module <strong>in</strong><br />
the well-known COM Express Compact form<br />
factor, whose low power consumption makes<br />
it ideal for battery-powered, mobile applications.<br />
The other features of the module -CAN<br />
bus <strong>in</strong>terface and condition monitor<strong>in</strong>g- are<br />
unique for standard Computer-On-Modules.<br />
The low power consumption is achieved through<br />
the use of the Intel Atom processor E6xxT; this<br />
newly launched CPU, together with the chipset<br />
has a specified thermal design power (TDP) of<br />
only about 3 watts. Hyper-Thread<strong>in</strong>g Technology<br />
provides two logical cores, allow<strong>in</strong>g multithread<strong>in</strong>g<br />
for quasi-parallel process<strong>in</strong>g of applications.<br />
Previous Intel processors required a<br />
North Bridge to access the RAM. In the E6xxT<br />
processor, this is replaced by an <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
memory controller, which saves an <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
circuit on the board. Likewise, a separate external<br />
graphics unit no longer required. It is also<br />
already <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong> the CPU. The correspond<strong>in</strong>g<br />
EG20T Platform <strong>Control</strong>ler Hub (PCH)<br />
conta<strong>in</strong>s all the embedded-range standard <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
such as LAN, USB, Serial, CAN, SATA<br />
and other I/O functions. This <strong>com</strong>pact and efficient<br />
<strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation of process<strong>in</strong>g unit and IO<br />
controller unit allows the creation of small,<br />
battery-powered, highperformance<br />
X86 systems.<br />
The two-chip solution allows<br />
the <strong>in</strong>tegration of<br />
the full functionality on<br />
a small, only 95 mm x 95<br />
mm very small measur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
COM Express Compact<br />
Module. Because the<br />
COM Express specification<br />
def<strong>in</strong>es no connectors<br />
for the CAN bus or<br />
serial <strong>in</strong>terfaces, the Toucan-TC<br />
places these on a<br />
lockable option-connector.<br />
Thus, a mechanically<br />
stable arrangement of<br />
these <strong>in</strong>terfaces can be<br />
achieved.<br />
December 2010 4<br />
LEMT<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> <strong>com</strong>puter systems are often used<br />
<strong>in</strong> stand-alone systems that must operate reliably<br />
for long periods without <strong>in</strong>tervention.<br />
For this they are constantly observed — their<br />
loss can usually not be tolerated. To monitor<br />
their operational state, so-called condition<br />
monitor<strong>in</strong>g can is used. With condition monitor<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
the module’s key parameters can be<br />
proactively observed and, when required,<br />
preventive ma<strong>in</strong>tenance can be <strong>in</strong>itiated.<br />
Condition monitor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>cludes not only the<br />
Toucan-TC COM Express Compact with Intel Atom processor E6xxT
current operat<strong>in</strong>g state, but also historical<br />
records of past conditions. The ambient temperature<br />
may serve as an example: whether it<br />
exceeded or fell below the permissible limits<br />
is an essential criterion for the electronics’<br />
expected life time.<br />
It is also desirable to know the actual consumption<br />
data of the system. These <strong>in</strong>clude<br />
the current supply voltages and current. With<br />
these values, one can make statements about<br />
the state of the system, which are well above a<br />
simple „Go / No go” statement. When do<strong>in</strong>g<br />
error analysis, not only records of the environmental<br />
conditions are important, but also<br />
details of the up-time, or of any previous<br />
errors that have resulted <strong>in</strong> the restart of the<br />
system. It is also <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g to know the entire<br />
accumulated run time of the system. Thus, its<br />
rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g service life can be estimated easily.<br />
The Toucan-TC has built <strong>in</strong> support for all<br />
these functions, the LiPPERT <strong>Embedded</strong> Technology<br />
Management (LEMT). The LEMT<br />
functions are implemented with<strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong> System<br />
Management <strong>Control</strong>ler (SMC), a microcontroller,<br />
which is necessary anyway. It<br />
<strong>com</strong>municates via the SM bus with the chipset<br />
of the COM module and thus obta<strong>in</strong>s all relevant<br />
data. The SMC has built-<strong>in</strong> flash and<br />
RAM areas, which are made available to the<br />
user by LEMT functions. The flash area is divided<br />
<strong>in</strong> manufacturer and user specific part.<br />
The manufacturer part is used to store pert<strong>in</strong>ent<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation about the device, such as<br />
part number, BIOS revision and the like. The<br />
1 kB user flash is available for persistent data<br />
of the application. Additionally, there is a<br />
128 byte one-time-programmable region of<br />
flash memory for critical data like security<br />
keys that may not be changed. All these features<br />
are accessed us<strong>in</strong>g the user <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
program provided by LiPPERT. However,<br />
LEMT functionality can also be <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
<strong>in</strong>to the user’s application. A source code <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
is available, provid<strong>in</strong>g easy access to<br />
LEMT’s functions.<br />
One last feature worth mention<strong>in</strong>g, even<br />
though it is not controllable by the user: the<br />
Fail-Safe-BIOS. If an update fails due to a<br />
power failure dur<strong>in</strong>g the process, the board<br />
can’t be accessed any longer. In consequence<br />
a technician must repair the unit on-site. The<br />
Fail-Safe-BIOS will help to m<strong>in</strong>imize the system<br />
downtime and save money. The secondary<br />
Rail Computers for Smarter Railways<br />
Enhanced<br />
Efficiency, E ff fff<br />
iciencyy,<br />
, Productivity Productivityy<br />
and<br />
Competitiveness<br />
Competitiven<br />
es<br />
s<br />
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
BIOS automatically takes over when the first<br />
one is corrupted. A white paper with detailed<br />
description of LEMT functions and implementation<br />
is available on LiPPERT’s website. n<br />
User Interface of the LiPPERT <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Technology Management<br />
www.moxa.<strong>com</strong><br />
www.<br />
mox<br />
a a.<br />
<strong>com</strong><br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Computers<br />
V2426<br />
Cost-efficient Cost-eff<br />
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ontro<br />
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SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
Intelligence: WHERE You Need It,<br />
WHEN You Need It<br />
An <strong>in</strong>terview with Steve Sciarappo, General Manager, Intel ® <strong>Embedded</strong> and Communications Group, Market<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
Bus<strong>in</strong>ess Operations, on Intel’s latest embedded products and shorten<strong>in</strong>g time-to-market through solutions from the Intel ®<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance.<br />
n Smart people built the Internet. Now, <strong>in</strong>telligent<br />
embedded devices are rapidly populat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
it, jo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the 1.7 billion people onl<strong>in</strong>e. 1 Intel<br />
and the Intel ® <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance are help<strong>in</strong>g<br />
fuel this proliferation of connectivity. Em -<br />
bedded devices with built-<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>telligence for<br />
everyth<strong>in</strong>g from energy efficiency to active<br />
management and security are <strong>com</strong>municat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and controll<strong>in</strong>g one another onl<strong>in</strong>e, signal<strong>in</strong>g<br />
a new era <strong>in</strong> the young but quickly grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
embedded Internet.<br />
Roughly 5 billion devices are connected to the<br />
Internet and 15 billion are expected onl<strong>in</strong>e by<br />
2015. 2 Home appliances, electric meters, w<strong>in</strong>d<br />
turb<strong>in</strong>es, medical devices, retail signs, tra<strong>in</strong>s,<br />
factory robotics, surveillance systems, grocery<br />
carts, and cars are gett<strong>in</strong>g connected, driv<strong>in</strong>g<br />
an unstoppable transformation all around us.<br />
With its long history <strong>in</strong> the embedded <strong>in</strong>dustry<br />
and its ecosystem, Intel is <strong>in</strong> the driver’s seat<br />
and shift<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to high gear with new and<br />
better ways to add <strong>in</strong>telligence to devices. Intel<br />
and the Intel <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance provide the<br />
necessary <strong>in</strong>gredients to <strong>in</strong>still embedded<br />
devices with all k<strong>in</strong>ds of <strong>in</strong>telligence, as well as<br />
to make you look smarter by shorten<strong>in</strong>g your<br />
time-to-market. This <strong>in</strong>cludes a full range of<br />
Intel ® embedded processors and product<br />
technologies, plus a <strong>com</strong>plete choice of boards,<br />
software, programm<strong>in</strong>g/development tools,<br />
and <strong>in</strong>tegration services.<br />
We discussed how important 2010 will be to<br />
the <strong>in</strong>dustry and what the Alliance will br<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
the table, with Steve Sciarappo, General Manager,<br />
Intel ® <strong>Embedded</strong> and Communications Group,<br />
Market<strong>in</strong>g and Bus<strong>in</strong>ess Operations.<br />
Q: In recent years, Intel has really expanded<br />
its embedded product l<strong>in</strong>e and focused on<br />
the embedded space. Why?<br />
A: The reality is that Intel ® architecture has<br />
fueled <strong>in</strong>novation <strong>in</strong> the embedded space<br />
for more than 30 years. The growth you are<br />
see<strong>in</strong>g today reflects our drive to br<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>telligence and connectivity to every em-<br />
bedded device–and we are well on our way<br />
to meet<strong>in</strong>g that goal. Intel processors are<br />
now found <strong>in</strong> a lot of amaz<strong>in</strong>g places with<br />
products that span nearly every segment of<br />
the embedded <strong>in</strong>dustry, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g medical,<br />
digital signage, In-Vehicle Infota<strong>in</strong>ment (IVI),<br />
and factory automation, among others.<br />
The embedded Internet is the <strong>com</strong>mon theme<br />
<strong>in</strong> these applications. As we seek to connect<br />
the embedded world, it only makes sense to<br />
use an architecture that is already popular for<br />
Internet-connected home and bus<strong>in</strong>ess<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g. By deploy<strong>in</strong>g Intel silicon, the embedded<br />
<strong>in</strong>dustry can maximize the enormous<br />
software <strong>in</strong>vestment already made <strong>in</strong> Intel<br />
architecture. Not only do Internet- connected<br />
embedded devices run well on Intel architecture,<br />
but organizations can also reuse and<br />
repurpose software across multiple product<br />
l<strong>in</strong>es and future generations of products.<br />
Q: If I were an embedded developer or orig<strong>in</strong>al<br />
equipment manufacturer (OEM) us<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
different architecture, why should I consider<br />
switch<strong>in</strong>g?<br />
December 2010 6<br />
A: I’d answer that by ask<strong>in</strong>g how hard you<br />
want to work to keep up. As the world grows<br />
<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly connected, do you really want to<br />
spend resources ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g multiple code<br />
bases and tools for multiple architectures? Or<br />
would you rather take advantage of development<br />
efficiencies that <strong>com</strong>e from rely<strong>in</strong>g on a s<strong>in</strong>gle<br />
architecture? Intel architecture has an enormous<br />
base of exist<strong>in</strong>g software, and the broadest set<br />
of software development tools and open source<br />
software libraries and utilities. This <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
can help organizations speed up software development<br />
cycles and shorten time-to-market.<br />
Another advantage is the sheer number of<br />
Intel architecture-based, off-the-shelf solutions<br />
available from Alliance members. No other<br />
embedded architecture offers this breadth of<br />
products <strong>in</strong> so many standard and custom<br />
form factors. This means embedded developers<br />
can tap <strong>in</strong>to the full scalability of our product<br />
l<strong>in</strong>e, from the power-efficient Intel ® Atom <br />
processors to the all new Intel ® Core i3/i5/i7<br />
processors and the <strong>in</strong>dustry-lead<strong>in</strong>g performance/watt<br />
of the multi-core Intel ® Xeon ® pro -<br />
cessors. This range of off-the-shelf solutions
Steve Sciarappo: “Intel ® processors are now<br />
found <strong>in</strong> a lot of amaz<strong>in</strong>g places with products<br />
that span nearly every segment of the<br />
embedded <strong>in</strong>dustry.”<br />
makes it easy to buy the right board for each<br />
product. Our top-to-bottom range of pro -<br />
cessors and chipsets has fueled an explosion<br />
of offer<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> small form factor designs.<br />
Q: Speak<strong>in</strong>g of a full embedded product l<strong>in</strong>e,<br />
Intel has announced a reassur<strong>in</strong>g seven-year<br />
lifecycle support for many new embedded<br />
processors released <strong>in</strong> the first quarter of<br />
this year. What are some other reasons to get<br />
excited about these processors?<br />
A: Intel began the year with a bang by <strong>in</strong>troduc<strong>in</strong>g<br />
10 new processors for the embedded market.<br />
Us<strong>in</strong>g 32nm process technology, the new 2010<br />
Intel ® Core i7 processors, and Intel ® Core i5<br />
processors and Intel ® Core i3 paired with the<br />
mobile Intel ® QM57 Express chipset, are the<br />
most <strong>in</strong>telligent processors available from Intel.<br />
What I mean by “<strong>in</strong>telligent” is these processors<br />
take <strong>in</strong>telligent, adaptive performance to a new<br />
level, especially when it <strong>com</strong>es to energy efficiency.<br />
Deploy<strong>in</strong>g Intel ® Core processor-based systems,<br />
an IT adm<strong>in</strong>istrator at a bank could improve<br />
power efficiency and management of system<br />
workloads, for embedded applications like <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
kiosks, digital signs, and ATMs.<br />
Four of the Intel Core i7/i5 processors (Core i7-<br />
610E, Core i7-620LE, Core i7-620UE and Core<br />
i5-520E) were designed to <strong>in</strong>clude Error Correct<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Code (ECC), which corrects memory without<br />
the need for system reset and is critical for designs<br />
that require high data <strong>in</strong>tegrity standards. ECC<br />
<strong>in</strong> smart retail registers, for <strong>in</strong>stance, helps protect<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st register system memory errors that could<br />
result <strong>in</strong> numerical miscalculations.<br />
Q: We hear there is excitement about the<br />
desktop Intel ® Core processors f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g their<br />
way <strong>in</strong>to embedded applications. Can you<br />
expla<strong>in</strong>?<br />
A: You must mean the Intel ® Core i5-660 and<br />
Core i3-540 processors paired with the Intel ®<br />
Q57 Express and the Intel ® 3450 chipsets. This<br />
two-chip solution <strong>in</strong>tegrates the graphics eng<strong>in</strong>e<br />
<strong>in</strong> the processor deliver<strong>in</strong>g enhanced graphics<br />
support for visually demand<strong>in</strong>g applications<br />
such as retail POS, digital signage, gam<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
medical imag<strong>in</strong>g, and <strong>in</strong>dustrial automation<br />
and control. This, <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed with simultaneous<br />
multithread<strong>in</strong>g, performance-boost<strong>in</strong>g technologies,<br />
remote manageability, and <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
memory controller, offers serious performance<br />
improvements while sav<strong>in</strong>g valuable board<br />
real estate.<br />
Q: What do the new Intel ® Xeon ® and Intel ®<br />
Atom processors mean to the embedded<br />
market?<br />
A: In February we launched the new Intel ®<br />
Xeon ® processor C5500/C3500 series <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
with the Intel ® 3420 chipset. For the<br />
first time, Intel eng<strong>in</strong>eers have <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
PCI Express * (PCIe * ) and all <strong>in</strong>put/output<br />
(I/O) functions onto a dual-process<strong>in</strong>g Intel<br />
Xeon processor, which greatly facilitates<br />
dense storage and <strong>com</strong>munications solutions<br />
such as IPTV, On-Demand Video<br />
Services, and wireless radio network controllers.<br />
The Intel Xeon processor<br />
C3500/C5500 series ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>s the outstand<strong>in</strong>g<br />
performance of our latest Intel architecture<br />
(Nehalem), while lower<strong>in</strong>g system<br />
power consumption by at least 27 watts<br />
when <strong>com</strong>pared to the Intel ® Xeon ® 5500<br />
series processors. 3 For smaller form factor,<br />
low power applications, we <strong>in</strong>troduced the<br />
first dual-core Intel ® Atom processor D510<br />
for embedded. With <strong>in</strong>tegrated graphics<br />
media accelerator and memory controller,<br />
this processor offers a smaller footpr<strong>in</strong>t,<br />
better efficiency, and enhanced performance<br />
and system responsiveness.<br />
Q: Can you give us some examples of the<br />
<strong>in</strong>novations you’re see<strong>in</strong>g from Intel ®<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance members?<br />
A: That could fill a book, but here’s a look at<br />
what some of our Premier Alliance members<br />
are do<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Kontron plans to deliver several new products<br />
<strong>in</strong> 2010 based on the Intel Core i7 processor.<br />
Recently they <strong>in</strong>troduced what could be the<br />
market’s most powerful, s<strong>in</strong>gle-width AdvancedMC<br />
processor module, designed with<br />
the new Intel Core i7 processor. The Kontron<br />
AM4020 offers the ultimate <strong>in</strong> <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
power and <strong>in</strong>tegrated graphics when used <strong>in</strong><br />
MicroTCA and AdvancedTCA ® <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
platforms and it is ideal for use <strong>in</strong> tele<strong>com</strong>munications<br />
applications and test systems for<br />
wirel<strong>in</strong>e networks.<br />
RadiSys developed a low-power s<strong>in</strong>gle board<br />
<strong>com</strong>puter (SBC) based on an Intel Atom<br />
processor for the <strong>in</strong>-home display sector. This<br />
product can be used <strong>in</strong> equipment that tracks<br />
energy usage and utility pric<strong>in</strong>g. On the upper<br />
end, they announced the Procelerant <br />
CEQM57 COM Express module us<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
new Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and mobile<br />
Intel QM57 Express chipset. These modules<br />
raise the bar for medical imag<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>com</strong>munications,<br />
military-aerospace, and test and<br />
measurement applications that require high<br />
levels of performance.<br />
Emerson Network Power released four new<br />
products featur<strong>in</strong>g the embedded Intel Core<br />
i7 and Core i5 processor and the mobile Intel<br />
QM57 Express chipset. Form factors <strong>in</strong>clude<br />
MicroATX * , COM Express, 6U VME and 3U<br />
CompactPCI, address<strong>in</strong>g a wide range of<br />
<strong>in</strong>dustrial, medical and military/aerospace<br />
applications, and digital signage and retail and<br />
<strong>in</strong>teractive kiosks. These new platforms feature<br />
high quality digital graphics, advanced management<br />
capabilities and the <strong>in</strong>tegrated Intel ®<br />
Trusted Platform Module enhances data<br />
security and encryption.<br />
Advantech announced an All-<strong>in</strong>-One Digital<br />
Signage Station based on our new Intel Core<br />
i7 processor. The station is a ready-to-go,<br />
touch-screen, public signage kiosk that can be<br />
used to advertise everyth<strong>in</strong>g from the latest<br />
film, to the latest fashions. They also developed<br />
a 1U rackmount appliance us<strong>in</strong>g the latest<br />
Intel ® Xeon ® 3400 series Quad Core processor,<br />
which is aimed at network security OEMs and<br />
uses the processor’s features to help control<br />
energy consumption for optimum performance<br />
and efficiency.<br />
Kontron AMC module with Intel ® Core i7<br />
processor<br />
7 December 2010
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
Q: What about application software<br />
developments?<br />
A: Great question. Software solutions are a<br />
critical element of the Alliance’s offer<strong>in</strong>gs,<br />
and we are excited about the developments<br />
happen<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> this area. For example, Associate<br />
member Microsoft recently released the newest<br />
version of the Microsoft W<strong>in</strong>dows ® <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Auto software platform. This platform builds<br />
on the Intel Atom processor to deliver engag<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>-vehicle experiences with rich user <strong>in</strong>terfaces.<br />
The <strong>Embedded</strong> Auto platform is a great example<br />
of a solution that helps developers<br />
deliver market-lead<strong>in</strong>g products with remarkably<br />
low time-to-market.<br />
We are also work<strong>in</strong>g with Microsoft on an optimized<br />
digital signage platform for retail and<br />
hospitality markets. This high performance,<br />
highly reliable solution is powered by the Intel<br />
Core i7 processor and built with the Microsoft<br />
W<strong>in</strong>dows ® 7-based, Microsoft W<strong>in</strong>dows ® <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Standard 2011 operat<strong>in</strong>g system. We<br />
expect this solution to fuel a whole new generation<br />
of digital signage applications–it will<br />
enable some impressive <strong>in</strong>novation.<br />
Q: What is the story on developments tools?<br />
A: Tools are a key focus area for several Alliance<br />
members, and this is an area where the Alliance<br />
really sh<strong>in</strong>es, particularly when it <strong>com</strong>es to<br />
real-time operat<strong>in</strong>g systems. Associate member<br />
W<strong>in</strong>d River is lead<strong>in</strong>g the charge there, provid<strong>in</strong>g<br />
a <strong>com</strong>prehensive set of platforms and<br />
development tools based on the real-time operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system VxWorks and on W<strong>in</strong>d River<br />
L<strong>in</strong>ux. These tools <strong>in</strong>clude Eclipse-based W<strong>in</strong>d<br />
1) Number of Internet users worldwide <strong>in</strong> September 2009 accord<strong>in</strong>g to www.p<strong>in</strong>gdom.<strong>com</strong>.<br />
See: http://royal.p<strong>in</strong>gdom.<strong>com</strong>/2010/01/22/<strong>in</strong>ternet-2009-<strong>in</strong>-numbers.<br />
2) “The <strong>Embedded</strong> Internet: Methodology and F<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs,” John Gantz, IDC, January 2009.<br />
For a veritable who’s who <strong>in</strong> help<strong>in</strong>g you over<strong>com</strong>e design challenges<br />
<strong>in</strong> your <strong>in</strong>telligent devices for the embedded Internet, look no further<br />
than the Intel ® <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance. The Alliance provides real technology<br />
leadership and a reliable supply l<strong>in</strong>e of <strong>in</strong>novation and performance<br />
based on the latest Intel ® embedded products and technologies.<br />
As Intel has expanded and grown its focus on an <strong>in</strong>telligent, connected<br />
universe of devices, so has the Alliance. Its more than 200 worldwide<br />
members <strong>in</strong>clude a diverse group of board manufacturers, operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system and software <strong>com</strong>panies, BIOS developers, and system <strong>in</strong>tegrators<br />
all rally<strong>in</strong>g around the enormous potential of the embedded Internet.<br />
Intel <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance Director Troy Smith predicts 2010 will be a<br />
“notable year where Intel and Alliance members deliver significant<br />
smart solutions that will <strong>com</strong>pel yet more eng<strong>in</strong>eers and developers to<br />
switch over to Intel architecture.”<br />
River Workbench, which consists of many<br />
productivity-enhanc<strong>in</strong>g features, particularly<br />
when it <strong>com</strong>es to multicore development and<br />
debugg<strong>in</strong>g. W<strong>in</strong>d River’s On-Chip Debugg<strong>in</strong>g<br />
solutions are another critical solution for multicore,<br />
offer<strong>in</strong>g visibility and system-level control<br />
of the CPU cores, their peripherals, and<br />
OS kernel objects such as threads, tasks, and<br />
processes. Additionally, W<strong>in</strong>d River Hypervisor<br />
provides embedded virtualization capabilities<br />
for our processors. Virtualization gives developers<br />
<strong>in</strong>credible flexibility <strong>in</strong> multicore software<br />
deployment, and it can greatly simplify the<br />
development process.<br />
Q: What advice do you have for today’s<br />
embedded developer?<br />
A: The emergence of the embedded Internet<br />
is <strong>in</strong>troduc<strong>in</strong>g a new set of challenges <strong>in</strong>to<br />
embedded system design. One big challenge is<br />
select<strong>in</strong>g the right solutions–developers have<br />
to th<strong>in</strong>k about new technologies and new<br />
<strong>com</strong>ponents that were never required before.<br />
This is where the Intel <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance<br />
<strong>com</strong>es <strong>in</strong>. The Alliance takes the guess work<br />
December 2010 8<br />
W<strong>in</strong>d River ICE JTAG Emulator for Intel ® Xeon ® processors<br />
The Intel ® <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance<br />
out of the design process by deliver<strong>in</strong>g standards-based,<br />
proven solutions that help developers<br />
reduce development costs and shorten<br />
development cycles. My advice to developers<br />
is to take full advantage of our partners expertise–it’s<br />
a lot better than go<strong>in</strong>g through<br />
the pa<strong>in</strong> of learn<strong>in</strong>g everyth<strong>in</strong>g on your own.<br />
And developers can start leverag<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
Alliance today. We’ve built an onl<strong>in</strong>e<br />
product guide that lets you zero <strong>in</strong> on<br />
the solutions you need quickly and easily<br />
(www.<strong>in</strong>tel.<strong>com</strong>/embedded/solutionsdirectory).<br />
We’re focused on putt<strong>in</strong>g the resources you<br />
need at your f<strong>in</strong>gertips. With all of these solutions<br />
<strong>in</strong> one place, developers can get a head<br />
start on creat<strong>in</strong>g new generations of embedded<br />
systems for an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly connected world.<br />
Learn more about the Intel ® <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance.<br />
Visit the <strong>com</strong>munity for ideas, solutions and to<br />
collaborate with peers at<br />
www.<strong>in</strong>tel.<strong>com</strong>/embedded/<strong>com</strong>munity.<br />
For more <strong>in</strong>formation on the embedded Internet<br />
visit www.<strong>in</strong>tel.<strong>com</strong>/embedded/<strong>in</strong>telligence. n<br />
3) Configurations of the systems used <strong>in</strong> the benchmark: two Intel ® Xeon ® processors LC5528<br />
(“Jasper Forest”) at 2.13GHz, 60-watt thermal design power, with an Intel ® 3420 chipset<br />
versus two Intel ® Xeon ® processors L5528 at 2.13 GHz, 60-watt thermal design power, with<br />
an Intel ® 5520 chipset<br />
Work<strong>in</strong>g with Intel <strong>Embedded</strong> Alliance members gives you access to<br />
the tools and knowledge-base you need to use their solutions to develop<br />
lead<strong>in</strong>g-edge products faster. As part of a well-run ecosystem, Alliance<br />
members collaborate closely with Intel to release well-tested and optimized<br />
products based on the latest Intel platforms. Their early access to<br />
Intel roadmaps, test platforms, and design support translates <strong>in</strong>to<br />
better solutions and a faster time-to-market for you.<br />
Through the Alliance’s Solution Directory you can access hundreds of<br />
Intel-based products–from <strong>com</strong>ponent-level products, such as boards<br />
and software, to fully <strong>in</strong>tegrated systems–<strong>in</strong> virtually every performance<br />
and form factor niche. What’s more, with Intel’s seven-year extended<br />
lifecycle support for embedded processors and chipsets, you’re assured<br />
of meet<strong>in</strong>g customers’ needs until they’re ready to make the next technological<br />
leap.<br />
www.<strong>in</strong>tel.<strong>com</strong>/go/embeddedalliance
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
Replac<strong>in</strong>g discont<strong>in</strong>ued modules forces<br />
ETX module transplantation<br />
By Konrad Löckler, MSC<br />
The follow<strong>in</strong>g article provides<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation on po<strong>in</strong>ts to<br />
consider, such as long-term<br />
availability, <strong>in</strong> order to ensure<br />
that an ETX module<br />
transplantation is as simple as<br />
possible.<br />
n Over the course of many years, system manufacturers<br />
that relied on the use of ETX modules<br />
had little reason to change anyth<strong>in</strong>g on<br />
their established devices. Reliable ETX products<br />
were available unchanged over a long period<br />
of time. However, s<strong>in</strong>ce Intel’s notification of<br />
discont<strong>in</strong>uance of the widely used Pentium M<br />
and Celeron M generations, development departments<br />
have been feverishly discuss<strong>in</strong>g how<br />
to handle this situation: a new design of the<br />
entire platform, or replacement of the ETX<br />
module with a current model?<br />
Manufacturers from various sectors must equip<br />
their successful product l<strong>in</strong>es with a current<br />
processor core as smoothly as possible. Because<br />
the change to another form factor of embedded<br />
COM modules <strong>in</strong>volves a great deal of time<br />
due to the effort required for <strong>in</strong>tegration, and<br />
therefore such a step makes more sense when<br />
develop<strong>in</strong>g a <strong>com</strong>pletely new product generation,<br />
ETX suppliers are receiv<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
number of enquiries regard<strong>in</strong>g successor products<br />
that have long-term availability. With <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
controls, operat<strong>in</strong>g panels, robot controllers,<br />
studio mix<strong>in</strong>g consoles, textile mach<strong>in</strong>es,<br />
measur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>struments or medical<br />
equipment, the question always arises whether<br />
replacement of the processor module can actually<br />
be made as smoothly as possible, as the<br />
module suppliers always claim. The most current<br />
and thereby longest available ETX modules<br />
are based on Intel Atom technology. Two<br />
performance classes are thus fundamentally<br />
possible: s<strong>in</strong>gle core solutions with 1.6 GHz,<br />
which <strong>in</strong>clude the Intel Atom N270 based<br />
MSC ETE-A945GSE, and dual-core modules<br />
with 1.66 GHz such as the MSC ETE-PV510,<br />
which is based on the Intel Atom D510. Measurements<br />
performed <strong>in</strong>-house at MSC show<br />
that the <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g performance of an N270based<br />
product approximately corresponds with<br />
the <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g power of a Celeron M with 1.3<br />
GHz. Therefore, if products with Celeron M<br />
from 600 MHz to 1.3 GHz have so far been<br />
used then an N270 processor should be<br />
considered.<br />
For higher <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g power requirements, a<br />
product with the D510 processor with two<br />
cores and multi-thread<strong>in</strong>g offers performance<br />
that is practically double, provided that the<br />
software can still be used with these newer<br />
technologies. As experience shows, a dual-core<br />
processor under W<strong>in</strong>dows br<strong>in</strong>gs performance<br />
<strong>in</strong>creases of up to 30%, even with applications<br />
which run <strong>in</strong> only one thread. The reason for<br />
this is that at least the operat<strong>in</strong>g system and<br />
driver can run on the second core, and the<br />
application program has a core to itself. Adaptation<br />
of the operat<strong>in</strong>g system <strong>in</strong>stallation is<br />
unavoidable when replac<strong>in</strong>g the processor technology<br />
<strong>in</strong> a system. Network drivers, graphics<br />
drivers and some other drivers must be replaced<br />
December 2010 10<br />
Figure 1. In the medium performance<br />
range, the power sav<strong>in</strong>g<br />
ETE-A945GSE with Intel<br />
Atom N270 offers a long-term<br />
availability alternative to<br />
exist<strong>in</strong>g Celeron M modules.<br />
<strong>in</strong> order to be able to use the new controllers.<br />
The widespread Atom architecture offers the<br />
significant advantage that the necessary drivers<br />
are often already <strong>in</strong>tegrated <strong>in</strong> the most popular<br />
operat<strong>in</strong>g systems, such as W<strong>in</strong>dows and many<br />
L<strong>in</strong>ux distributions. What is lack<strong>in</strong>g is normally<br />
made available by the hardware manufacturers.<br />
MSC also offers broad support with the <strong>in</strong>tegration<br />
of W<strong>in</strong>dows CE and other operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
systems. Many important module functions<br />
and <strong>in</strong>ternal <strong>in</strong>formation, - such as query<strong>in</strong>g<br />
serial number, boot counter or BIOS version,<br />
access on watchdog, temperature values, EEP-<br />
ROM, I²C bus or brightness control of the display<br />
- are provided via a uniform program <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
with the products presented here. The<br />
associated drivers for W<strong>in</strong>dows, W<strong>in</strong>dows CE<br />
or L<strong>in</strong>ux are available from the supplier.<br />
The necessary or available display <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
also need to be carefully considered. In the<br />
simplest case, a monitor is driven with a VGA<br />
connection. This always works and with Atom<br />
modules even ranges from 640 x 480 pixels<br />
right up to a resolution beyond full HD of<br />
2048 x 1536 pixels. However, embedded systems<br />
normally conta<strong>in</strong> TFT displays with various<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface technologies. With LVDS, care must<br />
be taken that 18-bit displays can be easily supported,<br />
but not always 24-bit panels. The most<br />
flexible here is the MSC ETE-A945GSE module<br />
that can even drive two LVDS displays; one
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
Figure 2. Comput<strong>in</strong>g power of current Intel Atom processors <strong>com</strong>pared to Pentium M and<br />
Celeron M generations, measured on MSC ETX modules with SiSoftware Sandra 2007<br />
Benchmark<br />
with 24-bit and a further one with 18-bit color<br />
depth. The maximum resolution is 1600 x 1200<br />
pixels. The second LVDS <strong>in</strong>terface is located on<br />
a connector directly on the ETX module and<br />
can be used with a special cable. With the MSC<br />
ETE-PV510, due to the different chipset, an 18bit<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface with up to 1366 x 768 pixels is supported.<br />
The most popular display formats are<br />
offered via selection tables <strong>in</strong> the BIOS setup<br />
program and can be used immediately. Less<br />
<strong>com</strong>mon resolutions can normally also be controlled<br />
via a suitable EDID parameter set, which<br />
is stored <strong>in</strong> an EEPROM. The manufacturer offers<br />
tools and support for this.<br />
ISA bus based controllers or plug-<strong>in</strong> cards are<br />
often still used with systems that have already<br />
been on the market for several years. With the<br />
PCI-to-ISA bridge used, the new ETX modules<br />
offer a <strong>com</strong>plete ISA bus, which is fundamentally<br />
<strong>com</strong>patible to exist<strong>in</strong>g ISA environments.<br />
However, one limitation exists when DMA access<br />
via ISA are necessary. Intel no longer supports<br />
the relevant DMA protocol with platforms<br />
after the 855 chipset generation. An<br />
early clarification with the module supplier<br />
regard<strong>in</strong>g possible workarounds is re<strong>com</strong>mended<br />
<strong>in</strong> cases where DMA operation via ISA still<br />
is required. S<strong>in</strong>ce the <strong>in</strong>troduction of the ETX<br />
specification 3.0 several years ago, ETX modules<br />
usually have two SATA connectors <strong>in</strong> addition<br />
to the two IDE (PATA) channels.<br />
Modern drives can be directly connected to<br />
these SATA connectors. In the event that IDE<br />
drives - which are be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly difficult<br />
to acquire - are still used <strong>in</strong> the system,<br />
the chance is offered here also to replace them<br />
with SATA devices. Both the ETX modules<br />
from MSC that are re<strong>com</strong>mended offer - <strong>in</strong><br />
addition to four USB 2.0 <strong>in</strong>terfaces routed to<br />
the baseboard - two further <strong>in</strong>terfaces, which<br />
can be tapped on the module via m<strong>in</strong>i-USB<br />
connectors. Transmission problems with USB<br />
high-speed connections, which <strong>in</strong> the past occasionally<br />
occurred with ETX, can thereby be<br />
ruled out. The optional availability of a trusted<br />
platform module (TPM) was also previously<br />
not <strong>com</strong>mon. For safety-critical applications,<br />
the possibility to use such a TPM is now<br />
offered <strong>in</strong> order to prevent unauthorized manipulations<br />
of the system or to encrypt data.<br />
For a long time now, CompactFlash cards<br />
have been popular <strong>in</strong> embedded systems as robust<br />
hard disk replacements. Meanwhile, newer<br />
flash formats exist and especially with ETE-<br />
PV510 a version with soldered silicon disk,<br />
from which the operat<strong>in</strong>g system can be booted,<br />
is offered. 4 Gbytes is the most popular size;<br />
however, capacities up to 16 Gbytes are also<br />
possible. If a module equipped with silicon<br />
disk is used, it should be noted that the first<br />
IDE channel is thus occupied and only the second<br />
IDE channel (master/slave capable) rema<strong>in</strong>s<br />
available for further drives. A f<strong>in</strong>al mention<br />
must be made that the D510 processor<br />
on the ETE-PV510 is also 64-bit capable (Intel<br />
64 architecture) and offers four threads on the<br />
two processor cores. The N270 with two threads<br />
also supports Intel hyper-thread<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
In addition to software <strong>com</strong>patibility and<br />
electrical characteristics, heat dissipation<br />
must be considered when chang<strong>in</strong>g to a more<br />
powerful module. Because suitable Atom<br />
processors are consistently implemented <strong>in</strong><br />
energy-efficient technologies, a power dissipation<br />
of approximately 8 watts can be expected<br />
with MSC ETE-A954GSE and approximately<br />
15 watts with ETE-PV510. If the<br />
older modules that need to be replaced produced<br />
similar or higher heat losses, a good<br />
contact to the already exist<strong>in</strong>g cool<strong>in</strong>g measures<br />
must be provided dur<strong>in</strong>g replacement<br />
for the so-called hotspots. These hotspots<br />
are generally the processor and the chipset.<br />
Where a standard ETX heat spreader has so<br />
far been used, such a heat spreader is also<br />
available for the new modules. Thus, a def<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface for transferr<strong>in</strong>g heat exists which<br />
can be mounted <strong>in</strong> the same way as before.<br />
Alternatively, passive or active cool<strong>in</strong>g solutions<br />
are also offered which do not require<br />
any further measures, because the heat is<br />
safely extracted by means of cool<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>s<br />
and temperature-controlled fans. n<br />
11 December 2010<br />
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SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
M<strong>in</strong>i-ITX boards with AMD processors<br />
hit the ground runn<strong>in</strong>g<br />
By Peter Hoser, Fujitsu Technology Solutions<br />
The on-go<strong>in</strong>g convergence of<br />
the <strong>com</strong>mercial IT bus<strong>in</strong>ess<br />
and embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
markets demands board-level<br />
technologies that can be sold<br />
<strong>in</strong> both, such as the ATX-<strong>com</strong>patible<br />
m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX form factor<br />
offered by Fujitsu on an<br />
AMD-based platform with<br />
high graphics performance.<br />
n Small form factors, big bus<strong>in</strong>ess: m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX<br />
has the strongest growth of any ATX-<strong>com</strong>patible<br />
motherboard form factor. This is driven by the<br />
change <strong>in</strong> IT <strong>in</strong>frastructure towards smaller<br />
fanless SFF systems, (th<strong>in</strong>) client/(cloud) server<br />
applications, and <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly decentralized/distributed<br />
appliances. This is true both <strong>in</strong> the<br />
<strong>com</strong>mercial IT sector and <strong>in</strong> the field of embedded<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g. In these areas, Fujitsu Technology<br />
Solutions exclusively uses AMD processor<br />
technology. This is with good reason.<br />
With the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g importance of the embedded<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g segment, the position<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
the board and system vendor for converg<strong>in</strong>g<br />
technologies be<strong>com</strong>es more important: it is<br />
ideal if the provider can serve both the <strong>com</strong>mercial<br />
IT market as well as the embedded<br />
market. Competitors that produce only embedded<br />
<strong>com</strong>puters will encounter <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
difficulties as the markets produce more and<br />
more solutions that can be sold <strong>in</strong> one market<br />
as well as <strong>in</strong> the other. This is because the<br />
<strong>com</strong>mercial IT segment (for office and personal<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g applications) is still the major market<br />
for x86 processors. Commercial providers,<br />
on the other hand, have little grasp of opportunities<br />
<strong>in</strong> the embedded segment at all, because<br />
they do not know the embedded or <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
or rugged <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g bus<strong>in</strong>ess, which is why<br />
their organization is not geared to the needs<br />
of these customers. Fujitsu has earned a significant<br />
position worldwide <strong>in</strong> both the <strong>com</strong>mer-<br />
cial IT sector as well as <strong>in</strong> the field of embedded<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g and is therefore ideally positioned<br />
for the future. In the embedded area, for example,<br />
reputable <strong>com</strong>panies such as Siemens<br />
and KUKA Robots are long-term customers.<br />
So which solutions will work here? Which<br />
board-level technologies can be sold <strong>in</strong> both<br />
markets? Generally speak<strong>in</strong>g, with the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
convergence of markets and their basic<br />
technologies more and more board-level products<br />
can be applied <strong>in</strong> both markets. This is<br />
why form factors from the embedded area<br />
may also be found <strong>in</strong> the <strong>com</strong>mercial area <strong>in</strong><br />
the future - for example, the s<strong>in</strong>gle board pico-<br />
ITX form factor, or even Computer-on-Modules.<br />
On the other hand, the time-tested rule still<br />
holds true: everyth<strong>in</strong>g that is widespread <strong>in</strong><br />
the <strong>com</strong>mercial IT sector is suitable for embedded<br />
<strong>com</strong>puter technology. Why? Because<br />
such technology is mature, well tested, and<br />
usually <strong>in</strong>expensive, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the associated<br />
mechanics. Accord<strong>in</strong>gly, it is not surpris<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that ATX-<strong>com</strong>patible form factors, which are<br />
the worldwide de facto standard for desktop<br />
PCs, are also used <strong>in</strong> embedded applications.<br />
Among these form factors, it is the ATX-<strong>com</strong>patible<br />
m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX form factor <strong>in</strong> particular<br />
that <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly ga<strong>in</strong>s importance. In the <strong>com</strong>mercial<br />
segment this is achieved by us<strong>in</strong>g lowpower<br />
processors with sufficient performance<br />
which accelerate the trend towards cost-effective,<br />
small, noiseless workstations and clients;<br />
December 2010 12<br />
they are now offer<strong>in</strong>g high-performance graphics<br />
that allow fast, lag-free work and do not feel<br />
underpowered to the user. Such a <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
<strong>in</strong> a small hous<strong>in</strong>g was previously not thermally<br />
and acoustically feasible. In most cases, no expansion<br />
cards need to be <strong>in</strong>serted either, because<br />
all the standard <strong>in</strong>terfaces are supported directly<br />
by the chipset. In addition, workstations are <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
operated on a virtualized basis, which<br />
moves the required performance <strong>in</strong> the direction<br />
of the server. M<strong>in</strong>i-ITX motherboards with<br />
their range of functions are not ultra-slim th<strong>in</strong>client<br />
boards, s<strong>in</strong>ce the latter would use an<br />
AMD Geode for very th<strong>in</strong> clients. But whenever<br />
Figure 1. The m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX motherboards<br />
Fujitsu D2963-S1 and S2 are equipped with<br />
the AMD platform ASB1 with AMD M690E<br />
and SB 600 chipset and the power-sav<strong>in</strong>g<br />
AMD BGA processors Mobile Sempron 200<br />
U (1 GHz / TDP = 8W) or Mobile Athlon<br />
Neo L325 X2 (1.5 GHz / TDP = 18 W).
it <strong>com</strong>es to a presentation of multimedia contents<br />
even <strong>in</strong> such extremely th<strong>in</strong> environments,<br />
they are also an attractive choice <strong>in</strong> serverbased<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g applications. Moreover, we<br />
cannot ignore that an SFF trend also exists <strong>in</strong><br />
the field of embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g, which is evident<br />
<strong>in</strong> the evolution of numerous form factors,<br />
with some modules as small as a credit card. In<br />
addition, the IT concepts of the <strong>com</strong>mercial<br />
market are transferred to <strong>in</strong>dustrial mach<strong>in</strong>es<br />
and facilities, which make the ma<strong>in</strong>tenance of<br />
distributed systems easier. Also, smaller clients<br />
have <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly been used as HMIs. Boot<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and data storage will <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly be handled<br />
via networks. Because the processor technology<br />
has also been gett<strong>in</strong>g smaller and more energyefficient,<br />
clients do not need as much space as,<br />
for example, ATX motherboards offer. However,<br />
distributed applications such as kiosk systems<br />
or digital signage applications as well as all<br />
other graphics-<strong>in</strong>tensive applications still need<br />
local data process<strong>in</strong>g with m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX suitable<br />
SFF performance. Regardless of the chang<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of IT concepts, with reduced development and<br />
material costs, the SFF-processors are helpful<br />
<strong>in</strong> build<strong>in</strong>g smaller hous<strong>in</strong>gs and design<strong>in</strong>g<br />
passive ventilation concepts. In sum, costs for<br />
already exist<strong>in</strong>g applications can also be saved.<br />
Additionally, the MTBF of such new SFF systems<br />
<strong>in</strong>creases. This goes to show that there<br />
are several good reasons for us<strong>in</strong>g m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX<br />
motherboards offer<strong>in</strong>g simultaneous mechanical<br />
<strong>com</strong>patibility with ATX, which makes the<br />
ac<strong>com</strong>pany<strong>in</strong>g mechanical <strong>com</strong>ponents, power<br />
supplies, etc cost-effective.<br />
Fujitsu offers precisely this form factor, which<br />
is ideal for SFF devices <strong>in</strong> the <strong>com</strong>mercial and<br />
embedded segments, with AMD processor technology.<br />
The ma<strong>in</strong> reason for this is that AMD<br />
platforms meet all current requirements, with<br />
the range of platforms <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the AMD<br />
M690E & ASB1 with SB 600 chipset, or the<br />
power-sav<strong>in</strong>g AMD Mobile Sempron BGA<br />
processors 200 U (1 GHz/TDP = 8W) or<br />
Mobile Athlon X2 Neo L325 (1.5 GHz/TDP =<br />
18W), which are used on the Fujitsu m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX<br />
motherboards. Thus, the <strong>in</strong>tegrated chipset,<br />
which is crucial for the features of the board<br />
and therefore the OS configuration, is scalable<br />
with a wide CPU range. On the basis of a<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gle homogeneous platform, the Fujitsu<br />
D2963-S1 and S2 m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX <strong>in</strong>dustrial motherboards<br />
reveal performance rang<strong>in</strong>g from lowpower<br />
design and power requirements, for example<br />
Atom performance, to dual-core designs.<br />
For the customer, the motherboards differ only<br />
<strong>in</strong> terms of the CPU. This significantly m<strong>in</strong>imizes<br />
the cost of system qualification. Users<br />
benefit from the <strong>in</strong>creased efficiency provided<br />
by reduced time-to-market and simplified<br />
management. This also regards the software<br />
adaptation, for example <strong>in</strong> the BIOS and/or<br />
modular operat<strong>in</strong>g systems like Microsoft W<strong>in</strong>-<br />
Figure 2. Digital signage solution. A separate<br />
box beh<strong>in</strong>d the screen is ideal: the panel can<br />
rema<strong>in</strong> mounted dur<strong>in</strong>g the upgrade of the<br />
system. Dependencies from the display<br />
manufacturer/producer can be omitted.<br />
AMD announced two new <strong>com</strong>plete platforms<br />
for the embedded market, the <strong>com</strong>pact<br />
ASB2 platform (BGA) and the highperformance<br />
AM3 platform, that offer myriad<br />
<strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ations of power and performance<br />
with up to 74 percent improvement<br />
<strong>in</strong> performance-per-watt over previous<br />
generations. AMD’s new flexible embedded<br />
platforms consist of chipset and graphics<br />
solutions along with high-performance<br />
CPUs as low as 8W TDP for the<br />
ideal solution based on application requirements.<br />
System designers focus<strong>in</strong>g on<br />
their next-generation products can see<br />
immediate benefits <strong>com</strong>monly associated<br />
with <strong>in</strong>dustry-standard x86 processors,<br />
<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g streaml<strong>in</strong>ed design and development,<br />
a large software ecosystem,<br />
and fast time-to-market.<br />
“The barriers to widespread adoption of<br />
x86 <strong>in</strong> the broad embedded market have<br />
traditionally been a <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation of power,<br />
price and the physical footpr<strong>in</strong>t of the silicon,”<br />
said Buddy Broeker, director, <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Solutions Division, AMD. “AMD’s<br />
embedded solutions have been steadily<br />
driv<strong>in</strong>g down those barriers while add<strong>in</strong>g<br />
enterprise-class performance and features<br />
that may not have been readily available<br />
to designers <strong>in</strong> the past. Our <strong>com</strong>mitment<br />
to the embedded market grows<br />
stronger as we look to a future <strong>in</strong>troduction<br />
of AMD Fusion technology products<br />
<strong>in</strong>to the embedded space.”<br />
New Platform Features<br />
n Faster memory with support for 2<br />
channels DDR3<br />
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
Figure 3. The Fujitsu Box is tailored to m<strong>in</strong>i-<br />
ITX motherboards. Despite its <strong>com</strong>pact<br />
design, it can be supplemented with a 2.5“<br />
SATA HDD, a wireless USB module and a<br />
flat-PCI card.<br />
AMD launches new platforms for embedded systems<br />
n Improved I/O for high-throughput and<br />
real-time applications with available<br />
HyperTransport 3.0 technology<br />
n ECC for high-reliability applications like<br />
SMB/SOHO storage systems<br />
n Multiple CPU options that offer wide<br />
choice of performance and power<br />
(Power envelopes <strong>in</strong> 8, 12, 15, 25, 45,<br />
and 65 watts TDP; s<strong>in</strong>gle-, dual- and<br />
quad-core; up to 2.8 GHz)<br />
n AMD 785E chipset with support for PCI<br />
Express® 2.0<br />
n New ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics<br />
with DirectX® 10.1, full 1080p display<br />
resolution support, HDMI, and powersav<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
capability with options to support<br />
multiple displays<br />
n Socket AM3 package, <strong>com</strong>patible with<br />
socket AM2 when us<strong>in</strong>g DDR2 memory<br />
for <strong>in</strong>creased design flexibility and<br />
scalability<br />
n Lidless BGA package offers low-cost<br />
to manufacture, high reliability, and low<br />
z-height for small form factors and fanless<br />
designs<br />
The processor variants, each of which is<br />
<strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed with the AMD785E / SB850M<br />
chipsets and which support the Direct<br />
Connect Architecture for a simplified<br />
board design, are available on the ASB2<br />
platform of the AMD Turion II Neo<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gle-core processor at 1.0 GHz up to<br />
the AMD Turion II Neo dual-core<br />
processor at 2.2 GHz. The AM3 platform<br />
is scalable from the Athlon II XLT Dual<br />
Core processor with 2.0 GHz up to the<br />
AMD Phenom II XLT Quad-Core<br />
Processor (2.2 GHz).<br />
13 December 2010
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
dows <strong>Embedded</strong> OS or L<strong>in</strong>ux, an advantage<br />
which cannot be found amongst AMD’s direct<br />
<strong>com</strong>petitors. As a consequence of the fact that<br />
other <strong>com</strong>panies certify processors with various<br />
chipsets customers are forced to deal with numerous<br />
revisions and versions at the board<br />
level. Moreover, for market<strong>in</strong>g reasons, the functionality<br />
of some platforms is reduced, even<br />
though the technology of the platforms could<br />
enable these functions without additional effort.<br />
In order to achieve an effectiveness and susta<strong>in</strong>ability<br />
<strong>com</strong>parable to those achieved with AMD<br />
platforms, a huge effort for version or revision<br />
management is necessary – efforts which eventually<br />
produce additional costs for customers.<br />
However, OEMs who have not changed their<br />
systems for many years try to reduce these sorts<br />
of costs. Configurations of particular mach<strong>in</strong>es,<br />
once applied, should rema<strong>in</strong> unchanged <strong>in</strong><br />
order to reduce ma<strong>in</strong>tenance costs and keep<br />
the variety of necessary spare parts to a m<strong>in</strong>imum<br />
– at least <strong>in</strong> EMEA and North America.<br />
Furthermore, different performance versions<br />
(also for future generations) should not cause<br />
much effort, as this is the only way to generate<br />
time and cost benefits <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly difficult<br />
<strong>com</strong>petitive environment. In addition to high<br />
and, above all, homogeneous scalability, AMDbased<br />
platforms also offer another advantage:<br />
the graphics performance of the AMD-based<br />
boards is significantly higher than that of <strong>com</strong>-<br />
Kontron AT8050 ATCA<br />
10GbE Processor Blade<br />
parable Atom solutions. While the CPU performance<br />
and power consumption of a motherboard<br />
equipped with Atom<br />
N270/945GSE/ICH7 <strong>com</strong>petes with that of the<br />
AMD Sempron 200U and M690T/SB600 platform,<br />
the latter still has much better graphics<br />
benchmarks. Its graphics performance even<br />
<strong>com</strong>petes with Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile solutions.<br />
Operators of graphics-<strong>in</strong>tensive applications<br />
such as digital signage, kiosk systems, and<br />
imag<strong>in</strong>g applications <strong>in</strong> the fields of medic<strong>in</strong>e,<br />
safety eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, and quality control have<br />
<strong>com</strong>e to enjoy brilliant, high-resolution graphics<br />
with low latency without the need to over-dimension<br />
CPU performance on the basis of a<br />
predeterm<strong>in</strong>ed GPU/CPU <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation. And<br />
all this <strong>com</strong>es with a superior price/performance<br />
ratio not only <strong>in</strong> terms of the <strong>com</strong>petitive <strong>com</strong>parison,<br />
but also <strong>in</strong> terms of development<br />
efforts over several generations.<br />
This approach is <strong>in</strong> fact very successful: s<strong>in</strong>ce<br />
the launch of the AMD platforms, Fujitsu has<br />
sold more than 150,000 ma<strong>in</strong>boards based on<br />
this platform technology. However, the success<br />
of the exist<strong>in</strong>g m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX motherboard does<br />
not mean that the manufacturers will rest on<br />
their laurels. Therefore, Fujitsu is already plann<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the next m<strong>in</strong>i-ITX generation, to be<br />
launched <strong>in</strong> spr<strong>in</strong>g 2011. The up<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g Fusion<br />
technology already announced by AMD offers<br />
The Kontron processor ATCA blade<br />
AT8050 supports two feature-rich processor<br />
options: S<strong>in</strong>gle Intel® Xeon® Six-Core<br />
5600 Series; and, S<strong>in</strong>gle Intel® Xeon®<br />
Quad-Core 5500 Series.<br />
It is optimized for Virtualization thanks to the <strong>com</strong>plementary Intel<br />
82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller that works to reduce I/O bottlenecks<br />
and boost server performance. The <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation of these advanced<br />
features of the Intel 10GbE Ethernet controller with the Intel®<br />
Xeon® 5600 Series Six-Core processor makes for a powerful solution<br />
to scale volume servers with 10GbE capacities.<br />
With an available AdvancedMC slot, wireless/tele<strong>com</strong> equipment<br />
manufacturers can add an assortment of Kontron AMC storage and<br />
IO modules for added functionality. Also available is the RTM8050, a<br />
rear transition module built with a SAS controller to support a Hot<br />
Swappable SAS/SATA Hard Disk on the RTM and/or a SAS/SATA<br />
AMC module populated <strong>in</strong> the AT8050’s one AMC slot.<br />
The Intel Xeon processor 5600/5500 series br<strong>in</strong>gs together a number<br />
of <strong>in</strong>novative technologies to deliver a more <strong>in</strong>telligent level of<br />
December 2010 14<br />
further <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g possibilities. AMD Fusion<br />
represents a new approach to processor design<br />
and software development, deliver<strong>in</strong>g powerful<br />
serial, parallel, and visual <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g capabilities<br />
for today’s HD video, 3D and data <strong>in</strong>tensive<br />
workloads <strong>in</strong> a s<strong>in</strong>gle processor called the accelerated<br />
process<strong>in</strong>g unit (APU). APU <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>es<br />
high-performance serial and parallel process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
cores with other special-purpose hardware accelerators,<br />
enabl<strong>in</strong>g breakthroughs <strong>in</strong> visual<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g, security, performance-per-watt and<br />
devices shape factor. With these benefits, the<br />
<strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation of CPU and GPU is ideal for the<br />
development of the next generation of embedded<br />
<strong>com</strong>puter systems. If one wants to use<br />
these benefits efficiently and quickly as soon as<br />
they be<strong>com</strong>e available, one should therefore<br />
consider switch<strong>in</strong>g to AMD today. Currently,<br />
AMD is constantly extend<strong>in</strong>g its support especially<br />
for users <strong>in</strong> the embedded market. For<br />
example, the distribution channels <strong>in</strong> <strong>Europe</strong><br />
aimed especially at customers <strong>in</strong> the embedded<br />
sector have been strengthened. At the same<br />
time, market<strong>in</strong>g efforts have cont<strong>in</strong>uously been<br />
<strong>in</strong>tensified <strong>in</strong> order to put the prom<strong>in</strong>ent position<br />
of the AMD solutions, which is not <strong>in</strong> the<br />
least based on the acquisition of ATI, even<br />
further <strong>in</strong>to the consciousness of embedded<br />
customers. This should f<strong>in</strong>ally contribute to<br />
improved brand awareness and acceptance<br />
among <strong>in</strong>dustrial customers. n<br />
performance. Three new features <strong>in</strong>clude:<br />
n Intel® Turbo Boost Technology <strong>in</strong>creases performance by <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
processor frequency, enabl<strong>in</strong>g faster speeds as conditions allow.<br />
n Intel® Hyper-Thread<strong>in</strong>g Technology (Intel® HT) lets today’s wellthreaded<br />
applications make the most of every clock cycle.<br />
n Intel® QuickPath Technology and an <strong>in</strong>tegrated memory controller<br />
speed traffic between processors and I/O controllers for bandwidth<strong>in</strong>tensive<br />
applications, to deliver as much as 25.6 GB/s, up to 3.5x<br />
the bandwidth of previous-generation processors.<br />
More AT8050 Features<br />
n 8 threads (5500) to 12 threads (5600)<br />
n Support for up to 48 GB on 3-channels, DDR3 1066 MHz, ECC,<br />
registered SDRAM on 6 DIMM sockets total<br />
n 1 X Mid-size AdvancedMC bay<br />
n Dual 10 Gigabit on Fabric (PICMG 3.1, Option 9)<br />
n Hot Swap SAS/SATA HDD available via RTM8050<br />
TO ORDER EVALUATION UNITS OR<br />
UPGRADE AN EXISTING DESIGN CONTACT US AT:<br />
Kontron Modular Computer<br />
Sudetenstrasse 7<br />
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support-kom@kontron.<strong>com</strong>
n The features and performance of embedded<br />
systems have been progress<strong>in</strong>g steadily for several<br />
decades. The processors adopted must<br />
meet the demands of higher performance with<br />
more functions and features, while us<strong>in</strong>g less<br />
space and lower power consumption. Where<br />
active cool<strong>in</strong>g is suitable, system eng<strong>in</strong>eers<br />
may choose from performance levels of very<br />
high such as the Xeon and Quad Core to the<br />
scalable levels of Core 2 Duo. However, <strong>in</strong><br />
many embedded applications, a fan is not desirable,<br />
such as <strong>in</strong> medical, transportation, military<br />
and certa<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustrial applications. The<br />
reasons for reject<strong>in</strong>g active cool<strong>in</strong>g vary by <strong>in</strong>dustry<br />
but the most <strong>com</strong>mon issues are reliability<br />
of mov<strong>in</strong>g parts, accumulation of dust<br />
and noise. With the <strong>in</strong>troduction of the Intel<br />
Atom family of processors and <strong>com</strong>panion<br />
chipsets, Intel has enabled embedded hardware<br />
manufacturers such as Aaeon to provide CPU<br />
boards and systems that offer performance<br />
levels previously not available <strong>in</strong> passive cool<strong>in</strong>g<br />
configurations. In 2009, manufacturers of embedded<br />
CPU boards developed many embedded<br />
CPU boards <strong>in</strong> a wide variety of form factors<br />
that offered the benefits of outstand<strong>in</strong>g<br />
embedded features: strong performance, lower<br />
power consumption (less than 10W) and better<br />
C/P ratio (cost/performance ratio). The clear<br />
embedded CPU board trends <strong>in</strong>clude: greater<br />
connectivity through multiple high speed connections,<br />
m<strong>in</strong>iaturization (<strong>in</strong> a small form factor<br />
(SFF) and <strong>in</strong>creased USB ports. Therefore,<br />
a CPU/chipset platform with smaller footpr<strong>in</strong>t<br />
and <strong>in</strong>creased <strong>in</strong>tegration of high speed peripheral<br />
I/Os can simplify CPU board design<br />
and reduce the cost and effort of system design.<br />
Intel Luna Pier Refresh platform consists of<br />
the Intel Atom processor N450 and Intel<br />
82801HM I/O <strong>Control</strong>ler IC, offer<strong>in</strong>g the next<br />
giant leap <strong>in</strong> low power SFF CPU board design.<br />
By <strong>in</strong>tegrat<strong>in</strong>g the graphics controller and<br />
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
Small form factor boards embrace<br />
new generation of the Atom family<br />
By Burkhard Specht, AAEON<br />
This article describes the<br />
PC/104 form factor CPU<br />
board and a type 2 COM<br />
Express CPU module based on<br />
the Intel Luna Pier and Luna<br />
Pier Refresh platforms.<br />
• Open Standards & Technologies<br />
• Tools & Software<br />
www.embedded-control-europe.<strong>com</strong>/bas-magaz<strong>in</strong>e<br />
www www.embedded-controol-europe.<strong>com</strong>/bass-magaz<strong>in</strong>e<br />
Figure 1. PC/104 form factor<br />
CPU board PFM-LNP based<br />
on the Luna Pier Refresh<br />
platform<br />
memory controller functions <strong>in</strong>to the CPU,<br />
Intel has once aga<strong>in</strong> given embedded hardware<br />
manufacturers the ability to further reduce<br />
design <strong>com</strong>plexity and board size. The twochip<br />
solution replaces the well known and traditional<br />
three-chip solution (i.e. CPU, Northbridge<br />
IC, and Southbridge IC) with a footpr<strong>in</strong>t<br />
reduction of 33%. Even with the reduced chip<br />
count, Intel has <strong>in</strong>creased memory performance<br />
to 667MHz while doubl<strong>in</strong>g the amount of addressable<br />
memory and more than doubled<br />
the graphics core frequency to 400MHz when<br />
<strong>com</strong>pared to the Navy Pier platform. Meet<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the needs for high bandwidth I/O, the Luna<br />
Pier Refresh platform delivers 6 configurable<br />
PCIe lanes, Gigabit MAC and provides up to<br />
10 USB ports. Increased performance and features<br />
of Luna Pier <strong>com</strong>e with a decrease <strong>in</strong><br />
power consumption over the previous generation,<br />
which will result <strong>in</strong> greater adoption <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>dustries where passively cooled systems are<br />
FREE SUBSCRIPTION to boards & solutions<br />
the european embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g magaz<strong>in</strong>e<br />
15 December 2010
SMALL FORM FACTOR BOARDS<br />
Figure 2. Type 2 COM Express CPU COM-LN module based on the<br />
Intel Luna Pier/Luna Pier Refresh platform<br />
required. To further <strong>in</strong>crease the scalability of<br />
the Luna Pier Refresh platform, Intel will offer<br />
the first dual-core processor of the Atom family<br />
to the embedded <strong>com</strong>munity. The Intel Atom<br />
processor D510 will deliver the same frequency,<br />
1.6GHz, but with dual cores offer<strong>in</strong>g even<br />
greater performance while ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a low<br />
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overall kit TDP (Thermal<br />
Design Power) of<br />
12W to 15W. Software<br />
developers will f<strong>in</strong>d<br />
support for a <strong>com</strong>plete<br />
l<strong>in</strong>e-up of typical embedded<br />
operat<strong>in</strong>g systems<br />
such as: Microsoft<br />
W<strong>in</strong>dows XP<br />
and derivatives, W<strong>in</strong>dows<br />
CE and derivatives,<br />
W<strong>in</strong>dows <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
POS, Fedora<br />
L<strong>in</strong>ux and Montavista<br />
L<strong>in</strong>ux, and real time<br />
OS such as VxWorks.<br />
Aaeon embraces this<br />
new generation of the<br />
Atom family by develop<strong>in</strong>g<br />
CPU boards<br />
based on the Luna Pier<br />
Refresh platform. First<br />
to arrive is the PFM-LNP, a PC/104 form factor<br />
CPU board. This CPU board has the popular<br />
PCI-104 connector and a M<strong>in</strong>i-card (M<strong>in</strong>i-<br />
PCIe) socket for the addition of special feature<br />
peripherals. The PFM-LNP provides one gigabit<br />
LAN, four traditional serial ports and four<br />
USB 2.0 ports. Display outputs <strong>in</strong>clude an<br />
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December 2010 16<br />
LVDS LCD <strong>in</strong>terface and analog VGA <strong>in</strong>terface.<br />
With support for up to 1GB DDR2 memory,<br />
the PFM-LNP provides for sufficient system<br />
memory to run the most demand<strong>in</strong>g embedded<br />
applications. Immediately follow<strong>in</strong>g the release<br />
of the PFM-LNP, Aaeon will also unveil the<br />
COM-LN a type 2 COM Express form factor<br />
CPU module (95mm X 95mm) with the Luna<br />
Pier/Luna Pier Refresh platform. Thanks to<br />
the standardization of the COM Express form<br />
factor by PICMG, one COM Express module<br />
can be easily exchanged with another.<br />
This will allow the COM-LN to be used to replace<br />
exist<strong>in</strong>g COM Express CPU modules to<br />
get the advantages of this new platform. As<br />
many <strong>in</strong>side the <strong>in</strong>dustry already know, COM<br />
Express carrier board design requires strong<br />
support from the module manufacturers. The<br />
experience <strong>in</strong> design<strong>in</strong>g both standard and<br />
highly customized carrier boards through customer-oriented<br />
design to delivery (DTD) service<br />
br<strong>in</strong>gs customers the benefits of a solid design,<br />
fast time to market and reduced <strong>in</strong>vestment.<br />
In other words, while Aaeon is happy to<br />
sell just the module, we are experienced and<br />
equipped to take your design from concept to<br />
mass production and provide <strong>in</strong>dustry-lead<strong>in</strong>g<br />
support to all our customers. n<br />
Exhibition<br />
and<br />
Conference<br />
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D DDate<br />
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Germany G Germ<br />
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SES & NEXT NEX NEXT GEN TECHNOLOGY<br />
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CHALLENGES CHALLENGES AND AND SOL SOLUTIONS<br />
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Highlight<strong>in</strong>g the evolution<br />
<strong>in</strong> embedded design<br />
By Wolfgang Patelay, Editor<br />
Advantech held its<br />
<strong>Europe</strong>an Advantech<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Design-In Forum <strong>in</strong><br />
Munich. More than 150<br />
attendees from all over<br />
<strong>Europe</strong> jo<strong>in</strong>ed this first<br />
<strong>Europe</strong>an event to learn<br />
more about the Advantech<br />
Design-<strong>in</strong> Services and<br />
discuss future trends <strong>in</strong><br />
embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
n The Design-<strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess is one of Advantech’s<br />
key strategy bus<strong>in</strong>esses. It covers all aspects<br />
from embedded Core Services, Network &<br />
Tele<strong>com</strong> to Applied Comput<strong>in</strong>g. The dedicated<br />
focus on develop<strong>in</strong>g Design-<strong>in</strong> bus<strong>in</strong>ess and<br />
the close collaboration with ecosystem partners<br />
will br<strong>in</strong>g the design of embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> the new era of <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g which is characterized<br />
by the new mega trends Cloud Comput<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and Internet of Th<strong>in</strong>gs (IOT) to enable<br />
a smarter planet. The Advantech <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Design-<strong>in</strong> Forum is the annual flagship event<br />
for the <strong>Embedded</strong> Design-<strong>in</strong> services allow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
embedded developers to learn form experienced<br />
technology leaders and top eng<strong>in</strong>eers<br />
from all around the world. It <strong>com</strong>prises a conference<br />
forum <strong>com</strong>plete with keynote sessions<br />
and <strong>in</strong>dustry presentations, an exhibition highlight<strong>in</strong>g<br />
design process support for customers<br />
through <strong>in</strong>tegrated product and service portfolios<br />
from Advantech and its extensive partner<br />
network, and network<strong>in</strong>g opportunities with<br />
employees and ecosystem partners. At the <strong>Europe</strong>an<br />
event, key <strong>in</strong>dustry players such as AU<br />
Optronics, Enea, 6W<strong>in</strong>d, Emlix, Freescale, Phison<br />
Electronics, QNX, Solectrix, TI, Tyco Elo<br />
Touch Systems, W<strong>in</strong>d River, and lead<strong>in</strong>g partners<br />
like Intel and Microsoft attended. Together,<br />
they jo<strong>in</strong>tly showcased the latest embedded<br />
technology trends, and <strong>in</strong>novative concepts,<br />
as well as practical development tools for embedded<br />
development eng<strong>in</strong>eers and system <strong>in</strong>tegrators.<br />
ADF <strong>in</strong>tends to form mutually ben-<br />
eficial relationships with ecosystem partners,<br />
which will help embedded developers achieve<br />
success by advanc<strong>in</strong>g bus<strong>in</strong>ess and technology<br />
changes through collaboration with other <strong>in</strong>dustry<br />
representatives.<br />
In his keynote speech Howard L<strong>in</strong>, Manag<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Director of Advantech <strong>Europe</strong> & Vice President<br />
of Global Sales opened the first <strong>Europe</strong>an<br />
event and highlighted the actual mega trends<br />
driv<strong>in</strong>g embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g solutions. He<br />
presented a slide created by former IBM CEO<br />
Lois V. Gerstner, Jr., which says, that there is a<br />
15 year cycle <strong>in</strong> the <strong>com</strong>puter <strong>in</strong>dustry. 1965<br />
started the era of ma<strong>in</strong>frame <strong>com</strong>puters, followed<br />
1980 by the PC era. 1995 started the Internet<br />
to dom<strong>in</strong>ate the <strong>com</strong>puter <strong>in</strong>dustry and<br />
now <strong>in</strong> 2010 the future of Cloud Comput<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
Internet of Th<strong>in</strong>gs and the creation of a<br />
Smarter Planet beg<strong>in</strong>s. L<strong>in</strong>: “Cloud Comput<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
Internet of Th<strong>in</strong>gs and Smart Planet are the<br />
three mega trends of automation <strong>in</strong>dustry,<br />
these three mega trends will expand Advantech<br />
bus<strong>in</strong>ess landscape <strong>in</strong> the next several years.”<br />
The advent of Cloud Comput<strong>in</strong>g means that<br />
powerful <strong>com</strong>puters are not longer necessary<br />
for enterprises but a reliable connection to the<br />
cloud. This also means embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
wireless connectivity, <strong>in</strong>telligent software <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
artificial <strong>in</strong>telligence, and new connectivity<br />
technologies will be needed to serve<br />
the expected 2 billion mobile users, 2.5 billion<br />
Internet users, and 15 billion connected devices<br />
EMBEDDED COMPUTING<br />
At ADF experts from<br />
Advantech and its ecosystem<br />
presented new solutions for<br />
future trends<br />
<strong>in</strong> future. L<strong>in</strong>: “There are 3 driv<strong>in</strong>g forces to<br />
make IoT and Smart Planet happen - Instrumented,<br />
Interconnected and Intelligent. Instrumented<br />
means more than 15 billions of<br />
devices will be embedded with sensors, MCUs<br />
or <strong>com</strong>puters to make the device connected to<br />
<strong>in</strong>ternet and be<strong>com</strong>e smart. Interconnected<br />
means all devices (man, mach<strong>in</strong>e and objects)<br />
may be connected together under Internet<br />
networks through wire or wireless. And all of<br />
this must happen <strong>in</strong>telligent via cloud <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
super <strong>com</strong>puters, artificial <strong>in</strong>telligence<br />
and ongo<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>novation. “With the conversion<br />
of the 3 “I” our life will be<strong>com</strong>e total different<br />
from nowadays and opens up a new era of<br />
life”, <strong>com</strong>ments L<strong>in</strong>.<br />
In view of evolv<strong>in</strong>g embedded board technology,<br />
Advantech established <strong>Embedded</strong> Core<br />
Services, which <strong>in</strong>cludes the <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform,<br />
design-<strong>in</strong> services, and software solutions.<br />
Miller Chang, Assistant Vice President of Advantech<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Core Group said that Advantech<br />
not only associated with Intel products<br />
to provide embedded boards, but also get an<br />
early start on development of the next generation<br />
of embedded boards. At the same time,<br />
the <strong>com</strong>pany is focus<strong>in</strong>g on the core features<br />
of embedded <strong>in</strong>telligence platforms, such as<br />
low power consumption, <strong>com</strong>pact form factors,<br />
reduced software <strong>com</strong>plexity, and plug & play.<br />
Advantech <strong>Embedded</strong> Core Services offers design-<strong>in</strong><br />
oriented services. These streaml<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
17 December 2010
EMBEDDED COMPUTING<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> News<br />
Free E-mail Newsletter<br />
for <strong>Europe</strong>`s <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Eng<strong>in</strong>eers<br />
Issued every 2 weeks<br />
• Chips & Components<br />
• Tools & Software<br />
• Boards & Modules<br />
www.embedded-controleurope.<strong>com</strong>/newsletter<br />
solutions broadly <strong>in</strong>tegrate embedded boards,<br />
peripheral modules and software. This dedicated<br />
focus on <strong>Embedded</strong> Design-<strong>in</strong> services<br />
fulfills electronic eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g demands at their<br />
design-<strong>in</strong> phase, and br<strong>in</strong>gs benefits that shorten<br />
the design and <strong>in</strong>tegration cycle, m<strong>in</strong>imiz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
uncerta<strong>in</strong>ty and risk. In order to enable customers<br />
to fully understand the advantages of<br />
this new service model, Advantech organized<br />
the Advantech <strong>Embedded</strong> Design-In Forum<br />
(ADF) which was designed to draw together<br />
embedded systems eng<strong>in</strong>eers, software development<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>eers, R&D eng<strong>in</strong>eers, and <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
technology leaders to address and discuss<br />
the latest developments <strong>in</strong> <strong>Embedded</strong> Design.<br />
Michael Vierheilig, Intels Archietcture Conversion<br />
Manager EMEA, presented <strong>in</strong> his keynote<br />
speech the <strong>com</strong>mon Intel processor architecture<br />
used <strong>in</strong> most embedded designs from mobile<br />
devices up to high performance servers. He<br />
highlights the scalability of the architecture<br />
which is suited for multi core systems as well as<br />
for small battery powered devices. Beside the<br />
hardware offer<strong>in</strong>gs Intel <strong>in</strong>creased its software<br />
activities for optimal use of multi core designs.<br />
This <strong>in</strong>cludes not only <strong>com</strong>pilers and libraries<br />
but also Intel Parallel Studio and libraries with<br />
DSP algorithms for all Intel processors. Future<br />
trends for Intel are <strong>com</strong>puters <strong>in</strong> automobiles,<br />
extended Digital Signage Systems, and mobile<br />
smart meters which allow additional services<br />
like near field <strong>com</strong>munication. The future trend<br />
<strong>in</strong> the digital factory is the <strong>in</strong>tegration of various<br />
subsystems <strong>in</strong>to one high performance multicore<br />
system. Virtualisation will be used to<br />
protect the <strong>in</strong>dividual subsystems aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>teraction.<br />
He closed his speech with the promise<br />
that Intel guaranties “at least” 7 years availability<br />
for its embedded products.<br />
December 2010 18<br />
f<br />
Howard L<strong>in</strong>: “<strong>Embedded</strong> will be the core<br />
technology for Advantech <strong>in</strong> the future and<br />
an event like ADF is very important for us<br />
because it is an important activity to gather<br />
our worldwide customer base and ecosystem<br />
partners to show our position on the market.<br />
It also shows new product <strong>in</strong>troductions<br />
which prove the future technical trends<br />
which can be discussed at this event.”<br />
The Technology & Innovation session was divided<br />
<strong>in</strong>to tracks A/B/C, talk<strong>in</strong>g about Design<strong>in</strong><br />
Services & Innovation Technologies, Network<br />
& Communications, and Peripheral Integration<br />
Solutions. The breakout sessions<br />
were presented by Advantech experts and key<br />
<strong>in</strong>dustrial leaders cover<strong>in</strong>g the follow<strong>in</strong>g topics:<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> design techniques, value-added embedded<br />
BIOS, OS and software API, key <strong>com</strong>ponents<br />
<strong>in</strong>tegration, DSP technology and it’s<br />
Dur<strong>in</strong>g Café Chats ADF attendees had the opportunity to see new product <strong>in</strong>novations from<br />
Advantech and its ecosystem partners and discuss future trends more <strong>in</strong> detail with the experts
<strong>in</strong>novation <strong>in</strong> voice & video applications, and<br />
the new cutt<strong>in</strong>g-edge of blade and system<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platforms, as well as embedded<br />
software development strategy for new generation<br />
networks and <strong>com</strong>munications markets.<br />
One example of session A is Microsoft s<br />
presentation.<br />
Apart from the embedded hardware platform,<br />
the embedded OS plays an important role <strong>in</strong><br />
the embedded application. Enhanced security<br />
and stability, as well as streaml<strong>in</strong>ed management<br />
and user friendly <strong>in</strong>terface are major<br />
concerns for users. Utiliz<strong>in</strong>g the right embedded<br />
OS enables developers to create a better custom<br />
embedded operat<strong>in</strong>g system, and helps developers<br />
create applications and drivers more efficiently.<br />
Pascal Angée and Sylva<strong>in</strong> Ekel, OEM<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Devices Group, Microsoft, <strong>in</strong>troduced<br />
the new versions of embedded operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
systems W<strong>in</strong>dows <strong>Embedded</strong> Standard 7 and<br />
W<strong>in</strong>dows CE 6 which offer the needed enhanced<br />
security and stability. The next version<br />
of W<strong>in</strong>dows CE will be called W<strong>in</strong>dows <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Compact 7 and will <strong>in</strong>clude enhanced<br />
security to protect devices <strong>in</strong> the network and<br />
<strong>in</strong> application, simplifies <strong>com</strong>munication with<br />
W<strong>in</strong>dows 7 and feature an extendable user <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
framework <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g touch <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
based on Silverlight. The new Microsoft operation<br />
systems are target<strong>in</strong>g on vertical markets<br />
like Smartphones, medical devices, <strong>com</strong>puters<br />
<strong>in</strong> vehicles and Po<strong>in</strong>t of Sales / Po<strong>in</strong>t of Service<br />
term<strong>in</strong>als.<br />
One example from the networks & <strong>com</strong>munications<br />
track is the Freescale presentation<br />
about a new generation of network processor<br />
platforms. QorIQ platforms enable the next<br />
era of network<strong>in</strong>g by offer<strong>in</strong>g new levels of<br />
performance, power-efficiency and programmability.<br />
Whilst aligned with general process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
needs, QorIQ new <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation with AltiVec<br />
technology enables DSP-level performance to<br />
both control and data path process<strong>in</strong>g. The<br />
first presentation demonstrated how QorIQ<br />
scales as a coherent multicore migration solution<br />
for network<strong>in</strong>g applications. The second<br />
presentation demonstrated how VortiQa software<br />
is optimized to take full advantage of<br />
QorIQ technology, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g pattern match<strong>in</strong>g<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>es, security accelerator, datapath acceleration<br />
and other technologies. The <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
of P4080 with VortiQa software enables application-optimal<br />
functionality which boosts<br />
performance <strong>in</strong> asymmetric and symmetric<br />
multi-process<strong>in</strong>g systems.<br />
In track C it was shown that AU Optronics<br />
has devoted much new product research and<br />
development to the <strong>in</strong>dustrial display market.<br />
Its General Display Division provides displays,<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ly used <strong>in</strong> retail, bank<strong>in</strong>g, gam<strong>in</strong>g/amusement,<br />
medical, advertisement and HMI which<br />
require extraord<strong>in</strong>ary specification and reliability.<br />
This presentation discussed trends <strong>in</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>dustrial display market highlight<strong>in</strong>g that<br />
environmentally friendly panels with green<br />
solutions have be<strong>com</strong>e ma<strong>in</strong>stream and will<br />
reach 55% market share <strong>in</strong> 2011. Secondly,<br />
touch panel <strong>in</strong>tegration was discussed and<br />
thirdly 3D display technology as applied to<br />
gam<strong>in</strong>g, public <strong>in</strong>formation displays and digital<br />
frames was described. F<strong>in</strong>ally the Microcup<br />
technology to replace conventional paper <strong>in</strong><br />
ebook and etag applications was expla<strong>in</strong>ed.<br />
Dur<strong>in</strong>g Café Chats which brought together<br />
lead<strong>in</strong>g respected <strong>in</strong>dustry representatives and<br />
���������������<br />
EMBEDDED COMPUTING<br />
Advantech experts for <strong>in</strong>-depth discussions<br />
and knowledge shar<strong>in</strong>g the follow<strong>in</strong>g topics<br />
were discussed with the experts: embedded<br />
design-<strong>in</strong> services + SFF boards, embedded<br />
BIOS + embedded OS & API, embedded modules,<br />
maximiz<strong>in</strong>g network<strong>in</strong>g performance<br />
with multi-core, video and voice transcod<strong>in</strong>g<br />
with DSP, play<strong>in</strong>g safe with high availability<br />
software. A full range of embedded platforms<br />
with various specialist design-<strong>in</strong> services was<br />
also showcased. n<br />
For more <strong>in</strong>formation see: www.advantech.eu<br />
and www.advantech.eu/adf/Munich<br />
CompactPCI/CompactPCI Serial, VME/VME64x, VPX and VXS<br />
�<br />
�<br />
AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC and µTCA<br />
�<br />
�<br />
�<br />
MMechanics<br />
and d electronics<br />
19 December 2010
COTS<br />
FMC standard benefits high-speed<br />
FPGAs <strong>in</strong> aerospace and defense<br />
By Jeremy Banks, Curtiss-Wright<br />
Choos<strong>in</strong>g the mezzan<strong>in</strong>e<br />
format best suited for rugged<br />
embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g solutions<br />
ultimately turns on the<br />
application details, perception<br />
of risk, development timel<strong>in</strong>e<br />
and personal preference.<br />
The basel<strong>in</strong>e is how it <strong>com</strong>pares<br />
with a s<strong>in</strong>gle PWB with all<br />
functionality onboard.<br />
A monolithic card usually<br />
provides the best<br />
technical solution.<br />
n New generations of FPGAs present developers<br />
with a level of process<strong>in</strong>g performance<br />
and potential I/O bandwidth that cannot easily<br />
be matched by conventional CPU configurations.<br />
While many COTS solutions enable developers<br />
to readily make use of FPGAs for process<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
the real challenge to an application is<br />
often measured <strong>in</strong> terms of I/O bandwidth, latency<br />
and connectivity. For example, military<br />
electronic counter-measures (ECM) applications<br />
require high bandwidth data <strong>in</strong>put, process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and data output with m<strong>in</strong>imum latency.<br />
The FPGA mezzan<strong>in</strong>e card (FMC) (ANSI/VITA<br />
57.1) directly addresses the challenges of FPGA<br />
I/O by solv<strong>in</strong>g the dual problem of how to<br />
maximize I/O bandwidth while still be<strong>in</strong>g able<br />
to change the I/O functionality. FMCs offer<br />
an elegant, simple solution because they only<br />
host I/O devices, such as ADCs, DACs or transceivers.<br />
FMC modules have no on-board processors<br />
or bus <strong>in</strong>terfaces, such as PCI-X. Instead,<br />
FMC modules take advantage of the <strong>in</strong>tr<strong>in</strong>sic<br />
I/O capability of FPGAs to separate the physical<br />
I/O functionality on the module from the<br />
FPGA board design of the host of the module,<br />
while ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g direct connectivity between<br />
the FPGA and the I/O <strong>in</strong>terface.<br />
As recently as two or three years ago, lead<strong>in</strong>g<br />
off-the-shelf high-end ADCs could only achieve<br />
1.5 to 3 Gbit/s bandwidth performance with<br />
8-bit resolution. S<strong>in</strong>ce then, the performance<br />
of <strong>com</strong>mercial ADC devices has <strong>in</strong>creased dramatically.<br />
Today high-end ADCs are approach<strong>in</strong>g<br />
4 Gs/s bandwidth with 12-bit resolution.<br />
Earlier ADC technology was either not fast<br />
enough, or lacked the resolution, or both <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed,<br />
to enable direct digital conversion of<br />
analog signals. This resulted <strong>in</strong> more cost and<br />
reduced performance because a system would<br />
typically require two RF heterodyne receiver<br />
front-ends to handle the down-conversion<br />
stage before the data got to the ADCs attached<br />
to the FPGAs. Today the function of FPGAs is<br />
as true processors that have large blocks of<br />
digital circuitry <strong>in</strong> which signal process<strong>in</strong>g algorithms<br />
such as FFTs can be stored. FPGAs<br />
are very good at handl<strong>in</strong>g signal process<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
the digital doma<strong>in</strong>.<br />
Nowadays faster, higher resolution ADCs have<br />
the ability to take an <strong>in</strong>put signal at a microwave<br />
frequency and convert it at that frequency<br />
rather than requir<strong>in</strong>g the use of a costly <strong>in</strong>termediary<br />
down converter. Higher end ADCs<br />
can sample at rates <strong>in</strong> excess of 3 to 4 gigasamples,<br />
which approaches the 1.5GHz L-Band<br />
and beyond. Sampl<strong>in</strong>g rates that exceed 1 GHz<br />
and faster now allow bandwidths of up to 500<br />
MHz to be processed. And the higher bit-resolution<br />
of the new ADCs has <strong>in</strong>creased system<br />
dynamic range, the span from the weakest to<br />
the strongest detectable signal that it can<br />
handle. These new high-resolution ADCs can<br />
December 2010 20<br />
Figure 1. A typical FMC I/O<br />
mezzan<strong>in</strong>e module<br />
sample at rates near 200 MS/s, and soon will<br />
reach 250 MS/s with 16-bit resolution. They<br />
can dramatically enhance the capabilities of<br />
wideband receivers by <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g their sensitivity<br />
and selectivity, which affects the system<br />
ability to <strong>in</strong>tercept and characterize captured<br />
signals. The design challenge at these high<br />
data rates is how to <strong>in</strong>terface these newly obta<strong>in</strong>able<br />
levels of resolution to the digital doma<strong>in</strong>,<br />
a task that traditional processors cannot<br />
handle. The answer is a <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation of baseboard<br />
FPGAs and FMC I/O cards.<br />
When <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed with larger FPGAs and the<br />
new <strong>in</strong>dustry-standard FMCs, the new generation<br />
of ADCs enables system designers to <strong>in</strong>tegrate<br />
open standards-based board systems <strong>in</strong><br />
which both ADC and DAC capabilities are directly<br />
coupled to the process<strong>in</strong>g element, provided<br />
by the FPGA. The result is an order of<br />
magnitude improvement <strong>in</strong> latency from <strong>in</strong>put<br />
to output. Even better for space, weight and<br />
power constra<strong>in</strong>ed embedded systems, the <strong>in</strong>creased<br />
bandwidth of the new ADC devices<br />
does not <strong>com</strong>e at the cost of a <strong>com</strong>parable rise<br />
<strong>in</strong> power consumption. We are see<strong>in</strong>g these<br />
devices with power dissipations rated near<br />
2W per converter, which means that a quadchannel<br />
FMC will require less than 10W. The<br />
FMC (VITA 57) standard, recently approved<br />
by ANSI, provides a method for directly coupl<strong>in</strong>g<br />
FPGAs on the baseboard with I/O devices
Figure 2. The FMC module is significantly smaller than the<br />
popular PMC and XMC module form factor.<br />
on the small mezzan<strong>in</strong>e FMC board. FMCs<br />
enable the board bus structure to be bypassed,<br />
provid<strong>in</strong>g direct I/O to the FPGA process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
element on the host card. This drastically improves<br />
data rates and reduces latency <strong>com</strong>pared<br />
to designs where the I/O devices reside on the<br />
ma<strong>in</strong> PCB. Another advantage is that FMCs<br />
make it easier to tune a particular I/O need<br />
with a <strong>com</strong>mon process<strong>in</strong>g eng<strong>in</strong>e, and to upgrade<br />
performance as newer and better I/O<br />
devices be<strong>com</strong>e available without a major baseboard<br />
redesign. The most popular mezzan<strong>in</strong>e<br />
format for defense embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g is<br />
PMC which uses the PCI, and PCI-X.<br />
The newer XMC replaces PMC parallel PCI<br />
or PCI-X bus with a serial <strong>in</strong>terface, of which<br />
the most <strong>com</strong>mon protocol support is PCI Express.<br />
Unfortunately, the throughput available<br />
from FPGAs is beyond the capabilities of PMC<br />
or XMC. FPGAs can be used to implement the<br />
necessary <strong>in</strong>terfaces, so advantage can be made<br />
out of the direct coupl<strong>in</strong>g of process<strong>in</strong>g per-<br />
formance and I/O bandwidth.<br />
The purpose of the FMC specification<br />
is to allow one or more<br />
FPGAs on a host card to connect<br />
directly with the I/O devices on<br />
the mezzan<strong>in</strong>e module - just as if<br />
the device were on the host board.<br />
Busses like PCI-X are redundant<br />
and would get <strong>in</strong> the way of the<br />
FPGA and its I/O devices. This<br />
<strong>in</strong>timacy means the <strong>in</strong>terface can<br />
be optimal and sav<strong>in</strong>gs can be<br />
made <strong>in</strong> real estate, cost and<br />
power - with boosted bandwidth<br />
and reduced latency. An FMC is<br />
similar <strong>in</strong> height and width to a<br />
PMC, but almost half the length.<br />
The reduced width, <strong>com</strong>pared with PMC or<br />
XMC, enables up to three FMCs to be fitted to<br />
a 6U host. The FMC specification has a default<br />
stack<strong>in</strong>g height of 10 mm, but also permits a<br />
stack<strong>in</strong>g height down to 8.5 for low-profile solutions.<br />
The majority of FMC host/carriers<br />
use VPX (3U and 6U), VXS and AMC formats,<br />
but there are also PCI Express solutions such<br />
as the Xil<strong>in</strong>x ML605 Virtex-6 evaluation card.<br />
The FMC specification provides for a large<br />
number of differential connections, up to 80<br />
pairs, (or 160 s<strong>in</strong>gle-ended signals), to support<br />
one or more high speed parallel <strong>in</strong>terfaces between<br />
the FPGA and I/O devices.<br />
There are also a number of serial connections<br />
(up to ten pairs) suitable for multi-gigabit<br />
transceivers (MGTs) operat<strong>in</strong>g up to 10<br />
Gbytes/s. FMC modules and hosts support<br />
two connector options; a low-p<strong>in</strong>-count (LPC)<br />
160-p<strong>in</strong> connector and a high-p<strong>in</strong>-count<br />
(HPC) 400-p<strong>in</strong> connector. The majority of<br />
FMC solutions are likely to use the HPC<br />
Figure 3. This diagram shows FMC-to-FPGA connectivity on a host card.<br />
COTS<br />
variant. Although aimed at I/O, FMCs can be<br />
used for any function that might connect to<br />
an FPGA <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g DSPs, memory or even another<br />
FPGA. Connectivity for FMC modules<br />
is unusual <strong>in</strong> that the number of active connections<br />
is not def<strong>in</strong>ed, only the upper limit.<br />
This means that host carriers need not provide<br />
the same number of FPGA signals as another<br />
host. To fully populate an HPC solution may<br />
require a large FPGA, so reduced p<strong>in</strong>-out<br />
offers cost sensitivity. This is someth<strong>in</strong>g to be<br />
aware of, but the specification def<strong>in</strong>es that the<br />
signals populate the LPC or HPC connector<br />
at a given position and add to the connector<br />
<strong>in</strong> a given sequence such that if two hosts provide<br />
x signal, they will use the same connector<br />
p<strong>in</strong>s. When it <strong>com</strong>es to power supply requirements,<br />
the FMC specification has a neat trick:<br />
the host detects what the FMC power should<br />
be and the host provides it. This is achieved<br />
through the host <strong>in</strong>terrogat<strong>in</strong>g the FMC<br />
E2PROM and an adjustable power supply. The<br />
benefit to the FMC is a simplified power requirement<br />
thereby free<strong>in</strong>g up valuable real estate<br />
for more I/O. Although around half the<br />
PWB area of an XMC, the FMC can sometimes<br />
achieve greater I/O functionality, most notably<br />
for rugged applications. If the solution requires<br />
a large FPGA and if the XMC module <strong>com</strong>plies<br />
with the VITA 20 specification, there are restrictions<br />
as to where the FPGA can be located.<br />
In turn, this may limit the available area to fit<br />
the I/O devices.<br />
Let us consider an actual example with a pair<br />
of designs us<strong>in</strong>g the same I/O devices for a<br />
rugged application; one us<strong>in</strong>g an XMC format<br />
card and one us<strong>in</strong>g an FMC format card. Because<br />
the rugged XMC specification requires<br />
an area across the middle of the board to mate<br />
up with a host-stiffen<strong>in</strong>g bar (which doubles<br />
as a primary thermal <strong>in</strong>terface conductioncooled<br />
variant), a large FPGA (for example<br />
35mm x 35mm) <strong>in</strong>variably needs to be fitted<br />
to the area of the circuit board closest to the<br />
front panel, and just where the design would<br />
want to fit the I/O devices.<br />
The useful space <strong>in</strong> which to fit the I/O devices<br />
is perhaps a quarter of the overall real estate<br />
of the XMC and not very efficient. In <strong>com</strong>parison,<br />
the FMC even though it is around half<br />
the size of the XMC, has a far greater real<br />
estate area for the I/O devices. In this example,<br />
the FMC is able to support two ADCs for two<br />
3GS/s channels <strong>com</strong>pared to the s<strong>in</strong>gle channel<br />
of the XMC. Of course an XMC us<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
smaller FPGA, or not restricted by the rugged<br />
XMC specification, may not be affected to<br />
such an extent, provided it still has a sufficient<br />
number of I/O connections to the devices. An<br />
FMC may be smaller, but it may still be able to<br />
support greater functionality than its larger<br />
XMC equivalent. n<br />
21 December 2010
COTS<br />
CompactPCI cards for advanced<br />
avionics systems development<br />
By Michael J. Randazzo, DDC<br />
CompactPCI is a first choice<br />
for moderniz<strong>in</strong>g legacy test<br />
equipment or develop<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
new system. Its modular hardware<br />
design, wide range of<br />
COTS I/O options, good<br />
<strong>in</strong>strumentation control, and<br />
clear migration path to future<br />
technology make it a smart,<br />
cost-effective and flexible<br />
solution able to support<br />
avionics systems development<br />
for years to <strong>com</strong>e.<br />
n The CompactPCI (cPCI) form factor has<br />
cont<strong>in</strong>ued to allow avionics system designers<br />
to keep development costs low through the<br />
use of <strong>com</strong>mercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products.<br />
It rema<strong>in</strong>s a very popular form factor<br />
choice for systems requir<strong>in</strong>g multiple and<br />
modular I/O capabilities, specifically avionics<br />
protocols, such as MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC<br />
429. In the defense/aerospace sector, some<br />
sample applications are system simulation/<strong>in</strong>tegration,<br />
production/automated test (ATP),<br />
portable test equipment, and rapid prototyp<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of custom hardware designs.<br />
The cPCI specification was developed by the<br />
PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group<br />
(PICMG) <strong>in</strong> the mid 1990s to <strong>in</strong>corporate<br />
PCI-based technology <strong>in</strong>to <strong>in</strong>dustrial <strong>com</strong>puters.<br />
It is electrically a superset of desktop PCI<br />
with a different physical form factor. CompactPCI<br />
leverages the Eurocard form factor,<br />
popularized by the VME bus, and supports<br />
both 3U (100mm x 160mm) and 6U (160mm<br />
x 233mm) card sizes. Though ma<strong>in</strong>ly used <strong>in</strong><br />
lab environments, a conduction-cooled form<br />
factor variant exists to support harsh shock,<br />
vibration, and temperature conditions, while<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the same electrical PCI characteristics<br />
and signal<strong>in</strong>g. S<strong>in</strong>ce cPCI uses a chassis<br />
rack-mountable backplane and is physically<br />
similar to VME, it was quickly adopted by the<br />
avionics <strong>com</strong>munity, which had been domi-<br />
nated by VME s<strong>in</strong>ce the early 1980s. The cPCI<br />
form factor ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>s core system requirements<br />
such as vertical card orientation, positive card<br />
retention, excellent shock and vibration<br />
characteristics, and front or rear I/O options.<br />
What really added to its appeal was the use of<br />
standard PCI silicon, which was already be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
manufactured <strong>in</strong> large volumes for use <strong>in</strong> the<br />
desktop <strong>com</strong>puter marketplace. This greatly<br />
reduced the cost of manufactur<strong>in</strong>g cPCI cards<br />
<strong>com</strong>pared with VME cards. As VME designs<br />
be<strong>com</strong>e more difficult to manufacture and<br />
support, cPCI offers an ideal alternative to<br />
support the needs formerly handled by VME<br />
cards.<br />
Once the test and measurement <strong>com</strong>munity<br />
started to adopt cPCI, it was clear that they<br />
needed more capability to meet tim<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
synchronization requirements across multiple<br />
devices. Previously, VME cards addressed this<br />
need with the VXI Bus enhancement. This resulted<br />
<strong>in</strong> the creation of the PXI (PCI eXtensions<br />
for Instrumentation) platform. The PXI<br />
platform added an additional optional connector<br />
to the already def<strong>in</strong>ed cPCI form factor.<br />
This connector enabled <strong>in</strong>tegrated tim<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
synchronization that is used to route synchronization<br />
clocks and triggers <strong>in</strong>ternally through<br />
the chassis backplane. Today, most test applications<br />
that previously would have required<br />
VME cards now rely on lower cost cPCI cards.<br />
December 2010 22<br />
Figure 1. Example of a<br />
CompactPCI chassis<br />
Data Device Corporation (DDC) provides<br />
CompactPCI/PXI cards for MIL-STD-<br />
1553/1760, ARINC 429, and synchro/resolver<br />
with many cards <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g different types of<br />
I/O on one board to save even more power,<br />
space, weight, and cost. For example, the latest<br />
generation of Multi-IO CompactPCI/PXI cards<br />
BU-67107T would require only a s<strong>in</strong>gle 3U<br />
card to support 4 dual-redundant MIL-STD-<br />
1553 channels, 8 ARINC-429 receivers, 4<br />
ARINC-429 transmitters, 6 user-programmable<br />
digital discretes, 2 RS-232 channels, and 2 RS-<br />
422/485 channels. Us<strong>in</strong>g only s<strong>in</strong>gle-IO solutions,<br />
an equivalent system would require 4<br />
separate devices, greatly <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g the cost<br />
and <strong>in</strong>stallation time expended by system<br />
designers.<br />
With respect to the MIL-STD-1553 protocol,<br />
DDC gives more control to the system designer,<br />
by offer<strong>in</strong>g two levels of functionality. Its latest<br />
1553 generation, AceXtreme, now <strong>com</strong>es <strong>in</strong><br />
s<strong>in</strong>gle and multi-function configurations. The<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gle-function configuration offers emulation<br />
of a bus controller (BC) or up to 31 remote<br />
term<strong>in</strong>als (RTs). Either mode can concurrently<br />
execute the bus monitor (MT), to capture all<br />
data on the bus. The multi-function configuration,<br />
targeted for test and simulation systems,<br />
adds the ability to concurrently run the BC,<br />
up to 31 RTs, and MT, and also <strong>in</strong>cludes the<br />
1553 test and simulation toolkit. The toolkit
Figure 2. 6U (Synchro/Resolver) vs. 3U (MIL-STD-1553) CompactPCI cards<br />
Figure 3. DDC Multi-IO MIL-STD-1553/ARINC-429 3U cPCI/PXI card<br />
adds error <strong>in</strong>jection, <strong>in</strong>ternal/external trigger<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
and the ability to test out-of-bounds 1553<br />
parameters (such as <strong>in</strong>termessage gap). The<br />
BU-67210T 1553 multi-function series are 3U<br />
CompactPCI/PXI cards with up to 4 dualredundant<br />
1553 channels, 8 digital and 8 avionics-level<br />
discretes, and IRIG-B <strong>in</strong>put/output.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce it is relatively easy to assemble and procure<br />
a CompactPCI system with COTS hardware,<br />
it is a great choice for prototyp<strong>in</strong>g custom<br />
embedded systems. This allows system designers<br />
to configure a system with identical hardware<br />
and software functionality as the f<strong>in</strong>al<br />
system, except us<strong>in</strong>g the CompactPCI form<br />
factor. It also enables any software development<br />
to beg<strong>in</strong> before <strong>in</strong>itial prototype hardware is<br />
available so that the designer can address any<br />
system level concerns before mass production.<br />
All DDC software development kits (SDKs)<br />
for MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC-429 are hardware<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependent and have a <strong>com</strong>mon API.<br />
This enables software to be developed and<br />
tested us<strong>in</strong>g one form factor (such as cPCI),<br />
and reused <strong>in</strong> its entirety on a different form<br />
factor (such as PMC or <strong>com</strong>ponent-level<br />
solution). Designers us<strong>in</strong>g this approach have<br />
benefited from shortened development schedules,<br />
less system troubleshoot<strong>in</strong>g, and avoid<strong>in</strong>g<br />
costly board re-sp<strong>in</strong>s.<br />
To simplify the software development process<br />
even further, DDC offers code generation<br />
capability with its BusTrACEr BU-69066S0<br />
MIL-STD-1553 data bus analyzer. The tool allows<br />
the user to configure a 1553 bus controller,<br />
multiple remote term<strong>in</strong>als, and a bus monitor<br />
with an easy-to-use po<strong>in</strong>t-and-click graphical<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface. Once the 1553 configuration is <strong>com</strong>plete,<br />
a s<strong>in</strong>gle click will generate ANSI C source<br />
code to duplicate the same configuration us<strong>in</strong>g<br />
DDC 1553 SDK. The generated source code<br />
then can be used with any operat<strong>in</strong>g system<br />
(W<strong>in</strong>dows 2000/XP/Vista/7, L<strong>in</strong>ux, VxWorks,<br />
etc.) and any DDC board or <strong>com</strong>ponent, sav<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the designer many hours of additional pro-<br />
COTS<br />
gramm<strong>in</strong>g time for the embedded system that<br />
would otherwise be required. All CompactP-<br />
CI/PXI systems require a CPU card or system<br />
controller. Follow<strong>in</strong>g the COTS approach, there<br />
are many CPU vendors <strong>in</strong> the marketplace offer<strong>in</strong>g<br />
standard 3U and 6U controllers. A majority<br />
of these systems are x86-based, but other<br />
processor families, like PowerPC, can be procured.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce the controllers are based on standard<br />
processor architectures, cPCI systems designers<br />
have a wealth of choices regard<strong>in</strong>g operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
systems and programm<strong>in</strong>g environments.<br />
One environment that stands out as a<br />
leader <strong>in</strong> the cPCI/PXI <strong>com</strong>munity is the Lab-<br />
VIEW programm<strong>in</strong>g language. Short for laboratory<br />
virtual <strong>in</strong>strumentation eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g<br />
workbench, LabVIEW was developed by National<br />
Instruments <strong>in</strong> the 1980s as a visual programm<strong>in</strong>g<br />
language. Execution is determ<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
by the use of a graphical block diagram on<br />
which the programmer connects different functions<br />
by draw<strong>in</strong>g wires.<br />
The <strong>in</strong>herent parallel execution and multi-process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
makes it a great fit for data acquisition,<br />
<strong>in</strong>strument control and test automation. Comb<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
with extensive support for COTS hardware,<br />
a test system can be developed rather easily,<br />
without sacrific<strong>in</strong>g capability. DDC LabVIEW<br />
support package BU-69093S0 enables developers<br />
to use LabVIEW to develop applications us<strong>in</strong>g<br />
MIL-STD-1553 and/or ARINC-429 protocols.<br />
To make development even easier, a collection<br />
of “Intermediate Vis” was created, which allow<br />
the user to quickly configure <strong>com</strong>monly used<br />
1553/429 functionality. Comb<strong>in</strong>ed with a DDC<br />
cPCI/PXI hardware device, the DDC LabVIEW<br />
package is a good choice for any avionics test<strong>in</strong>g<br />
or development task. The DDC package also<br />
supports LabVIEW Real-Time (RT), which extends<br />
the LabVIEW framework to deliver determ<strong>in</strong>istic,<br />
hard real-time performance by execut<strong>in</strong>g<br />
all time-sensitive application code on an<br />
embedded target runn<strong>in</strong>g the Interval Zero (Phar<br />
Lap) ETS real-time operat<strong>in</strong>g system.<br />
With the advent of PCI Express (PCI-E) as the<br />
replacement for the PCI bus <strong>in</strong> desktop <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
CompactPCI needed to evolve accord<strong>in</strong>gly.<br />
CompactPCI Express was released by<br />
PICMG <strong>in</strong> 2005, keep<strong>in</strong>g the Eurocard form<br />
factor, but replac<strong>in</strong>g the parallel PCI Bus with<br />
serial PCI-E l<strong>in</strong>ks. Due to the wide usage of<br />
CompactPCI systems and peripherals <strong>in</strong> the<br />
field, PICMG def<strong>in</strong>ed the CompactPCI Express<br />
backplane and connectors not only to support<br />
new cPCI Express cards, but also support<br />
exist<strong>in</strong>g cPCI cards. A hybrid peripheral slot<br />
can support either a Type 2 cPCI Express<br />
board or a 32-bit cPCI board, thereby enabl<strong>in</strong>g<br />
any cPCI designer to have a cost-effective<br />
evolutionary path; cPCI cards can be eventually<br />
replaced with cPCI Express cards without<br />
chang<strong>in</strong>g the backplane or cabl<strong>in</strong>g. n<br />
23 December 2010
COTS<br />
DO-178C and COTS: challenges<br />
and opportunities for avionics software<br />
By Jakob Gärtner, Esterel<br />
This article describes how the<br />
new DO-178C safety standard<br />
for airborne software will<br />
clarify the framework for<br />
modern software-development<br />
methodologies and the<br />
related tools. A <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
of<br />
model-based design and<br />
verification and formal methods<br />
based on qualified tools is<br />
the state of the art and is fully<br />
supported by the<br />
new standard.<br />
n Dur<strong>in</strong>g the last three decades, the airl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>dustry<br />
has undergone fundamental changes.<br />
The time after the golden ages of jet airplanes,<br />
that started with players like Sud Aviation, De-<br />
Havilland, McDonnell- Douglas, Lockheed<br />
and Boe<strong>in</strong>g and culm<strong>in</strong>ated with aircraft like<br />
the Concorde and the jumbo jet, was characterized<br />
by two ma<strong>in</strong> developments. On one<br />
hand a consolidation <strong>in</strong> the US airframes <strong>in</strong>dustry<br />
that left only Boe<strong>in</strong>g as player <strong>in</strong> the<br />
civilian aerospace market, and the advent of<br />
Airbus as global player, which <strong>in</strong>creased its<br />
global market share to more than 50% of aircraft<br />
over 100 seats.<br />
The most recent aerospace programs like the<br />
Boe<strong>in</strong>g 787 Dreaml<strong>in</strong>er and the Airbus A380<br />
tried to take advantage of heavy outsourc<strong>in</strong>g<br />
even of former core <strong>com</strong>petences and work<br />
packages. They both also faced major technical<br />
obstacles, program delays and cost <strong>in</strong>creases.<br />
Both Boe<strong>in</strong>g and Airbus are confronted with<br />
damage claims from airl<strong>in</strong>es and cancelled orders.<br />
At the same time, emerg<strong>in</strong>g aerospace<br />
countries such as Brazil, Ch<strong>in</strong>a, South Korea<br />
and Japan are launch<strong>in</strong>g major aerospace programs<br />
not only aimed at the much more fragmented<br />
regional airl<strong>in</strong>ers market, but also attack<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the current cash cows such as the Boe<strong>in</strong>g<br />
737 and Airbus 320 families. Subcontractors<br />
see new opportunities with the new players,<br />
while pressure for risk shar<strong>in</strong>g is ris<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
While software content creation for large programs<br />
is be<strong>in</strong>g created more and more globally<br />
by the established <strong>com</strong>panies, new <strong>com</strong>petition<br />
is aris<strong>in</strong>g from new players from the BRIC<br />
(Brazil, Russia, India and Ch<strong>in</strong>a) countries.<br />
Experience from the B787 and A380 programs,<br />
and even more from some military projects,<br />
shows that distributed development, outsourc<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and globalization are more <strong>com</strong>plicated to<br />
implement than imag<strong>in</strong>ed. Large f<strong>in</strong>ancial and<br />
technical efforts have been necessary to recover<br />
some of the consequential problems, but have<br />
not proven to be sufficient for <strong>com</strong>plet<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
effort on time. Ris<strong>in</strong>g <strong>com</strong>petition at airframe,<br />
systems and software levels, together with a<br />
much more diverse and <strong>com</strong>plex <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
universe and the requirement for fast time-tomarket,<br />
calls for <strong>com</strong>mercial and technical answers.<br />
At the same time, the well-established<br />
safety standard for airborne software, DO-<br />
178B will be soon replaced by its next <strong>in</strong>crement,<br />
DO-178C.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce 1992, creation of software development<br />
for safety-critical airborne systems has been<br />
governed by the <strong>in</strong>ternationally recognized<br />
standard DO-178B. On just 48 pages, it condenses<br />
the <strong>in</strong>puts, constra<strong>in</strong>ts and requirements<br />
from all the <strong>in</strong>volved stakeholders. It represents<br />
the consensus that has been achieved from<br />
discussions and negotiations between airframe<br />
manufactures, equipment suppliers, tool sup-<br />
December 2010 24<br />
pliers and certification authorities. It has rema<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
stable dur<strong>in</strong>g 15 years of be<strong>in</strong>g used<br />
on every s<strong>in</strong>gle civilian aerospace program,<br />
and no major safety issue has been discovered<br />
dur<strong>in</strong>g its use. DO-178B def<strong>in</strong>es objectives<br />
and pr<strong>in</strong>ciples which shall be followed dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
a software development effort. It is, as far as<br />
possible, and much more than any other contemporary<br />
software safety standard, requirements-oriented,<br />
and with very few exceptions,<br />
not prescriptive on the means that must be<br />
used, <strong>in</strong> order to be less sensitive to technology<br />
evolution and more open to adaptation to<br />
specific requirements.<br />
Created 18 years ago, DO-178B has rema<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
apparently stable, despite the swift evolution<br />
<strong>in</strong> software technology. But beh<strong>in</strong>d the scenes,<br />
CAST (Certification Authorities Software<br />
Team) papers and CRIs (Certification Review<br />
Items) have been created <strong>in</strong> order to answer to<br />
specific issues. These papers do not always<br />
represent a consensus of the stakeholders and<br />
are often subject to <strong>in</strong>tense discussions. It is a<br />
challenge <strong>in</strong> itself <strong>in</strong> a software development<br />
effort to f<strong>in</strong>d a way through all the accumulated<br />
documents and op<strong>in</strong>ions. Organized by workgroups<br />
<strong>in</strong> order to efficiently handle the various<br />
fields of <strong>in</strong>terest, representatives of more than<br />
150 stakeholders have been work<strong>in</strong>g on reach<strong>in</strong>g<br />
a new consensus which answers to the<br />
new techniques such as MBDV (model-based
Figure 1. Model-based development flow: now formally def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> DO-178C<br />
development and verification), formal methods<br />
(FM), automatic code generation and objectoriented<br />
methods while keep<strong>in</strong>g the objectiveoriented<br />
approach of the former version of<br />
the standard.<br />
Market<strong>in</strong>g buzz created by some tool vendors,<br />
depend<strong>in</strong>g on the source, tells: use my tool<br />
and you bridge the gap. Now you can use Java<br />
and C++ and exploit full benefits from dynamic<br />
environments, <strong>in</strong>heritance and variants. Object-Oriented<br />
has now arrived <strong>in</strong> aerospace.<br />
Remember<strong>in</strong>g the pa<strong>in</strong> created on some projects<br />
by follow<strong>in</strong>g the tool providers promises<br />
a bit too will<strong>in</strong>gly, it is well worth the effort to<br />
have a deeper look at the spirit, concepts and<br />
contents of DO-178C. The message is very<br />
simple: <strong>com</strong>pared to DO-178B, the new release<br />
neither raises nor lowers the bar for certification.<br />
It documents the <strong>in</strong>tent of DO-178 more<br />
consistently and provides important clarification<br />
on some aspects.<br />
It provides three technology-specific supplements.<br />
1) Model- based design: MBDV is now<br />
fully recognized by DO-178C, but precise syntax<br />
and semantics on model-level are required.<br />
Demonstration of model test coverage is a<br />
mandatory activity. 2) Formal methods: the<br />
supplement provides a framework for the use<br />
of formal methods. 3) Object-orientation: Basically,<br />
very demand<strong>in</strong>g constra<strong>in</strong>ts for the use<br />
of OO methods and requirements for costly<br />
verification of software properties, <strong>in</strong> particular<br />
for memory management and <strong>in</strong>heritance, are<br />
provided. One supplement provides explana-<br />
tions and guidel<strong>in</strong>es on when and how to<br />
qualify tools (TQ supplement). The DO-178C<br />
<strong>com</strong>mittee <strong>in</strong>tends to <strong>com</strong>plete and approve<br />
the new text by end of 2010.<br />
Most of the well-established creators of embedded<br />
airborne software have, <strong>in</strong> the context<br />
of the large programs of the civilian aerospace<br />
duopoly era, created their own tool suites to<br />
support software development. Several factors<br />
are fuel<strong>in</strong>g a trend to now opt out of these <strong>in</strong>house<br />
tools. The consolidation of Tier1 and<br />
Tier2 equipment providers and airframe makers<br />
has the side-effect that with<strong>in</strong> a large <strong>com</strong>pany,<br />
which is the result of a series of mergers,<br />
a plethora of tools may exist that try to tackle<br />
the same problem from slightly different angles.<br />
Tool harmonization is be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g an important<br />
driver for cost reduction. Each boundary between<br />
tools be<strong>com</strong>es a river to cross, with expensive<br />
bridges required to cross them. The<br />
tools themselves are often highly specialized.<br />
While <strong>in</strong> the past, it was possible to hide tool<br />
costs with<strong>in</strong> a large project budget, agile methods<br />
and the trend to concentrate on the core<br />
<strong>com</strong>petencies of a <strong>com</strong>pany do not really<br />
justify the effort to create such custom tools<br />
anymore, not to mention the pa<strong>in</strong> and cost to<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> them.<br />
This situation provides the field for COTS<br />
(<strong>com</strong>mercial-of-the-shelf) software tools. Such<br />
tools may span the entire software lifecycle of<br />
a software system: requirements management,<br />
requirements analysis, system design, software<br />
design, verification and test<strong>in</strong>g. What was pre-<br />
COTS<br />
viously said about bridg<strong>in</strong>g the gap between<br />
different tool suites applies even more between<br />
the different phases of the lifecycle. Transitions<br />
from one step to the next along a development<br />
flow can be very costly. Seamless software development,<br />
while be<strong>in</strong>g one of the most used<br />
buzzwords, has, with a few exceptions, rema<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
a dream.<br />
While more and more <strong>com</strong>panies are try<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to f<strong>in</strong>d COTS replacements for their <strong>in</strong>-house<br />
tools, the new players <strong>in</strong> the airplane and<br />
equipment makers market have the advantage<br />
(and the challenge) to start from a white sheet<br />
of paper. They all meet some tool providers<br />
who all claim to have the golden key to software<br />
development. When carefully read<strong>in</strong>g DO-<br />
178C and its supplements it be<strong>com</strong>es clear<br />
that: 1) tool qualification can have clear advantages,<br />
if the tool has been designed to provide<br />
the benefit from specific certification<br />
credits to the user, such as be<strong>in</strong>g able to<br />
shorten, automate or render obsolete certa<strong>in</strong><br />
expensive design or verification activities; 2)<br />
model-based design and verification is now<br />
recognized and can provide important ga<strong>in</strong>s<br />
<strong>in</strong> efficiency; and 3) formal methods and their<br />
usage now benefit from a clearly described<br />
framework which helps to <strong>in</strong>tegrate them <strong>in</strong><br />
the development and verification plans. It appears<br />
that the ideal tool and method would<br />
<strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>e the ease of use and efficiency of a<br />
model-based approach with the <strong>com</strong>pleteness<br />
and verifiability of a formal method.<br />
Unfortunately, almost all model-based tools<br />
are not formal, and most formal methods are<br />
neither model-based nor easy to use. The <strong>in</strong>dustry<br />
standard <strong>in</strong> model-based design for<br />
DO-178B projects, Esterel Technologie SCADE<br />
(Safety-Critical Development Environment)<br />
is based on a formal notation and has proven<br />
its efficiency and ease of use on most exist<strong>in</strong>g<br />
aerospace programs. It is a direct implementation<br />
of all the pr<strong>in</strong>ciples that are the foundation<br />
of DO-178B and has shaped the discussions<br />
on tool qualification, model-based design and<br />
formal methods <strong>in</strong> the DO-178C <strong>com</strong>mittee.<br />
It is the only approach on the market which<br />
merges model-based design and formal methods.<br />
Like DO-178B and DO-178C, it is very<br />
simple yet <strong>com</strong>plete <strong>in</strong> its approach.<br />
Similar trends towards COTS can be found<br />
on the hardware platform side and the runtime<br />
environments and operat<strong>in</strong>g systems.<br />
Custom hardware was, some years ago, the<br />
only way to answer performance, certification<br />
and scal<strong>in</strong>g issues. Available hardened processors<br />
and peripherals did not perform at the<br />
level necessary to allow for standard hardware,<br />
and, as a consequence each LRU (l<strong>in</strong>e replaceable<br />
unit) conta<strong>in</strong>ed a very expensive,<br />
special purpose piece of hardware. Software<br />
25 December 2010
COTS<br />
Figure 2. A base document def<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g pr<strong>in</strong>ciples and<br />
objectives, with specific supplements handl<strong>in</strong>g specific<br />
aspects of software technology: the new structure of DO-178C<br />
was also highly tailored to co-operate as<br />
closely as possible with the custom hardware.<br />
If such hardware reaches the highly feared<br />
end-of-life, software ma<strong>in</strong>tenance and upgrades<br />
be<strong>com</strong>e impossible. The entire system<br />
be<strong>com</strong>es obsolete. Standardized operat<strong>in</strong>g systems<br />
promise to relieve the user from such<br />
problems. If the software application uses<br />
only a standard API (application programm<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface), it will run on any hardware for<br />
which an OS with that API is available.<br />
OM9140 10GbE 14-Slot ATCA Platform<br />
The Kontron OM9140 series of 10GbE ATCA<br />
platforms offer carrier-grade, high-density solutions<br />
across a <strong>com</strong>mon platform capable of<br />
be<strong>in</strong>g converted <strong>in</strong>to dedicated or cross-functional<br />
network elements for 3G and 4G wireless,<br />
IMP, IPTV, and core network applications.<br />
With dedicated validation and <strong>in</strong>tegration teams, Kontron alleviates<br />
all the heavy-lift<strong>in</strong>g of configur<strong>in</strong>g and test<strong>in</strong>g multiple hardware and<br />
software elements, such as IPMI, OS, HA Middleware, and HPI,<br />
enabl<strong>in</strong>g TEMs and NEPs to leverage their dedicated resources more<br />
towards application designs.<br />
Kontron is currently assist<strong>in</strong>g its TEM clients <strong>in</strong> a multi-phase<br />
migration program that prepares them to develop immediately with<br />
40G-ready AdvancedTCA platforms. As the first phase, TEMs can<br />
fully deploy them as 10G systems and, when ready, <strong>in</strong>itiate the second<br />
phase to field upgrade them with 40G switch<strong>in</strong>g and any other<br />
multicore process<strong>in</strong>g capabilities.<br />
Tele<strong>com</strong> and network equipment vendors who need to speed up their<br />
design of wireless and wirel<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>frastructure systems seek out <strong>com</strong>mercial-off-the-shelf<br />
open platforms, such as ATCA, as a more efficient<br />
deployment strategy.<br />
Us<strong>in</strong>g a model-based methodology<br />
provides another level of abstraction.<br />
When utilized effectively and<br />
done the right way, it makes the<br />
application totally <strong>in</strong>dependent<br />
even from a specific API, assum<strong>in</strong>g<br />
automatic code generation is available.<br />
Aga<strong>in</strong>, it is important that<br />
this automatic code generation is<br />
done by a qualified tool <strong>in</strong> order<br />
to make it efficient. If not, all the<br />
expensive test<strong>in</strong>g, reviews and other<br />
verification will make port<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
hence hardware obsolescence very,<br />
very costly.<br />
As airframe makers have shifted<br />
the boundary between themselves<br />
and their suppliers quite far already,<br />
and are often not even provid<strong>in</strong>g the highlevel<br />
software requirements as <strong>in</strong>put to the<br />
system providers, they are fac<strong>in</strong>g unexpected<br />
issues. The sav<strong>in</strong>gs are not as large as hoped<br />
for, and they are los<strong>in</strong>g <strong>com</strong>petences and control,<br />
so that they do not only experience quality,<br />
functionality and <strong>in</strong>tegration issues, but also a<br />
shift <strong>in</strong> the balance of power between themselves<br />
and the major suppliers. The bulk of<br />
the value <strong>in</strong> an aircraft is not <strong>in</strong>put anymore<br />
by the airframe maker, who is be<strong>in</strong>g reduced<br />
December 2010 26<br />
to a systems <strong>in</strong>tegrator, but by the Tier1 suppliers.<br />
Model-based design and verification<br />
with qualified tools allow the air framers to<br />
rega<strong>in</strong> more control, as they provide a clear<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface to exchange requirements and<br />
standardized verification approaches.<br />
The environment is be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g more and<br />
more challeng<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>com</strong>petition more fierce,<br />
and the sw<strong>in</strong>g of globalization is sw<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g<br />
back. The emerg<strong>in</strong>g countries do not rema<strong>in</strong><br />
pools of cheap labour and soar<strong>in</strong>g markets.<br />
They be<strong>com</strong>e major players themselves. DO-<br />
178C will clarify the framework for modern<br />
software-development methodologies and<br />
the related tools. A <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation of modelbased<br />
design and verification and formal<br />
methods based on qualified tools is the state<br />
of the art, and is fully supported by the new<br />
standard. Any software development team<br />
which <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>es the best practices of software<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g with such a tool empowers its<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>eers to concentrate on their <strong>com</strong>petence<br />
<strong>in</strong> analyz<strong>in</strong>g and design<strong>in</strong>g systems, which<br />
answers the needs of the end customer, on<br />
time and on budget. Most importantly, formal<br />
model-based development frees their<br />
m<strong>in</strong>ds to create that difference <strong>in</strong> value that<br />
can only <strong>com</strong>e from human creativity and<br />
imag<strong>in</strong>ation. n<br />
Bus<strong>in</strong>ess Benefits of ATCA Open Platforms<br />
n Faster time-to-market<br />
n Development cost sav<strong>in</strong>gs<br />
n Reduced <strong>in</strong>ventory costs<br />
n Faster upgrades to new technology advances<br />
n Achieve shorter lead times for build-to-order systems<br />
n Kontron global services & ma<strong>in</strong>tenance<br />
OM9140 Configuration Options - Customer-Specific<br />
n AT8050 10GbE Processor Board – 5600 and 5500 Intel Xeon<br />
Processor Series<br />
n AT8904 10GbE Switch<br />
n AT8404 10GbE Carrier (4 AMC Slots)<br />
n AT8050 Rear Transition Modules<br />
Storage, Processor and IO Modules<br />
n AM4020 AdvancedMC Core i7 Processor Module<br />
n AM4020 AdvancedMC OCTEON Plus Module<br />
n AM4500 AdvancedMC Storage Module<br />
TO ORDER EVALUATION UNITS OR<br />
UPGRADE AN EXISTING DESIGN CONTACT US AT:<br />
Kontron Modular Computer<br />
Sudetenstrasse 7<br />
87600 Kaufbeuren<br />
Germany<br />
+49 (0) 8341 803 333<br />
+49 (0) 8341 803 339<br />
support-kom@kontron.<strong>com</strong>
Curtiss-Wright <strong>Control</strong>s <strong>Embedded</strong> Comput<strong>in</strong>g<br />
Curtiss-Wright <strong>Control</strong>s <strong>Embedded</strong> Comput<strong>in</strong>g is the defense and<br />
aerospace <strong>in</strong>dustry’s most <strong>com</strong>prehensive and experienced s<strong>in</strong>gle<br />
source for rugged embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g solutions. Our <strong>com</strong>plete<br />
portfolio of products <strong>in</strong>cludes process<strong>in</strong>g, data <strong>com</strong>munications,<br />
digital signal process<strong>in</strong>g, video and graphics, rugged displays, record<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and storage, analog acquisition and reconstruction, radar and <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
subsystems. All of our products are architected with the most advanced<br />
technology for a rugged environment and are enhanced by services<br />
such as life cycle management and custom eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
As part of the Motion <strong>Control</strong> division of Curtiss-Wright, our focus<br />
on eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g excellence is based on more than a century of <strong>in</strong>novation,<br />
<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g some of the most important advancements <strong>in</strong> aviation pioneered<br />
by our founders, Glenn Curtiss and Orville and Wilbur Wright.<br />
Our mission is to target and over<strong>com</strong>e one of the most press<strong>in</strong>g issues<br />
confront<strong>in</strong>g rugged system <strong>in</strong>tegrators - ensur<strong>in</strong>g that the systems’<br />
pieces <strong>in</strong>tegrate and work together. With its end-to-end expertise, the<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Comput<strong>in</strong>g organization will remove this critical concern<br />
by provid<strong>in</strong>g a s<strong>in</strong>gle <strong>com</strong>pany that stands beh<strong>in</strong>d the <strong>in</strong>teroperability<br />
of its system <strong>com</strong>ponents, from host CPU board, to mezzan<strong>in</strong>e<br />
module, to ATR chassis.<br />
Curtiss-Wright offers a broad range of products founded on open systems<br />
architectures like OpenVPX/VPX/VPX REDI,VME, CompactPCI,<br />
FMC, XMC and PMC. With board-level products, enclosures, software<br />
and systems <strong>in</strong>tegration services, Curtiss-Wright <strong>Control</strong>s <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Comput<strong>in</strong>g can offer an embedded <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g solution that meets the<br />
requirements of any development or production program.<br />
White Papers and Videos<br />
PROFILE<br />
Trusted Architecture – Data Protection with the<br />
QorIQ Platform<br />
Curtiss-Wright has given data protection a very high priority <strong>in</strong> the<br />
design of its next-generation Power Architecture s<strong>in</strong>gle board <strong>com</strong>puters.<br />
After a thorough evaluation process, Curtiss-Wright selected Freescale’s<br />
next generation system-on-chip QorIQ P4040/P4080 platform processors<br />
as the centerpiece of its data protection strategy.<br />
Us<strong>in</strong>g the Intel® Architecture <strong>in</strong> High-Performance,<br />
Military <strong>Embedded</strong> Signal Process<strong>in</strong>g Applications<br />
Historically, PowerPC®/Power Architecture® processors have been<br />
the dom<strong>in</strong>ant choice for implement<strong>in</strong>g Digital Signal Process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
(DSP) <strong>in</strong> high-performance embedded military applications. Today,<br />
beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g with Intel Core i7 dual-core processors, the low-power,<br />
high-performance advantages of the Intel architecture processor technology<br />
can be used to design DSP eng<strong>in</strong>es for the rugged deployed<br />
COTS signal process<strong>in</strong>g space.<br />
Risk Management for Counterfeit Materials: The<br />
Role of the COTS Board Manufacturer<br />
There is ample evidence to suggest that the proliferation of counterfeit<br />
parts and materials <strong>in</strong> the electronics <strong>in</strong>dustry is be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
widespread, particularly <strong>in</strong> aerospace and defense. Through str<strong>in</strong>gent<br />
obsolescence and supply cha<strong>in</strong> management, <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed with thorough<br />
<strong>in</strong>spection, test<strong>in</strong>g and quality assurance procedures, embedded<br />
COTS suppliers can mount an effective defense aga<strong>in</strong>st counterfeit<br />
materials.<br />
An OpenVPX System Specification Primer<br />
OpenVPX expands on the VPX Base and Dot Specifications and<br />
provides a System Specification to address <strong>in</strong>teroperability issues between<br />
VPX modules and Chassis. OpenVPX is an extensible specification<br />
which addresses the current and future needs for <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
harsh environments.<br />
The Skyquest Video Management System<br />
Aerial reconnaissance has dramatically changed our view of the world.<br />
With unprecedented amounts of data available, the world’s lead<strong>in</strong>g<br />
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makes process<strong>in</strong>g this <strong>in</strong>telligence second nature.<br />
The VPX6-185 S<strong>in</strong>gle Board Computer<br />
The VPX6-185 <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>es the performance and the advanced I/O<br />
capabilities of the Freescale MPC8641/8640 processor with an<br />
extensive I/O <strong>com</strong>plement, provid<strong>in</strong>g a highly capable process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
platform for a wide range of embedded military/aerospace applications.<br />
Curtiss-Wright <strong>Control</strong>s<br />
<strong>Embedded</strong> Comput<strong>in</strong>g<br />
20130 Lakeview Center Plaza, Suite 200<br />
Ashburn, VA 20147<br />
USA<br />
T: +1 703.779.7800<br />
F: +1 703.779.7805<br />
www.cwcembedded.<strong>com</strong><br />
27 December 2010
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
10G Ethernet is poised to be<strong>com</strong>e<br />
the next true standard <strong>in</strong> network<strong>in</strong>g<br />
By Christoph Neumann and Dr. Stephan Rupp, Kontron<br />
For over 25 years, Ethernet<br />
has proven itself able to adapt<br />
to meet the grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
demands of <strong>com</strong>puter<br />
networks while ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
low cost of implementation,<br />
ease of <strong>in</strong>stallation and<br />
highest reliability. Now 10G<br />
Ethernet is be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g available<br />
<strong>in</strong> embedded form factors,<br />
remov<strong>in</strong>g performance<br />
bottlenecks.<br />
n High-speed Ethernet technologies allow<br />
simplify<strong>in</strong>g the structure of <strong>com</strong>puter systems<br />
<strong>in</strong> a significant way. 10G is available <strong>in</strong> advanced<br />
CPUs and Ethernet MACs for process<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
storage subsystems. One pipe may handle both<br />
the operation of clusters as well as high-speed<br />
<strong>com</strong>munications to the outside world. Resources<br />
may be allocated by virtualization, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
network <strong>in</strong>terfaces. Components and<br />
<strong>in</strong>terfaces are entirely based on worldwide <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
standards. Developers are now confronted<br />
with the questions which 10G technology<br />
to choose and which embedded systems<br />
provide the ideal environment. Multi-core<br />
CPUs <strong>com</strong>e with 10 Gigabit/sec speed for<br />
<strong>in</strong>ter-process <strong>com</strong>munication. Several standards<br />
are available to provide the required transfer<br />
rates. So there are many good reasons to use<br />
10 Gigabit Ethernet now.<br />
Prices of <strong>in</strong>terfaces have <strong>com</strong>e down. There<br />
are SFP+ transceivers available <strong>in</strong> the same<br />
small form factor as SFP with passive copper<br />
l<strong>in</strong>ks for short-range, price-sensitive applications<br />
(such as chassis <strong>in</strong>terconnect, up to<br />
several meters), as well as optical connections<br />
for longer distances. Different traffic classes<br />
can be allocated to one s<strong>in</strong>gle pipe (with QoS<br />
provid<strong>in</strong>g many service levels). With protocols<br />
such as iSCSI, storage can use the same <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
technology as <strong>in</strong>ter-process <strong>com</strong>munication<br />
or exterior services (such as web traffic or<br />
Voice over IP). For aggregation of traffic, 10G<br />
avoids multiple 1G l<strong>in</strong>ks with <strong>com</strong>plex l<strong>in</strong>k aggregation<br />
mechanisms. With multi-core CPUs,<br />
the number of virtual mach<strong>in</strong>es per processor<br />
is <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g. 10G Ethernet MACs support virtualization,<br />
i.e. network <strong>in</strong>terfaces can be shared<br />
between VMs <strong>in</strong> a hardware-<strong>in</strong>dependent way.<br />
The same technology is applied <strong>in</strong> local and<br />
remote <strong>com</strong>munication, result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> reduced<br />
<strong>com</strong>plexity, reduced cabl<strong>in</strong>g and improved reliability.<br />
Carrier Ethernet services allow native<br />
connectivity for remote operation.<br />
On many desktop devices, virtualization has<br />
been used to boot one operat<strong>in</strong>g system or the<br />
other. In this case, one virtual mach<strong>in</strong>e (VM)<br />
may own the <strong>com</strong>plete hardware, with no<br />
need to share. In IT server <strong>in</strong>frastructure and<br />
<strong>in</strong> embedded systems, virtualization is <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly<br />
used to run multiple VMs <strong>in</strong> parallel on<br />
the same hardware. With current network <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
cards (NICs), Ethernet ports cannot be<br />
shared easily between parallel VMs. The usual<br />
solution is to allocate Ethernet ports to <strong>in</strong>dividual<br />
VMs, as shown <strong>in</strong> figure 2 (upper part).<br />
While this type of solution works with a<br />
limited number of VMs and a sufficient number<br />
of NICs, it has major drawbacks as the<br />
number of VMs <strong>in</strong>creases. The number of network<br />
<strong>in</strong>terfaces needs to match the number of<br />
VMs, result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> extra cost, space requirements,<br />
cabl<strong>in</strong>g, as well as additional configuration<br />
December 2010 28<br />
Figure 1. The Kontron CP6930<br />
is a performance-optimized<br />
10-Gigabit Ethernet switch.<br />
and ma<strong>in</strong>tenance hassles, and the hypervisor<br />
must manage traffic between VMs (thus<br />
be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g a multi-port Ethernet switch), or<br />
alternatively traffic between VMs can be<br />
channeled over exterior network <strong>in</strong>terfaces.<br />
This scenario is not far-fetched: VMs <strong>in</strong> embedded<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g are <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly be<strong>in</strong>g used<br />
to encapsulate parallel jobs. Today 4-core CPUs<br />
easily support 4 to 8 VMs per core. As shown<br />
<strong>in</strong> figure 1 (lower part), this results <strong>in</strong> a number<br />
of network <strong>in</strong>terfaces exceed<strong>in</strong>g 16 ports. In<br />
addition, the traffic capacity of the CPU exceeds<br />
1 Gigabit speed, requir<strong>in</strong>g multiple 1GbE ports<br />
per VM. 10G NICs with support of virtualization<br />
solve many problems <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the shar<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of 10G Ethernet ports between VMs without<br />
need of l<strong>in</strong>k aggregation. Most importantly,<br />
<strong>in</strong>ter-VM traffic is handled with<strong>in</strong> the NIC<br />
without impact on the hypervisor.<br />
At customer premises, IT <strong>in</strong>frastructure serves<br />
a variety of applications; whether for enterprise<br />
<strong>com</strong>munication, facility management, process<br />
technology or <strong>com</strong>puter center, the general<br />
structure is similar. Front-end servers handle<br />
exterior connectivity to other sites (locally or<br />
remotely) <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g security screen<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
traffic distribution. On a second tier, application<br />
servers handle the <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g tasks. A third<br />
tier handles the storage and safe backup of<br />
persistent data. Figure 3 shows the pr<strong>in</strong>ciple
Figure 2. Allocation of network <strong>in</strong>terfaces to virtual mach<strong>in</strong>es<br />
architecture. Today, a diversity of technologies<br />
is used. While local network <strong>in</strong>terconnectivity<br />
to clients and other sites is largely provided by<br />
Ethernet, connections to remote sites are provided<br />
over a choice of tele<strong>com</strong>munication <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
(such as ISDN, leased l<strong>in</strong>es or xDSL).<br />
Communication between servers (<strong>in</strong>ter-process<br />
<strong>com</strong>munication) requires high-speed connections<br />
over Inf<strong>in</strong>iband, aggregated GbE l<strong>in</strong>ks<br />
or proprietary solutions. Storage networks<br />
(network-attached storage or storage area networks)<br />
connect over fibre channel. While all<br />
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
established solutions have their benefits, the<br />
result is a diverse environment, with <strong>com</strong>plex<br />
configurations, which requires a diversity of<br />
skills for operation.<br />
The arrival of 10GbE technology removes the<br />
performance bottleneck of past Ethernet technology<br />
for server and storage networks and allows<br />
a diversity of applications to be placed<br />
on a s<strong>in</strong>gle technology platform. For server <strong>in</strong>terconnection,<br />
10 GbE can ac<strong>com</strong>modate the<br />
speed of modern CPUs. Standards like iSCSI<br />
allow for the build<strong>in</strong>g of equivalent storage <strong>in</strong>frastructures<br />
to fibre channel solutions without<br />
the need for specialized fibre channel switches<br />
and software environment. The speed of 10<br />
GbE is also sufficient to support native fibre<br />
channel protocols over Ethernet (FCoE). The<br />
result is a simplified architecture for <strong>com</strong>puter<br />
networks. Reduced <strong>com</strong>plexity also results <strong>in</strong><br />
reduced costs because fewer <strong>com</strong>ponents are<br />
needed, allow<strong>in</strong>g technical skills to be focused<br />
elsewhere, and thus lower<strong>in</strong>g operational costs.<br />
Some server architectures allow multiple processor<br />
blades to be placed <strong>in</strong> a s<strong>in</strong>gle server<br />
chassis, which can also conta<strong>in</strong> 10GbE switches.<br />
Such systems considerably reduce space and<br />
cabl<strong>in</strong>g by provid<strong>in</strong>g Ethernet connectivity<br />
over the backplane. <strong>Embedded</strong> form factors
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Figure 3. One pipe fits all - reduc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>com</strong>plexity lowers costs.<br />
Figure 4. Long distance connectivity - Carrier Ethernet<br />
for such architectures use low-power processors<br />
and reduce total cost of ownership through<br />
lowered operational expenses. The use of Ethernet<br />
for server and storage <strong>in</strong>terconnection is<br />
supported by worldwide standards: iSCSI represents<br />
an IETF standard published <strong>in</strong> 2003,<br />
which def<strong>in</strong>es encapsulation of SCSI messages<br />
<strong>in</strong> Ethernet frames and usage of TCP/IP to<br />
handle traffic flows. In this way, iSCSI builds<br />
on a foundation that has been proven worldwide<br />
on the <strong>in</strong>ternet. For storage networks,<br />
iSCSI allows 10GbE NICs to work like SAN<br />
controllers. Without the need for dedicated<br />
hardware, storage devices such as RAID networks<br />
or backup servers can be shared over IP.<br />
While Ethernet is a traditional technology for<br />
local area networks, it is also ga<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g momentum<br />
<strong>in</strong> remote <strong>com</strong>munications. Connections<br />
between two sites of an enterprise (customer<br />
premises) or to remote clients need a connec-<br />
tion over public networks, which are provided<br />
by a network operator. Network operators provide<br />
a diversity of <strong>in</strong>terfaces for mobile connectivity<br />
(over GSM, UMTS or WiFi hotspots),<br />
and fixed l<strong>in</strong>es (over ISDN, xDSL or leased<br />
l<strong>in</strong>es). With <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g demand from corporate<br />
customers on high-speed <strong>in</strong>terconnections,<br />
many network operators now offer Carrier<br />
Ethernet services: native Ethernet connectivity<br />
at a variety of speeds <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g guaranteed<br />
availability of service and quality at different<br />
service levels. While speeds above 100<br />
Megabits/sec need a dedicated optical fibre at<br />
the customer premise and today still represent<br />
the exception, the offer of high-speed l<strong>in</strong>ks is<br />
<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g. For the corporate customer, Carrier<br />
Ethernet represents native Ethernet l<strong>in</strong>ks over<br />
long distance networks, which can carry local<br />
Ethernet services to remote sites. Carrier Ethernet<br />
also provides a reliable connection with<br />
respect to downtimes and traffic. Figure 4<br />
December 2010 30<br />
shows the setup between customer premises<br />
and the public wide area networks. Between<br />
customer premises, Ethernet connectivity is<br />
transparent, like a local area network connection.<br />
Beh<strong>in</strong>d Carrier Ethernet, considerable standardization<br />
activities of major equipment suppliers<br />
and network operators are at work. One<br />
of the most prom<strong>in</strong>ent organizations is the<br />
Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Standardization<br />
activities span a wide range of IETF, IEEE and<br />
ITU standards. The MEF ensures that MEFcertified<br />
Carrier Ethernet equipment is <strong>in</strong>teroperable<br />
over public networks and local connections.<br />
At a much lower level of connectivity,<br />
the progress of technology is considerable.<br />
Over just five years, connector sizes and power<br />
consumption of fibre-optic or copper transceiver<br />
modules have been consistently shr<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g<br />
from XENPAK to XFP and SFP+. Figure 5<br />
shows the evolution.<br />
As a consequence, the new high-speed transceivers<br />
such as SFP+ 10 GbE can be easily <strong>in</strong>corporated<br />
<strong>in</strong>to embedded products. The small<br />
form factors allow a high density of <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
with low power per port (below 1 watt). The<br />
new form factors also facilitate 10G cabl<strong>in</strong>g<br />
considerably. SFP+ transceivers are available<br />
as a directly attached version on pre-configured<br />
copper or optical cables. Passive copper cable<br />
covers distances of up to 7 meters (with no<br />
power consumption). The cables are factory<br />
configured with SFP+ connectors on each end<br />
us<strong>in</strong>g parallel shielded two-pair cables (tw<strong>in</strong>axial<br />
cables). Optical cables cover distances of<br />
up to 300 meters at 850nm accord<strong>in</strong>g to the<br />
LRM specification for long-range multi-mode<br />
fibre, and up to 10km at 1350nm accord<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
the LR specification for long-range fibre, respectively.<br />
All 10G form factors are <strong>in</strong>dustry standards.<br />
The <strong>in</strong>itial standard for Ethernet at 10 Gbits/sec<br />
was published <strong>in</strong> 2002 as IEEE standard 802.3ae.<br />
The extensions SR, LR, ER and L4 of the same<br />
year def<strong>in</strong>e fibre optic connections. In 2004,<br />
extension 802.ak-CX4 def<strong>in</strong>ed the use of copper<br />
tw<strong>in</strong>-axial cable (Inf<strong>in</strong>iBand cable). The use of<br />
10GBASE-T twisted-pair copper cable was specified<br />
<strong>in</strong> 2006 as 802.3an. In 2007, two further<br />
extensions followed: 802.3ap-KR for serial backplanes,<br />
and 802.aq-LRM for optical cables. The<br />
SFP+ form factor is def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> the SFF-8431<br />
specification of the SFF <strong>com</strong>mittee (an <strong>in</strong>dustry<br />
group concerned with small form factors that<br />
represents major IT manufacturers).<br />
While 10G has been available for embedded<br />
server technologies like AdvancedTCA for<br />
some time (and is now mov<strong>in</strong>g up to 40G),<br />
10G is now be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g available <strong>in</strong> form factors<br />
with lower thermal budgets and hence lower<br />
power consumption <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g CompactPCI,
Figure 5: Evolution of 10G <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
Figure 6. The Kontron AM5030 with its Intel Xeon processor extends the performance range of<br />
MicroTCA <strong>in</strong>to the realm of high-end process<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
MicroTCA, VME and VPX as well as embedded<br />
rack mountable servers. CompactPCI supports<br />
GbE on the backplane accord<strong>in</strong>g to the PICMG<br />
specification 2.16. While 1 Gigabit/sec speed<br />
is sufficient for many embedded applications,<br />
it represents a mismatch to the latest generation<br />
of CompactPCI processor blades, which handle<br />
traffic at speeds of 10 Gigabits/sec. However,<br />
when placed <strong>in</strong> a CompactPCI system, the<br />
traffic capacity of the backplane generates a<br />
bottleneck. This bottleneck can be solved by<br />
front cabl<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
An extension board (mezzan<strong>in</strong>e board) can<br />
be placed on the processor blade <strong>in</strong> order to<br />
provide two 10 GbE l<strong>in</strong>ks over SFP+. This<br />
way, 10G l<strong>in</strong>ks may be connected over standard<br />
10G cabl<strong>in</strong>g. For multi-processor systems, the<br />
front cables will usually meet at a 10G Ethernet<br />
switch. The most <strong>com</strong>pact solution is to place<br />
a 10G switch directly <strong>in</strong>to the CompactPCI<br />
system. Also, for rugged environments, M12<br />
connectors are now be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g available for<br />
both 1G and 10G. Like CompactPCI, MicroT-<br />
CA represents a PICMG standard for embedded<br />
systems. MicroTCA is the first standard<br />
us<strong>in</strong>g serial <strong>in</strong>terfaces on the backplane, rather<br />
than the traditional parallel bus architectures.<br />
The AMC connector provides 21 ports, which<br />
can be used for high-speed l<strong>in</strong>ks at 2.5<br />
Gigabit/sec each. Thus there is ample space<br />
for high-speed fabrics like 10 GbE, PCI Express,<br />
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Serial RapidIO, SATA and others. MicroTCA<br />
def<strong>in</strong>es 1GbE as basic <strong>com</strong>munication <strong>in</strong>frastructure<br />
between boards over the backplane.<br />
In addition, extra fabrics can be used. 10 GbE<br />
is currently implemented on the backplane<br />
via 4x 2.5 G lanes us<strong>in</strong>g the XAUI <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
(accord<strong>in</strong>g to 802.3ap -KX4). Future implementations<br />
will use 10 Gigabit/speeds per lane<br />
(accord<strong>in</strong>g to 802.3ap -KR). Systems with 10G<br />
backplanes have been on the market for some<br />
time already. What will drive 10G is the next<br />
generation of processor blades <strong>in</strong> the AMC<br />
form factor. The double-wide (4U) form factor<br />
allows a thermal budget of up to 80 watts per<br />
AMC.<br />
With this it is possible to implement quadcore<br />
CPU boards <strong>in</strong> MicroTCA applications,<br />
<strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g an extremely <strong>com</strong>pact, modular<br />
system design with highly parallel <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
power. As the de facto standard for many deployed<br />
military applications, 6U VME successfully<br />
adopted Gigabit Ethernet on the backplane<br />
thanks to VITA31.1. The choice of leverag<strong>in</strong>g<br />
a <strong>com</strong>mon basel<strong>in</strong>e with the CompactPCI network<br />
<strong>in</strong>frastructure such as 6U CompactPCI<br />
switches now permits VME <strong>com</strong>puters to offer<br />
the same evolutionary path towards 10 Gigabit<br />
Ethernet us<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>com</strong>mon solutions of 10Gbenabled<br />
switch boards and 10Gb XMC mezzan<strong>in</strong>es.<br />
These products are already supported on x86based<br />
<strong>com</strong>puters and also on PowerPC Altivec<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gle board processor boards. By offer<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>com</strong>puters that are <strong>com</strong>patible with exist<strong>in</strong>g<br />
application software, VME repeats the previous<br />
success of adopt<strong>in</strong>g a new standard without<br />
hav<strong>in</strong>g to throw out the vast <strong>in</strong>frastructure developed<br />
over many years. Designed right from<br />
the start for high-speed serial <strong>in</strong>terfaces, VPX<br />
provides transfer rates of up to 6.25 Gbit/s per<br />
lane with a cross-talk attenuation of maximum<br />
3% and is well prepared for Multigig-Ethernet<br />
and other high-speed serial technologies such<br />
as PCI Express, SATA and Serial RapidIO.<br />
With a total of 464 signal contacts for 6U<br />
boards and 280 signal contacts for 3U VPX offers<br />
enough capacity for even faster fat pipes,<br />
that are not necessarily already envisaged today.<br />
10G Ethernet implementation is usually done<br />
via PCI Expressed based extension cards. <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Rackmount Servers are usually based<br />
on motherboards or PICMG 1.x with a system<br />
host board and an application-specific backplane<br />
with multiple PCI and PCI express extension<br />
slots. Both system architectures can<br />
easily implement standard PCIe NICs for<br />
add<strong>in</strong>g 10G Ethernet <strong>in</strong>terfaces parallel to the<br />
implemented 1G Ethernet ports on the system<br />
board. Already available low-profile extension<br />
cards enable to implement 10G Ethernet even<br />
<strong>in</strong> space-sav<strong>in</strong>g 2U designs. n<br />
31 December 2010
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Performance ga<strong>in</strong>s from multi-core<br />
processors partnered with ATCA<br />
By Gene Juknevicius, GE Intelligent Platforms<br />
Today, multi-core processors<br />
are an <strong>in</strong>tegral element of<br />
electronics design and are<br />
well supported by the<br />
AdvancedTCA <strong>in</strong>frastructure.<br />
This article describes technologies<br />
and tools designers<br />
can use to get full advantage<br />
from multi-core processors<br />
<strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed with ATCA.<br />
n Multi-core processor technology <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
with the AdvancedTCA form factor results <strong>in</strong><br />
multi-faceted performance scal<strong>in</strong>g options:<br />
performance can be scaled by us<strong>in</strong>g processor<br />
silicon with more processor cores, as well as<br />
by add<strong>in</strong>g more ATCA blades <strong>in</strong>to the chassis.<br />
Moreover, ATCA systems are easy to configure<br />
for a specific workload by <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g standard<br />
multi-core x86 processors with specialized<br />
packet processors. Hav<strong>in</strong>g multiple cores with<strong>in</strong><br />
a processor is potentially highly advantageous,<br />
of course, but they are useless unless the software<br />
<strong>in</strong>frastructure has a means of utiliz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
these cores. Virtualization is one technique<br />
that allows use of multiple cores to run multiple<br />
applications and their operat<strong>in</strong>g systems <strong>in</strong><br />
parallel. New application development - or<br />
port<strong>in</strong>g an exist<strong>in</strong>g application to a multi-core<br />
environment - is eased by the development<br />
tools that are available. Packet processors <strong>in</strong><br />
particular have a powerful set of tools that<br />
allow the design of applications that run <strong>in</strong><br />
parallel on multiple cores.<br />
Just a few years ago each new processor silicon<br />
release brought along a worthwhile clock frequency<br />
improvement. Today, however, clock<br />
frequency is not the ma<strong>in</strong> news <strong>in</strong> a new generation<br />
processor release; it is the number of<br />
processor cores with<strong>in</strong> the device that is tak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
center stage. As usual, small startups such as<br />
Cavium Networks and RMI (now NetLogic)<br />
were the first to market with multi-core general<br />
purpose processors. Then followed the giants:<br />
Intel, AMD and Freescale. Today, 4-8 cores<br />
with<strong>in</strong> a processor are the norm - and there<br />
are architectures available that feature as many<br />
as 64 cores with<strong>in</strong> one processor. The motivation<br />
for multi-core processors is fairly simple:<br />
when runn<strong>in</strong>g a typical application, the processor<br />
spends most of its time wait<strong>in</strong>g for data to<br />
process. Historically, memory latency has improved<br />
at a much slower pace than the speed<br />
of the processor. Today, the mismatch between<br />
processor and memory is such that add<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
few extra clocks to the processor does not improve<br />
performance to any worthwhile degree.<br />
As if this is not a big enough problem, there is<br />
the issue of power consumption: add<strong>in</strong>g a few<br />
extra hertz to the clock translates <strong>in</strong>to a significant<br />
<strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> power consumption.<br />
From the multi-core architecture perspective,<br />
hav<strong>in</strong>g multiple cores, each runn<strong>in</strong>g perhaps<br />
at a slightly slower speed, results <strong>in</strong> a higher<br />
overall performance solution. Consider<strong>in</strong>g that<br />
the processor spends roughly three-quarters<br />
of its time wait<strong>in</strong>g for the memory, this approach<br />
works well for applications that can<br />
benefit from parallel process<strong>in</strong>g. Obviously,<br />
the memory subsystem implementation has<br />
to support multiple data accesses <strong>in</strong> parallel,<br />
which is typically the case today. Let us move<br />
the focus from the silicon to the system. When<br />
December 2010 32<br />
Figure 1. ATCA <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
platform from NEI<br />
a s<strong>in</strong>gle server with two or four multi-core<br />
processors is required, the 19-<strong>in</strong>ch rack-mountable<br />
enclosure – the pizza box - works very<br />
well. When the application requires more than<br />
that, or when redundancy and higher reliability<br />
are required, AdvancedTCA be<strong>com</strong>es a good<br />
choice for system implementation. The AdvancedTCA<br />
chassis can support up to 14 dualprocessor<br />
blades <strong>in</strong>terconnected via two highperformance<br />
Ethernet switches <strong>in</strong> a redundant<br />
fashion. All blades with<strong>in</strong> the chassis share<br />
power supplies and cool<strong>in</strong>g fans, which are<br />
also implemented to support redundancy and<br />
higher reliability.<br />
A key requirement when build<strong>in</strong>g a multiblade<br />
system is a high-speed, reliable <strong>in</strong>terconnect<br />
between the blades. From this perspective,<br />
an ATCA system <strong>in</strong>terconnects each blade via<br />
a fabric <strong>in</strong>terface and base <strong>in</strong>terface. The fabric<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface, which is considered to be a data<br />
path <strong>in</strong>terface, is predom<strong>in</strong>antly 10Gbit Ethernet<br />
today and will soon support 40Gbit Ethernet.<br />
The base <strong>in</strong>terface is a control path and is<br />
implemented us<strong>in</strong>g 1Gbit Ethernet. Both fabric<br />
and base <strong>in</strong>terfaces are implemented <strong>in</strong> a redundant<br />
fashion, such that each ATCA blade<br />
connects to both ATCA hubs which provide<br />
the required Ethernet switch<strong>in</strong>g resources. All<br />
connectivity is provided via the ATCA backplane,<br />
reduc<strong>in</strong>g external cabl<strong>in</strong>g, thereby mak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the overall system more reliable and more
serviceable. The separation of the control plane<br />
and data plane not only enables high performance<br />
blade management and control services,<br />
but also isolates the control traffic from the<br />
revenue-generat<strong>in</strong>g data plane traffic. Such<br />
isolation of the two planes be<strong>com</strong>es critical<br />
when overall system security is considered.<br />
Plane isolation ensures that data plane traffic,<br />
which is typically customer-fac<strong>in</strong>g traffic, will<br />
not <strong>in</strong>tentionally or un<strong>in</strong>tentionally start<br />
manag<strong>in</strong>g Ethernet switches and disrupt the<br />
operation of the <strong>com</strong>plete system.<br />
Depend<strong>in</strong>g on the application type, the high<br />
performance <strong>in</strong>terconnect br<strong>in</strong>gs a different<br />
value proposition. In a <strong>com</strong>pute type application,<br />
it is essential that large numbers of processors<br />
<strong>com</strong>municate with high throughput and<br />
very low latency. To that extent, 10Gbit and<br />
40Gbit Ethernet can provide the required data<br />
throughput. Some Ethernet switches also support<br />
pass-through switch<strong>in</strong>g mode where packet<br />
transmission starts before the packet is fully<br />
received. In such cases, packet switch<strong>in</strong>g latency<br />
can be lower than 500ns. Although configur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
two hubs (Ethernet switches) <strong>in</strong> an ATCA<br />
chassis is primarily for redundancy, it is also<br />
possible to use both hubs <strong>in</strong> parallel, effectively<br />
doubl<strong>in</strong>g the available bandwidth. From the<br />
<strong>com</strong>pute power density perspective, it is <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to note that 14 GE Intelligent Platforms<br />
A10200 ATCA blades, each featur<strong>in</strong>g dual Intel<br />
6-core Westmere processors, yield no fewer<br />
than 168 x86 cores with<strong>in</strong> a s<strong>in</strong>gle ATCA<br />
chassis, all <strong>in</strong>terconnected via an <strong>in</strong>-chassis<br />
high-speed <strong>in</strong>terconnect.<br />
Compute applications also tend to require<br />
significant storage capacity, bandwidth and<br />
reliability. There are three ma<strong>in</strong> ways to address<br />
storage requirements. At the lowest level, each<br />
ATCA blade can have local hard disks, located<br />
on the blade itself or on an associated RTM:<br />
these could be two redundant SAS drives. At<br />
the next level, one or more storage ATCA<br />
blades could be used with<strong>in</strong> the system. Such<br />
Figure 2. 16-slot ATCA chassis <strong>in</strong>ternal <strong>in</strong>terconnect diagram<br />
storage blades would be accessed via Ethernet<br />
us<strong>in</strong>g either the FCoE or iSCSI protocols.<br />
ATCA storage blades can be shared among<br />
multiple processor blades. F<strong>in</strong>ally, an external<br />
storage array can be connected via Fibre<br />
Channel, FCoE or iSCSI.<br />
A key feature of <strong>com</strong>munication applications<br />
is their requirement for high data throughput<br />
and packet process<strong>in</strong>g. Also, they typically<br />
lend themselves well to parallel process<strong>in</strong>g<br />
which is where multi-core technology f<strong>in</strong>ds its<br />
optimal advantage. Although processors from<br />
both AMD and Intel are excellent <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
devices - especially when multiple cores are<br />
considered - both lack the ability to efficiently<br />
get data <strong>in</strong> and out at very high data rates.<br />
Packet processors, another type of multi-core<br />
processor architecture, are specifically optimized<br />
to address the problem of efficient<br />
movement <strong>in</strong> and out of packetized data. Such<br />
devices are readily available <strong>in</strong> the ATCA blade<br />
form factor allow<strong>in</strong>g system designers to take<br />
advantage of both x86 <strong>com</strong>pute resources and<br />
packet processor packet manipulation resources<br />
with<strong>in</strong> the same system. The <strong>in</strong>teroperability<br />
<strong>in</strong>herent <strong>in</strong> the ATCA specification enables<br />
designers to plug <strong>in</strong> multiple x86 processor<br />
blades as well as multiple packet processor<br />
blades and <strong>in</strong>terconnect them via high<br />
performance Ethernet <strong>in</strong>terfaces.<br />
From this perspective, Ethernet switches with<strong>in</strong><br />
hubs provide additional value <strong>in</strong> load distribution.<br />
Ethernet switches today employ sophisticated<br />
access control list features that<br />
allow packets, based on their Layer-2 to Layer-<br />
4 <strong>in</strong>formation, to be steered to a specific ATCA<br />
blade. Such policy-based rout<strong>in</strong>g allows packet<br />
streams to be distributed at very high data<br />
rates (10Gbit/sec to 100Gbit/sec) among<br />
multiple ATCA blades, while ensur<strong>in</strong>g that<br />
packets belong<strong>in</strong>g to the same flow are always<br />
directed to the same blade. An example of a<br />
high-performance <strong>com</strong>munication system is<br />
shown <strong>in</strong> figure 4. This ATCA system employs<br />
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
two Ethernet hubs, two GE A10200 multicore<br />
x86 processor blades and up to 12 GE<br />
AT2-5800 packet processor blades with dual<br />
16-core OCTEON Plus processors. Simple<br />
math reveals that this system provides 320<br />
MIPS64 cores (OCTEON devices) and 24 x86<br />
cores (Intel Westmere devices).<br />
From the data process<strong>in</strong>g perspective, data enters<br />
the system via Ethernet hubs where packets<br />
are distributed - based on policies - among<br />
packet process<strong>in</strong>g blades. Then, with<strong>in</strong> the<br />
packet processor blade, packets are further<br />
distributed between two OCTEON devices<br />
and f<strong>in</strong>ally, with<strong>in</strong> each OCTEON device, between<br />
the cores. The packet processors perform<br />
the majority of the high throughput packet<br />
process<strong>in</strong>g, and specific packets requir<strong>in</strong>g more<br />
extensive process<strong>in</strong>g power are forwarded to<br />
x86-based blades. The key pr<strong>in</strong>ciple here is<br />
that although the majority of packets require<br />
little process<strong>in</strong>g, a small subset requires more<br />
significant process<strong>in</strong>g power. It is clear that<br />
any ATCA system is useless without software.<br />
Hav<strong>in</strong>g hundreds of processor cores offers<br />
huge potential, but unless used efficiently they<br />
are a waste of silicon. Historically, most<br />
applications were written without any parallel<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g concepts <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d. Consequently,<br />
although modern <strong>com</strong>pilers attempt to recognize<br />
areas <strong>in</strong> the code that lend themselves to<br />
parallel process<strong>in</strong>g and try to harness the<br />
power of multiple cores, performance improvements<br />
are very limited when runn<strong>in</strong>g legacy<br />
applications on multi-core hardware. Virtualization<br />
is often used today to better utilize<br />
multiple processor cores. In a virtualized environment,<br />
multiple <strong>in</strong>stances of the operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system – or even multiple dissimilar operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
systems - run on the same multi-core processor.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce each operat<strong>in</strong>g system has no relationship<br />
with the others, the operat<strong>in</strong>g systems can be<br />
happily executed <strong>in</strong> parallel on multiple cores.<br />
Hardware, with the help of Hypervisor, ensures<br />
that each operat<strong>in</strong>g system can safely access<br />
its own memory and I/O devices without<br />
Figure 4. ATCA System with two Westmere blades and ten OCTEON blades<br />
33 December 2010
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Figure 3. The GE Intelligent Platforms A10200 ATCA s<strong>in</strong>gle board<br />
<strong>com</strong>puter<br />
disturb<strong>in</strong>g its neighbors. Virtualization allows<br />
the consolidation of multiple physical servers<br />
<strong>in</strong>to one server with multi-core processors.<br />
ATCA allows further consolidation of multiple<br />
blades with multiple multi-core processors:<br />
racks of legacy servers can be reduced to a<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gle ATCA chassis. Virtualization with<strong>in</strong> the<br />
ATCA environment provides another benefit -<br />
redundancy and high availability. Us<strong>in</strong>g a high<br />
availability virtualized operat<strong>in</strong>g system, an<br />
application can be migrated from one physical<br />
Kontron AM4211<br />
Next Gen Packet Processor AMC Module<br />
The AM4211 Packet Processor AMC<br />
module is designed with the Cavium<br />
Networks OCTEON® II CN6335<br />
cnMIPS64® II 6-core processor, help<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to accelerate system designs for 4G, LTE,<br />
WiMAX base station vendors.<br />
Platform design considerations for the Kontron AM4211 <strong>in</strong>clude us<strong>in</strong>g<br />
it as an eNodeB and LTE network element <strong>com</strong>ponent or, <strong>in</strong> <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
with full-scale AdvancedTCA® blades, as a co-processor Network Interface<br />
Card (NIC). The Kontron AM4211 supports 1x 10GbE to the<br />
front and is <strong>in</strong>teroperable with third-party DSP AMCs. Also supported<br />
is the IEEE 1588 timestamp for Ethernet time synchronization.<br />
The Kontron AM4211 AMC supports GbE on Ports 0 and 1 connected<br />
to the CN6335 processor for control plane functions, and is fully software<br />
<strong>com</strong>patible with the exist<strong>in</strong>g Kontron AM4204, AM4210 and<br />
AM4220 packet processor modules, ensur<strong>in</strong>g it is an ideal candidate<br />
for configurations <strong>in</strong> the Kontron MicroTCA 1U platform OM6061.<br />
As a massively <strong>in</strong>tegrated SOC, the CN6335 also <strong>in</strong>corporates SGMII<br />
with IEEE 1588 timestamp for Ethernet time synchronization, ideal<br />
server to the other if<br />
hardware failure occurs.<br />
S<strong>in</strong>ce packet processors<br />
were designed for parallel<br />
process<strong>in</strong>g from the start,<br />
their software environment<br />
and development<br />
tools are fully geared toward<br />
application development<br />
<strong>in</strong> a multi-core<br />
environment. Although<br />
OCTEON and similar devices<br />
are often called<br />
packet processors, <strong>in</strong>ternally<br />
they are based on<br />
standard processor architectures,<br />
such as MIPS64,<br />
and can run standard operat<strong>in</strong>g systems such<br />
as L<strong>in</strong>ux. Their performance advantages, however,<br />
are best exposed when runn<strong>in</strong>g simplified<br />
proprietary operat<strong>in</strong>g systems, such as Cavium<br />
Simple Executive. It is important not to confuse<br />
these devices and their operat<strong>in</strong>g systems with<br />
the network processors of the past, such as<br />
Intel XScale. Modern packet processors are<br />
programmed us<strong>in</strong>g standard C and C++ language<br />
even when their proprietary operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system is be<strong>in</strong>g used; <strong>in</strong> fact, they allow exist<strong>in</strong>g<br />
C code to be simply ported.<br />
December 2010 34<br />
Simplistic applications, such as a packet filter<br />
or L-2, L-3 switch, can be developed as sequential<br />
code which runs to <strong>com</strong>pletion and<br />
executes <strong>in</strong> an endless loop. The same code<br />
could be run on all cores, and the parallel nature<br />
of the process<strong>in</strong>g would be provided by<br />
the hardware itself, which would schedule a<br />
packet process<strong>in</strong>g event onto the next available<br />
processor core, enforc<strong>in</strong>g packet order<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
atomicity rules if desired. The hardware also<br />
takes care of memory management and cache<br />
coherency, allow<strong>in</strong>g developers to focus on<br />
the application itself. Inter-core <strong>com</strong>munication<br />
can be implemented by sett<strong>in</strong>g aside a shared<br />
memory region or by us<strong>in</strong>g a shared variable.<br />
Depend<strong>in</strong>g on the application and development<br />
requirements, a number of software packages<br />
can help developers get a head start. One notable<br />
example is 6WINDGate software which allows<br />
the seamless marriage of x86 processors with<br />
packet processors, offload<strong>in</strong>g time-critical tasks<br />
to be run by Simple Executive on the packet<br />
processors and provid<strong>in</strong>g a large number of frequently<br />
needed protocols. 6WINDGate can be<br />
used standalone, or as a base platform for a specific<br />
application, and can abstract <strong>in</strong>ter-processor<br />
and <strong>in</strong>ter-core <strong>com</strong>munications, significantly<br />
simplify<strong>in</strong>g software development effort. n<br />
for all-IP network <strong>in</strong>frastructure synchronization implementations <strong>in</strong><br />
the 4G network.<br />
n Ideal eNodeB and LTE network element <strong>com</strong>ponent on MicroTCA.<br />
n Leverage as a co-processor on ATCA blade.<br />
n Best performance per watt <strong>com</strong>pared to other multicore processors.<br />
n Unmatched determ<strong>in</strong>istic, low latency 3rd generation DPI performance<br />
with unlimited rules and a rich feature-set on a s<strong>in</strong>gle chip.<br />
n 1x 10GbE to the front; software configurable <strong>in</strong>terfaces to the<br />
Fabric with either 2x PCIe x4, or SRIO, which makes it <strong>in</strong>teroperable<br />
with 3rd party Digital Signal Process<strong>in</strong>g (DSP) AMCs.<br />
n With direct connectivity to FPGA/DSP AMCs <strong>in</strong> MicroTCA platforms,<br />
it supports MAC process<strong>in</strong>g and L3-L7 process<strong>in</strong>g on s<strong>in</strong>gle<br />
chip, at a throughput of up to15M packets per second (pps).<br />
The Kontron AM4211 is available now. Contact us for more <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
and to <strong>in</strong>quire about the Kontron AM4211 Software Development Kit<br />
and additional optional software modules such as an IPv4/IPv6 stack,<br />
IPSec, QoS management, multicast forward<strong>in</strong>g, IP filter<strong>in</strong>g, VLAN,<br />
L2 tunnel<strong>in</strong>g and application programm<strong>in</strong>g frameworks.<br />
TO ORDER EVALUATION UNITS OR<br />
UPGRADE AN EXISTING DESIGN CONTACT US AT:<br />
Kontron Modular Computer<br />
Sudetenstrasse 7<br />
87600 Kaufbeuren<br />
Germany<br />
+49 (0) 8341 803 333<br />
+49 (0) 8341 803 339<br />
support-kom@kontron.<strong>com</strong>
Schroff<br />
Schroff is a Pentair Technical Products <strong>com</strong>pany and<br />
employs some 1300 people <strong>in</strong> <strong>Europe</strong>. The group is part<br />
of Pentair Inc. (of St. Paul, M<strong>in</strong>nesota, USA) with over<br />
13,100 employees <strong>in</strong> 50 locations worldwide.<br />
For more than 40 years Schroff has been a leader <strong>in</strong><br />
provid<strong>in</strong>g reliable protection and solid packag<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
electronics. Our success is driven by the realisation of<br />
customers desires and the understand<strong>in</strong>g of their markets.<br />
Be<strong>in</strong>g member of the <strong>in</strong>ternational standard <strong>com</strong>mitees<br />
like DIN and IEC, we represent their <strong>in</strong>terests when<br />
global standards are developed.<br />
Our product range extends from cab<strong>in</strong>ets, cases and<br />
subracks to power supplies, backplanes, climate solutions<br />
and a variety of accessories. Our expertise and extensive<br />
<strong>in</strong>tegration services allow us to <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>e <strong>com</strong>ponents<br />
<strong>in</strong>side a cab<strong>in</strong>et or enclosure – regardless of <strong>com</strong>plexity.<br />
Customers benefit from “plug&play” products for their<br />
19'' technology from a s<strong>in</strong>gle source, while avoid<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface problems and allow<strong>in</strong>g them to concentrate<br />
on their own core <strong>com</strong>petence. Beside <strong>com</strong>plete CPCI<br />
and VME/VME64x Systems we also offer customized<br />
solutions.<br />
Lead<strong>in</strong>g the way <strong>in</strong> AdvancedTCA, the new standard for<br />
high performance <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g, Schroff offers several<br />
Rugged MicroTCA, MicroTCA, ATCA Systems, Advanced<br />
MC <strong>in</strong> different designs as well as accessories such as<br />
front panels, filler panels, shelf managers and backplanes.<br />
Product Overview<br />
n Cab<strong>in</strong>ets<br />
Cab<strong>in</strong>ets for the ac<strong>com</strong>modation and protection of your<br />
electronics, to EMC and IP levels. For office and <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
environments.<br />
PROFILE<br />
n Wall mounted cases<br />
Wall mounted cases/wall mounted cab<strong>in</strong>ets, steel or<br />
plastic, type of protection IP20 to IP67. Applications <strong>in</strong><br />
Electronics, Network<strong>in</strong>g Technology Industries.<br />
n 19’’ cases, table top cases and tower<br />
cases<br />
19'' desktop cases, 19'' tower cases as well as 19'' chassis<br />
and cases with 19'' <strong>com</strong>patible dimensions, i.e. for use <strong>in</strong><br />
Electronics, Medical Technology and Test & Measurement<br />
Industries.<br />
n Subracks<br />
Subracks: europacPRO, europac Integral, accessories.19''<br />
chassis: multipacPRO, <strong>in</strong>pac.<br />
n Plug-<strong>in</strong> units<br />
Front panels, plug-<strong>in</strong> modules, plug-<strong>in</strong> units, drive units,<br />
PCB accessories, retention parts.<br />
n Systems<br />
ATCA, AdvancedMC, MicroTCA, CompactPCI, VMEbus,<br />
VME64x, accessories.<br />
n Power supplies<br />
Power supplies for 19'' systems, <strong>com</strong>puter systems, tele<strong>com</strong>munications,<br />
19'' or open frame.<br />
n Backplanes/testadaptors<br />
For <strong>com</strong>puter controlled systems. They provide simple<br />
and safe power and signal distribution. VMC, CPCI, PXI,<br />
ATCA, VME 64x.<br />
n Climate<br />
19'' fan units, 19'' fans, air filtered fans, air conditioners,<br />
cab<strong>in</strong>et heaters.<br />
n Socket strips<br />
Socket strips SCHUKO, UTE, IEC, US and Swiss versions.<br />
SCHROFF<br />
Langenalber Str. 96-100<br />
75334 Straubenhardt<br />
Germany<br />
+49 7082 794-0<br />
+49 7082 794-200<br />
schroff.de@pentair.<strong>com</strong><br />
http://www.schroff.biz<br />
35 December 2010
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Built-<strong>in</strong> development and debugg<strong>in</strong>g<br />
tools <strong>in</strong> MicroTCA systems<br />
By Vollrath Dirksen, N.A.T.<br />
MicroTCA and AdvancedMC<br />
are <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly used <strong>in</strong> the<br />
tele<strong>com</strong>s, medical, <strong>in</strong>dustrial,<br />
defense and high-energy<br />
physics markets. Many<br />
<strong>com</strong>panies therefore port<br />
hardware from other form<br />
factors to AdvancedMC, or<br />
even design own<br />
AdvancedMC modules. Such<br />
developments can be accelerated<br />
with the built-<strong>in</strong> development<br />
and debugg<strong>in</strong>g tools <strong>in</strong><br />
standard MicroTCA systems<br />
n Bandwidth, scalability and power budget are<br />
some of the reasons for the use of MicroTCA<br />
and AdvancedMC standards <strong>in</strong> the tele<strong>com</strong>munication,<br />
medical, <strong>in</strong>dustrial, defense and<br />
high energy physics markets. Therefore an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
number of <strong>com</strong>panies like to port<br />
their hardware from other form factors to<br />
AdvancedMC form factor or they even design<br />
new AdvancedMC modules. By us<strong>in</strong>g the built<strong>in</strong><br />
development and debugg<strong>in</strong>g tools <strong>in</strong> standard<br />
MicroTCA systems these AdvancedMC<br />
developments can be accelerated.<br />
The development and debugg<strong>in</strong>g tools are <strong>in</strong>troduced<br />
<strong>in</strong> accordance with the AdvancedMC<br />
development cycle. The cycle can be divided<br />
<strong>in</strong>to the follow<strong>in</strong>g phases: concept, hardware<br />
and software development, <strong>in</strong>tegration,<br />
production and deployment.<br />
Successful new concepts shall be future-proofed,<br />
flexible and adaptable to chang<strong>in</strong>g market<br />
needs, should m<strong>in</strong>imize risk, and ideally create<br />
a new product family. The MicroTCA and AdvancedMC<br />
standards are perfect because they<br />
allow scalability from small and low power to<br />
big, high-performance systems. The MicroTCA<br />
backplane with the <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation of switch and<br />
po<strong>in</strong>t-to-po<strong>in</strong>t technology is protocol-agnostic<br />
and allows high bandwidth (6.125 Gbits/s per<br />
lane) and several data transfers at a time.<br />
Comb<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g several differential l<strong>in</strong>e pairs (ports),<br />
data rates of 20 Gbits/s are achievable. Us<strong>in</strong>g<br />
different <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ations of AdvancedMC modules<br />
and chassis sizes allow to build a product<br />
family, from <strong>com</strong>pact size to high performance,<br />
by optimum re-use of key <strong>com</strong>ponents.<br />
Standard AdvancedMC modules for CPU, graphic,<br />
hard-disk, DSP and MicroTCA chassis are available<br />
off the shelf. Thus, the problem could be special I/O<br />
hardware not be<strong>in</strong>g available off the shelf. There are<br />
easy workarounds available like carrier boards <strong>in</strong><br />
AdvancedMC form factor for PMC and IP (<strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
pack) modules. The connection of I/O boards<br />
for PCI, cPCI and VMEbus and MicroTCA systems<br />
is enabled via adapter cards NAMC-XLINK,<br />
NPCI-XLINK, NcPCI-XLINK and SIS3100/SIS3104.<br />
For PMC, cPCI and PCI boards no driver or<br />
application software modifications are necessary.<br />
Prov<strong>in</strong>g a concept with real hardware<br />
gives assurance that a system based on MicroTCA<br />
and AdvancedMC will fulfil the requirements<br />
of better remote management, hot<br />
swap and redundancy capability, and higher<br />
data throughput.<br />
Besides higher bandwidth, a MicroTCA system<br />
offers immediately standardized remote management,<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>tenance and <strong>in</strong>ventory functions<br />
without any modification <strong>in</strong> the application<br />
software. This is achieved by the use of the<br />
mandatory IPMI bus <strong>in</strong> such a system, which<br />
December 2010 36<br />
is <strong>in</strong>dependent of any topology (PCIe, SRIO,<br />
GbE, XAUI, etc), customer application and<br />
operat<strong>in</strong>g system. It is a world of its own, controlled<br />
by a separate carrier manager <strong>in</strong> the<br />
MicroTCA system. Rely<strong>in</strong>g on the exist<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>frastructure<br />
for management and ma<strong>in</strong>tenance<br />
<strong>in</strong> the MicroTCA system, new features can be<br />
implemented <strong>in</strong> the application software. These<br />
features can be for example sensor and <strong>in</strong>ventory<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation from the carrier manager.<br />
This <strong>in</strong>formation can be gathered via the<br />
RMCP protocol from the carrier manager by<br />
us<strong>in</strong>g Gigabit Ethernet <strong>in</strong> the backplane of a<br />
MicroTCA system. To avoid any delays <strong>in</strong> software<br />
development of new application features,<br />
carrier or adapter cards can be used as <strong>in</strong>terim<br />
solutions <strong>in</strong> hardware development. Currently<br />
available products can be used meanwhile <strong>in</strong><br />
the development phases to close the gap<br />
between the hardware launches.<br />
Nowadays, MicroTCA chassis, backplanes and<br />
power modules can be bought off the shelf.<br />
The aim is to <strong>in</strong>tegrate specific <strong>com</strong>pany knowhow<br />
<strong>in</strong> own AdvancedMC hardware. In the<br />
fast-mov<strong>in</strong>g embedded market, time to market<br />
is one of the most important issues <strong>in</strong> the development<br />
cycle, necessitat<strong>in</strong>g quick and riskfree<br />
design. The first decision is to choose the<br />
appropriate AdvancedMC size. This depends<br />
on the board size needed and the restrictions<br />
on the <strong>com</strong>plete system and environment. Two
Figure 1. Special br<strong>in</strong>g-up functions of the<br />
NAT-MCH MicroTCA Carrier Hub can be<br />
used <strong>in</strong> case that no IPMI code is loaded <strong>in</strong><br />
the IPMI controller on the AdvancedMC<br />
board.<br />
board sizes are def<strong>in</strong>ed: 180mm x 73.5mm<br />
(s<strong>in</strong>gle AdvancedMC) and 180mm x 148,5mm<br />
(double). If the board size is not sufficient or<br />
rear I/O cabl<strong>in</strong>g is needed, the rear transition<br />
modules (RTM) def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> the up<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
MTCA.4 standard (double format 188mm<br />
x 148.5mm) can be used. The second decision<br />
is the size of the front panel, which may allow<br />
or reduce the maximum number of 12<br />
AdvancedMC modules <strong>in</strong> a 19-<strong>in</strong>ch chassis.<br />
There are three different sizes of front panels<br />
available: <strong>com</strong>pact (8.18mm), mid (13.66mm)<br />
and full size (23.65mm). The preference<br />
depends on the height of the <strong>com</strong>ponents<br />
used and if sub-modules should be used. The<br />
maximum power for s<strong>in</strong>gle and double<br />
AdvancedMC modules is 80 watts. The third<br />
decision is the choice of the <strong>in</strong>tended Micro -<br />
TCA standard depend<strong>in</strong>g on the cool<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
environmental conditions. The MTCA standard<br />
offers four levels: MTCA.0 (standard forcedair-cooled<br />
system), MTCA.1 (air-cooled rugged<br />
MicroTCA), MTCA.2 (hardened air-cooled<br />
MicroTCA), and up<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g standards MTCA.3<br />
(hardened conduction-cooled MicroTCA) and<br />
MTCA.4 (xTCA for physics). The eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g<br />
team has to decide if they want to use the<br />
backplane with up to 170 signals as edge connector.<br />
If the aim is to guarantee high precision,<br />
robustness and easy replacement, a suitable<br />
choice is the use of <strong>com</strong>mercial plugs (for ex-<br />
Figure 2. The current measurement functions of the NAMC-EXT-PS…<br />
ample Hart<strong>in</strong>g AdvancedMC plugs). Further,<br />
these AdvancedMC plugs fulfil the requirements<br />
for vibration and shock tests even for<br />
the rugged standard MTCA.1, .2. and .3 and<br />
are verified for 10 Gbits/s signals. The goldplated<br />
edge connector with the tolerances required<br />
by the AdvancedMC specification is<br />
very challeng<strong>in</strong>g as far as production and reliable<br />
quality is concerned. This challenge can<br />
be over<strong>com</strong>e by us<strong>in</strong>g a plug connector. The<br />
f<strong>in</strong>al decision to be made is: how to realize the<br />
mandatory IPMI implementation? One way is<br />
to use <strong>com</strong>mercial solutions or to buy schematics<br />
from AdvancedMC manufacturers. The<br />
ma<strong>in</strong> difference from other form factors is the<br />
separate management IPMI bus. The bus is<br />
easy to implement for hardware developers<br />
us<strong>in</strong>g a low-cost microcontroller as a one-chip<br />
solution. The m<strong>in</strong>imum functionality of an<br />
IPMI controller <strong>in</strong>cludes: a temperature sensor,<br />
hotswap sensor and LED at the front panel,<br />
and two wires to the AdvancedMC connector<br />
(I²C based IPMI bus).<br />
Optionally, hardware eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g can add<br />
small, low-cost ADCs to allow voltage measur<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Further, other sensors can be implemented<br />
to determ<strong>in</strong>e the health status of the AdvancedMC<br />
module without any external measurement<br />
equipment. This feature works<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependently of power-up status, operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system and application software. Thus, it saves<br />
a lot of money <strong>in</strong> system debugg<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
In this development stage the aim is to br<strong>in</strong>g<br />
up the AdvancedMC module at the first time,<br />
which can be done us<strong>in</strong>g the AdvancedMC<br />
extender NAMC-EXT-PS. For the up<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
MTCA.4 standard, N.A.T. already offers the<br />
<strong>com</strong>patible AdvancedMC-Extender named<br />
NAMC-EXT-RTM-F (front) and NAMC-EXT-<br />
RTM-R (rear). If the NAMC-EXT-P or NAMC-<br />
EXT-RTM-F/-R is used <strong>in</strong> the standalone mode<br />
it needs only 12V, generates by itself the required<br />
3.3V management power, and gives access to<br />
all sides of the new AdvancedMC module without<br />
any disturb<strong>in</strong>g chassis. This makes the<br />
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
measurement of all AdvancedMC signals easy.<br />
Open<strong>in</strong>g wire bridges allows measur<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
current for the management and payload power.<br />
Solder pads close to the AdvancedMC connector<br />
m<strong>in</strong>imize the number of test cables to be soldered<br />
directly to the new AdvancedMC module.<br />
This is convenient if several AdvancedMC modules<br />
have to be brought up. The AdvancedMC<br />
extender JTAG debug p<strong>in</strong>s are also available on<br />
special solder pads, which allow download<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of firmware <strong>in</strong>to FPGAs etc.<br />
If the AdvancedMC is successfully tested standalone,<br />
the next step is its <strong>in</strong>tegration <strong>in</strong>to a<br />
MicroTCA system. Now, the NAMC-EXT-PS<br />
is used <strong>in</strong> plug-<strong>in</strong> mode. The AdvancedMC <strong>in</strong><br />
the NAMC-EXT-PS extender can be plugged<br />
directly <strong>in</strong>to the MTCA system with all soldered<br />
cables. Measurements can be cont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong>teract<strong>in</strong>g<br />
with other boards <strong>in</strong> the system. In the<br />
case that no IPMI code is loaded <strong>in</strong> the IPMI<br />
controller on the AdvancedMC board, special<br />
br<strong>in</strong>g-up functions of the MicroTCA carrier<br />
hub NAT-MCH can be used. These are for<br />
example: power<strong>in</strong>g up without IPMI code,<br />
ignor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>valid FRU data. These functions<br />
are only available with the guidance of a N.A.T.<br />
eng<strong>in</strong>eer, and are hidden from normal or<br />
accidental access. In <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation with the<br />
NAT-MCH the professional version of the<br />
NATView software enables an <strong>in</strong>-depth view<br />
and analysis of the MicroTCA system and the<br />
AdvancedMC modules. The <strong>in</strong>cluded FRU<br />
editor manages and programs the FRU image<br />
of the backplane and the EEPROM of the<br />
AdvancedMC module. The l<strong>in</strong>k-viewer-function<br />
of NATview-Professional shows all available<br />
backplane <strong>in</strong>ter connections. This<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation is also available via the <strong>com</strong>mand<br />
l<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>terface of the NAT-MCH, which is<br />
accessible externally via Ethernet or serial or<br />
USB <strong>in</strong>terface.<br />
Us<strong>in</strong>g the console <strong>in</strong>terface of the MicroTCA<br />
Carrier Hub all <strong>in</strong>formation of the system or a<br />
s<strong>in</strong>gle AdvancedMC can be gathered:<br />
- show_ekey<br />
shows all activated connections<br />
- show_fru<br />
shows all FRUs (Field Replaceable Units)<br />
- show_fru<strong>in</strong>fo device<br />
shows the content of a FRU device<br />
- show_cu<br />
shows Cool<strong>in</strong>g Units<br />
- show_pm<br />
shows the actual power allocation status for<br />
all AdvancedMC modules and Cool<strong>in</strong>g Units<br />
- show_sensor<strong>in</strong>fo device<br />
shows sensors for device.<br />
Another time-sav<strong>in</strong>g <strong>com</strong>mand dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
debugg<strong>in</strong>g is the history-<strong>com</strong>mand of the<br />
NAT-MCH. It allows recall<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>com</strong>plete<br />
37 December 2010
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Figure 3. …and NAMC-EXT-RTM-F/-R can be used to measure the current and to optimize the<br />
application code to lower the power consumption.<br />
log buffer. Even <strong>in</strong> case of a power fault the<br />
last sensor events can be rega<strong>in</strong>ed from the<br />
battery backed-up sensor data repository. The<br />
NAT-MCH conta<strong>in</strong>s GbE switch, clock module<br />
and fat pipe switches <strong>in</strong> addition to the abovedescribed<br />
carrier and optional shelf and system<br />
manager functions. The <strong>in</strong>frastructure can be<br />
configured through a web <strong>in</strong>terface or via<br />
<strong>com</strong>mand l<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>terface. For example:<br />
• 802.1Q VLAN protocol configuration<br />
• 802.1x VLAN security protocol configuration<br />
• 802.1p Quality of service configuration<br />
• PCIexpress Root Complex, PCIe startup<br />
sequence<br />
• IP Rout<strong>in</strong>g<br />
• clock configuration, clock source.<br />
For quick support, the output of the MicroTCA<br />
carrier hub can be delivered as a log file to the<br />
suppliers of the MicroTCA or CPU boards to<br />
isolate any problem. The PCB and firmware<br />
versions as well as the serial numbers of the<br />
equipment <strong>in</strong>volved are <strong>in</strong>cluded. All <strong>in</strong>ventory<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation can be logged by the MicroTCA<br />
carrier hub.<br />
Now the new AdvancedMC board is <strong>in</strong>stalled<br />
among the others with<strong>in</strong> the MicroTCA system.<br />
The topology set up <strong>in</strong> the MicroTCA<br />
carrier hub and all other <strong>com</strong>ponents is ready<br />
to run the application software. This software<br />
can be loaded via local JTAG or other debug<br />
<strong>in</strong>terfaces to the <strong>in</strong>dividual AdvancecMC<br />
boards. If more than one new AdvancedMC<br />
module has to be <strong>in</strong>tegrated, a centralized<br />
JTAG switch will replace separate JTAG connections<br />
to each module. This function can<br />
be provided by the JSM (JTAG switch module)<br />
plugged <strong>in</strong>to a chassis with a separate JTAG<br />
connector <strong>in</strong> the backplane. The application<br />
software load is often done via downloads<br />
from a TFTP-server. The MicroTCA carrier<br />
hub provides an Ethernet switch and a port<br />
on its front panel. All AdvancecMC boards<br />
can download their software over this s<strong>in</strong>gle<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface dur<strong>in</strong>g the development and test<br />
phase. In a later development stage, the software<br />
will be loaded from flash, SATA hard<br />
disks of from one node <strong>in</strong> the system.<br />
It is very difficult to predict the power consumption<br />
of FPGA and DSP devices depend<strong>in</strong>g<br />
on the applied software. The current measurement<br />
functions of the NAMC-EXT-PS /<br />
NAMC-EXT-RTM-F/-R can be used to<br />
measure the current and to optimize the<br />
application code to lower the power consumption.<br />
Even power modules designed for<br />
MicroTCA provide a current monitor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
function to switch off the payload of a specific<br />
AdvancedMC module if it consumes more<br />
amperes than def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> its FRU <strong>in</strong>formation.<br />
In parallel to the application software the<br />
carrier manager runn<strong>in</strong>g on the MicroTCA<br />
carrier hub monitors the health of the plugged<br />
<strong>in</strong> AdvancedMC module <strong>in</strong> the background<br />
<strong>in</strong>dependently of any operat<strong>in</strong>g system and<br />
application software runn<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
After the successful <strong>in</strong>tegration of the hardware<br />
and software, the production has to<br />
take over the <strong>com</strong>plete system. The centralized<br />
firmware and application update via<br />
the NAT-MCH reduces the number of cables<br />
to one. The log files of the NAT-MCH summarize<br />
the <strong>in</strong>ventory and configuration <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
(hardware, PCB and firmware<br />
version, serial number, etc), and the status<br />
of voltage and temperature sensors. In addition,<br />
with customer test application output<br />
and verification of a correctly <strong>in</strong>stalled end<br />
application, all data can be used <strong>in</strong> the end<br />
control documentation.<br />
December 2010 38<br />
NATView Easy, free available <strong>in</strong> <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
with an NAT-MCH, can be used as a visual<br />
<strong>in</strong>spection tool. If for <strong>in</strong>stance the FRU images<br />
are not correct or the threshold values are not<br />
set to the right values, the production eng<strong>in</strong>eers<br />
can detect this visually. Also by shar<strong>in</strong>g the log<br />
files generated by the NAT-MCH a quick support<br />
request can be sent to the eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g department,<br />
if the production system does not run properly.<br />
For support once the system is deployed <strong>in</strong><br />
the field, support eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g can use the<br />
Java-Application NATView Easy on a USB<br />
stick and check healthy and <strong>in</strong>ventory <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
of all systems visualized directly at<br />
the MicroTCA system. As mentioned before<br />
the log functions of the MicroTCA carrier<br />
hub can be used as easy service tool conta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g<br />
all necessary <strong>in</strong>formation for sophisticated<br />
support.<br />
At startup the MCH checks the FRU <strong>in</strong>formation<br />
and the <strong>com</strong>patibility of the <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ation<br />
of AdvancedMC modules and firmware. It detects<br />
and logs the <strong>com</strong>munication l<strong>in</strong>ks like<br />
GbE, SRIO, PCIe, XAUI, the power budget<br />
and the process states. Additionally, alarms<br />
are generated dur<strong>in</strong>g the monitor<strong>in</strong>g of sensor<br />
data like temperature, voltage and other related<br />
sensor values. To reduce service costs the<br />
remote management functions of the Micro -<br />
TCA carrier hub can be used to detect health<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation, events and alarms, and do remote<br />
power on/off of any AdvancecMC card <strong>in</strong>dependently.<br />
If the system is built as a redundant<br />
system with all <strong>com</strong>ponents doubled, an uptime<br />
of 99.999% can be achieved.<br />
With hardware tools like the JTAG switch<br />
module JSM, the AdvanceMC extender<br />
NAMC-EXT-PS, NAMC-EXT-RTM-F/-R, carrier<br />
boards for IP and PMC modules and<br />
adapter boards for PCI, cPCI and VMEbus<br />
and the AdvancecMCplug a new concept can<br />
be proofed and an AdvancecMC module quickly<br />
developed and tested. The built-<strong>in</strong> functions<br />
of the MicroTCA Carrier Hub make the backplane<br />
and the plugged-<strong>in</strong> modules (Field Replaceable<br />
Units, FRU) transparent, extend the<br />
easy support <strong>in</strong> the field, allow easy upgrade<br />
and redundancy support.<br />
NATView and/or the visualized <strong>in</strong>ventory and<br />
alarm functions based on open standards<br />
differentiate the new customer solution from<br />
other solutions by be<strong>in</strong>g easy to handle and<br />
easily upgradeable with standard off the shelf<br />
products. n<br />
Note:<br />
MicroTCA (µTCA) is a registered trademark<br />
and AdvancedMC (AMC) a trademark of the<br />
PCI Industrial Computers Manufacturers Group<br />
(PICMG).
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Will Ethernet be the only tra<strong>in</strong> bus<br />
<strong>in</strong> the tra<strong>in</strong>s of the future?<br />
By Manfred Schmitz, MEN<br />
This article discusses<br />
the various tra<strong>in</strong> busses<br />
used today and the<br />
possibility that Ethernet<br />
could be<strong>com</strong>e the tra<strong>in</strong><br />
bus of the future.<br />
n Railway vehicles – be it railcars or lo<strong>com</strong>otives,<br />
underground tra<strong>in</strong>s, trams or passenger<br />
and freight tra<strong>in</strong>s – are equipped with a multitude<br />
of s<strong>in</strong>gle functions which are all <strong>in</strong>terconnected.<br />
For the tra<strong>in</strong> drive these are the<br />
control of the traction and the brakes, the<br />
clutches and the gearboxes, the antiskid system<br />
and the <strong>in</strong>crease of brak<strong>in</strong>g power via sand<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
In the driver cab<strong>in</strong> there are the display systems<br />
for speed, tank fill<strong>in</strong>g level, SIFA (monitor<strong>in</strong>g),<br />
GSM as well as the data logger and tra<strong>in</strong> safety<br />
systems. The motor starter, the pre-heat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system or the traction cool<strong>in</strong>g system are connected<br />
to the ma<strong>in</strong> supply, while the electric<br />
equipment and the battery are connected to<br />
the auxiliary supply.<br />
In a vehicle for passenger traffic there is also<br />
the control of the <strong>in</strong>ner and outer doors, the<br />
<strong>in</strong>ner and outer light<strong>in</strong>g system, the air condition<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and the sanitary equipment, the tra<strong>in</strong><br />
coupl<strong>in</strong>g and possibly the tilt<strong>in</strong>g system. Recently<br />
passenger <strong>in</strong>formation systems and wireless<br />
access to <strong>in</strong>ternet services have been <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
travel<strong>in</strong>g <strong>com</strong>fort. Another trend is<br />
to systematically equip tra<strong>in</strong>s with monitor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and safety systems for passengers and the tra<strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>frastructure. In the past, many of these subsystems<br />
could be accessed via po<strong>in</strong>t-to-po<strong>in</strong>tconnections<br />
on the basis of RS232 or RS485.<br />
As the number of <strong>com</strong>puter-controlled subsystems<br />
<strong>in</strong>creased, it was necessary to switch<br />
to higher-performance <strong>com</strong>munication channels<br />
so that different fieldbus networks were<br />
<strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong> railway vehicles. The latest data<strong>in</strong>tensive<br />
<strong>in</strong>novations like <strong>in</strong>fota<strong>in</strong>ment, web<br />
access and other wireless services like GPS<br />
and GSM led to solutions based on Ethernet<br />
networks. At the moment the whole transport<br />
<strong>in</strong>dustry is chang<strong>in</strong>g rapidly, there are as many<br />
approaches as there are vehicle manufacturers.<br />
In the IEC TC 9 WG 22, the tra<strong>in</strong> <strong>com</strong>munication<br />
network TCN was created <strong>in</strong> the 90s as a<br />
railway-specific fieldbus accord<strong>in</strong>g to IEC<br />
61375, <strong>in</strong> cooperation with the UIC (International<br />
Union of Railways). It consists of the<br />
vehicle bus MVB (multifunction vehicle bus)<br />
and the tra<strong>in</strong> bus WTB (wire tra<strong>in</strong> bus). The<br />
TCN def<strong>in</strong>es the time and safety critical data<br />
transfer <strong>in</strong> railway vehicles us<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>com</strong>plete<br />
layer 7 architecture. With<strong>in</strong> the TCN network<br />
the MVB can be used as a fieldbus <strong>in</strong>side one<br />
vehicle or <strong>in</strong>side a group of fixedly coupled vehicles.<br />
It is def<strong>in</strong>ed for a data transfer rate of<br />
1.5 Mbits/s via optic fiber cables and/or twisted<br />
pair cables. As the MVB controller chips are<br />
proprietary and expensive, often other fieldbuses<br />
like CANopen or Profibus are used <strong>in</strong>stead<br />
of the MVB. The WTB tra<strong>in</strong> bus, a dynamic<br />
bus system that was developed for operation<br />
of passenger tra<strong>in</strong>s with a lo<strong>com</strong>otive,<br />
is also extremely expensive <strong>in</strong> the application.<br />
It features exceptional processes such as the<br />
Figure 1. Rugged Ethernet<br />
switch for use <strong>in</strong> tra<strong>in</strong>s<br />
automatic number<strong>in</strong>g of the wagons dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
tra<strong>in</strong> formation or the build<strong>in</strong>g up of fritt<strong>in</strong>g<br />
voltages (very high direct voltage used for<br />
clean<strong>in</strong>g of coupl<strong>in</strong>g contacts). It is def<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
for a data transfer rate of 1 Mbit/s over a distance<br />
of up to 860 meters via a twisted pair<br />
cable and built up redundantly.<br />
Seen from today, the bandwidth of TCN and<br />
the other fieldbuses is reach<strong>in</strong>g its limit. There<br />
are no user organizations as for CANopen<br />
and Prof<strong>in</strong>et which look after the standard.<br />
Thus there are implementation differences<br />
and differ<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><strong>com</strong>patible physical <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
which <strong>com</strong>plicate <strong>in</strong>teroperability. In addition,<br />
the cost per node is ten to one hundred times<br />
higher than for CANopen. This entails that<br />
dependent on the manufacturer different fieldbuses<br />
like CANopen, Profibus, Prof<strong>in</strong>et, World-<br />
FIP, Bitbus etc are used. This <strong>in</strong> turn generates<br />
unnecessary costs, as different fieldbuses require<br />
different configuration tools and analyz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
devices. In more <strong>com</strong>plex tra<strong>in</strong>s, this<br />
requires gateways which have to mediate between<br />
the different buses and protocols. Price<br />
and bandwidth problems together make it<br />
ever more necessary to use high-performance<br />
standardized transport protocols like TCP/IP<br />
or UDP/IP. The big technological progress of<br />
Fast, Gigabit and 10Gigabit Ethernet, switch<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and collision-free full-duplex transmission as<br />
well as time-synchronous protocols and stan-<br />
39 December 2010
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Figure 2. Different tra<strong>in</strong> applications today l<strong>in</strong>ked by various networks<br />
dardized safety protocols on Industrial Ethernet<br />
has accelerated development <strong>in</strong> automation,<br />
which makes it possible to replace the fieldbuses<br />
used today. In real-time applications,<br />
however, there are <strong>com</strong>pet<strong>in</strong>g standards like<br />
Prof<strong>in</strong>et, EtherNet/IP, EtherCAT, Ethernet Powerl<strong>in</strong>k<br />
and many more. Which solution will<br />
establish itself <strong>in</strong> railway vehicles rema<strong>in</strong>s to<br />
be seen, but the costs per node should be similar<br />
to those of CANopen. This opens up new<br />
possibilities to build a <strong>com</strong>pletely homogeneous<br />
network based on Industrial Ethernet<br />
onboard a vehicle.<br />
Figure 3. Rugged connectors for use <strong>in</strong> tra<strong>in</strong><br />
applications<br />
Which (real-time) Ethernet will <strong>com</strong>e out on<br />
top <strong>in</strong> tra<strong>in</strong>s ma<strong>in</strong>ly depends on it be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
capable of meet<strong>in</strong>g some very special requirements<br />
regard<strong>in</strong>g functionality, environment<br />
and ma<strong>in</strong>tenance. In tra<strong>in</strong>s three network<br />
topologies are used; l<strong>in</strong>e, r<strong>in</strong>g and ladder structures.<br />
While l<strong>in</strong>e structures are chosen for uncritical<br />
data, r<strong>in</strong>gs are <strong>com</strong>mon <strong>in</strong> real-time<br />
environments. Gateways are <strong>in</strong>dispensable as<br />
long as different <strong>com</strong>munication buses are<br />
used <strong>in</strong> the tra<strong>in</strong>. An important function is<br />
fritt<strong>in</strong>g, i.e. clean<strong>in</strong>g the coupl<strong>in</strong>g contacts via<br />
current surges. As a simple and cost-effective<br />
solution, Ethernet offers the possibility to use<br />
Power over Ethernet. Here, the data l<strong>in</strong>es are<br />
used for supply<strong>in</strong>g end devices and overlaid<br />
with a direct voltage. There is an alternative for<br />
build<strong>in</strong>g up tra<strong>in</strong> buses <strong>in</strong> exist<strong>in</strong>g tra<strong>in</strong>s with<br />
coupl<strong>in</strong>gs without data l<strong>in</strong>es. It is called Ethernet<br />
Powerl<strong>in</strong>e (also DLAN or Homeplug). This<br />
„network via power socket“ establishes itself<br />
<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly beside the traditional Ethernet<br />
cable and the WLAN network. One of the<br />
undisputed advantages is its easy <strong>in</strong>stallation.<br />
The theoretical speed of the newer Homeplug<br />
AV standard is 200 Mbits/s by now, that means<br />
it is faster than WLAN and the usual 100-Mbit<br />
LAN for a maximum l<strong>in</strong>e length of 200 meters.<br />
As the encoded data stream ends at the electricity<br />
meter, Homeplug is safer than WLAN.<br />
Drawbacks of Homeplug are the price, the <strong>in</strong>ter<strong>com</strong>patibility<br />
of the devices, the electromagnetic<br />
susceptibility and the temperature range.<br />
In addition environmental requirements as<br />
prescribed by EN 50155 have to be taken <strong>in</strong>to<br />
account. A robust connector technology has to<br />
be used on the hardware side. The RJ45 connectors<br />
often used for Ethernet are not accepted<br />
<strong>in</strong> the railway market. Instead, D-Sub connectors<br />
and M12 connectors which are now also<br />
available for Gigabit Ethernet are used. The<br />
power supply units have to meet special requirements,<br />
e.g. they have to support wide<br />
<strong>in</strong>put ranges from 9V to 154V. The requirements<br />
for protective circuits also differ from those for<br />
standard <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>com</strong>ponents. For example,<br />
transients of 1800V for duration of 50 µs are<br />
specified. Also, different demands are made on<br />
the ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ability of the Ethernet devices.<br />
These are for example used as an easily exchangeable<br />
19“ cassette or as <strong>com</strong>pact devices<br />
for space-sav<strong>in</strong>g wall-mount<strong>in</strong>g. For an easy<br />
on-site configuration dongles are usually used.<br />
This scenario <strong>in</strong> which there are still many<br />
unanswered questions from perspective today<br />
will probably be<strong>com</strong>e reality much faster than<br />
expected. The driv<strong>in</strong>g factor is the big f<strong>in</strong>ancial<br />
ga<strong>in</strong> for the f<strong>in</strong>al <strong>in</strong>tegrators and end customers<br />
FREE Subscription to boards & solutions magaz<strong>in</strong>e<br />
December 2010 40<br />
or users. They will f<strong>in</strong>ally be able to use standardized<br />
protocols as well as a wide range of<br />
OEM devices and assemblies (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
Ethernet backbone with switches, cables and<br />
connectors). Product costs and system costs<br />
can be lowered considerably. They can benefit<br />
from the dynamic development <strong>in</strong> IT – while<br />
conform<strong>in</strong>g to the <strong>in</strong>dustry standard EN50155.<br />
In the last <strong>in</strong>stance the vehicle suppliers benefit<br />
from the basic developments and use TCP/IP<br />
or UDP/IP as transport protocol. They do not<br />
have to care for railway specific proprietary<br />
developments. The same scenario applies to<br />
the <strong>in</strong>frastructure <strong>in</strong> buses or utility vehicles.<br />
For operation of passenger tra<strong>in</strong>s with a lo<strong>com</strong>otive,<br />
the problem of the automatic number<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of the wagons dur<strong>in</strong>g tra<strong>in</strong> formation,<br />
i.e. the need for <strong>in</strong>teroperability, rema<strong>in</strong>s, so<br />
the WTB will probably be used there for a<br />
long time still. In applications where the UIC<br />
556 does not have to be taken <strong>in</strong>to account,<br />
like for the modern ICE or TGV/AGV <strong>in</strong><br />
traffic, the vision of an Ethernet-only <strong>com</strong>munication<br />
structure could be<strong>com</strong>e reality <strong>in</strong> the<br />
next three to five years.<br />
Ethernet as a backbone for <strong>in</strong>fota<strong>in</strong>ment applications<br />
(announcements, advertis<strong>in</strong>g, films<br />
on the one hand – mobile office, games etc on<br />
the other hand) <strong>in</strong> the tra<strong>in</strong> is state-of-the-art<br />
even today. Likewise, monitor<strong>in</strong>g systems for<br />
the safety of passengers as well as logistic functions<br />
<strong>com</strong>municate via Ethernet. In one of<br />
several configuration possibilities for <strong>in</strong>fota<strong>in</strong>ment<br />
systems, <strong>com</strong>munication <strong>in</strong>side the tra<strong>in</strong><br />
is carried out via several Fast Ethernet channels,<br />
while wireless <strong>in</strong>terfaces are used for external<br />
<strong>com</strong>munication – for example for satellitebased<br />
<strong>in</strong>ternet access. Access to GPS, UMTS,<br />
GSM or HSDPA is ensured via PCI Express<br />
M<strong>in</strong>iCards on suitable carrier boards. All these<br />
functions are typically <strong>in</strong>tegrated modularly<br />
and ma<strong>in</strong>tenance-friendly <strong>in</strong> CompactPCI systems<br />
for 3U boards. For controll<strong>in</strong>g the system,<br />
one or several Intel-based CPU boards are<br />
used which can carry out different functions.<br />
RAID configurations for content servers are<br />
housed <strong>in</strong> similar systems. Camera surveillance<br />
systems are also often equipped with one or<br />
several hard disk slots for build<strong>in</strong>g a RAID<br />
configuration. One or several railway-<strong>com</strong>pliant<br />
wide-range PSUs per system <strong>com</strong>plete each<br />
solution. Often the assemblies are coated<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st dust and humidity accord<strong>in</strong>g to EN<br />
50155 and specified for an operat<strong>in</strong>g temperature<br />
of -40 to +85°C. n<br />
Ensure gett<strong>in</strong>g your personal copy of bas magaz<strong>in</strong>e free of charge by <strong>com</strong>plett<strong>in</strong>g the onl<strong>in</strong>e form at:<br />
• www.embedded-control-europe.<strong>com</strong>/bas-magaz<strong>in</strong>e<br />
www www.embedded-control-europe.<strong>com</strong>/ba<br />
p / as-magaz<strong>in</strong>e g
Performance to the full -<br />
even under extreme conditions<br />
By Gerhard Szczuka, Kontron<br />
This article describes the<br />
nanoETXexpress-TT -<br />
the first ultra-small form<br />
factor Computer-on-Module<br />
based on the latest Intel Atom<br />
processor E6XX. The COM is also<br />
one of the first correspond<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
the new COM Express<br />
COM.0 type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out.<br />
Furthermore it is especially<br />
suitable for use <strong>in</strong> the<br />
extended temperature range<br />
and <strong>in</strong> extreme environments<br />
n The history of Computer-on-Modules <strong>in</strong><br />
the ultra-small form factor category is at the<br />
same time the success story of the PICMG<br />
COM Express standard. Start<strong>in</strong>g from the<br />
basic version, which was <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>in</strong>to the<br />
market <strong>in</strong> 2004, it was possible to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><br />
the specifications set by the standard but still<br />
keep up with the pace of constant product<br />
m<strong>in</strong>iaturization. The <strong>com</strong>pact and ultra form<br />
factors have substantially smaller dimensions,<br />
but the system developer nevertheless f<strong>in</strong>ds all<br />
the p<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> their COM Express-<strong>com</strong>patible<br />
position. This standardization is a considerable<br />
simplification for developers, because it means<br />
they can populate their applications COMsistent<br />
with the latest chip technology without<br />
hav<strong>in</strong>g to redesign every time round. That applies<br />
worldwide because the specifications<br />
standardized by the PICMG <strong>in</strong>dustrial consortium<br />
are established globally. Besides Kontron,<br />
renowned <strong>com</strong>panies <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Cisco<br />
Systems, Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, NEC, Nokia<br />
Siemens Networks, NTT, and Oracle along<br />
with many others all participate <strong>in</strong> these standardization<br />
measures.<br />
At the center of the COM Express standard is<br />
the COM Express connector: Depend<strong>in</strong>g on<br />
the <strong>in</strong>terface type, one or two connectors are<br />
used, each of which has 220 p<strong>in</strong>s which, depend<strong>in</strong>g<br />
on the p<strong>in</strong>-out type, has a certa<strong>in</strong><br />
standard assignment. A prom<strong>in</strong>ent feature of<br />
this connector is its high resistance to shock<br />
and vibration, mak<strong>in</strong>g COM Express-designed<br />
modules especially suitable for an <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
environment. Kontron has consistently geared<br />
its product strategy <strong>in</strong> the small form factor<br />
category to the COM Express standard. The<br />
<strong>com</strong>pany has implemented new processor <strong>in</strong>novations<br />
from Intel <strong>in</strong>to pioneer<strong>in</strong>g designs<br />
<strong>in</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e with the COM Express form factors:<br />
basic (125 x 95mm, such as the Kontron ETXexpress-AI<br />
with Intel Core i5/i7 processors),<br />
<strong>com</strong>pact (95 x 95mm, a recent example be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the Kontron microETXexpress-XL with the<br />
Intel Atom processor Z520PT), and ultra (such<br />
as the Kontron nanoETXexpress-SP based on<br />
the Intel Atom processor Z5XX with credit<br />
card dimensions of 55 x 84mm).<br />
Furthermore, with the Kontron microETXexpress-XL<br />
with the Intel Atom processor Z520PT<br />
and Intel system controller hub US15WPT,<br />
the <strong>com</strong>pany extends its portfolio by a rugged<br />
COM Express COM.0 p<strong>in</strong>-out type-2 Computer-on-Module,<br />
specially developed for use<br />
<strong>in</strong> extreme environmental conditions. All <strong>com</strong>ponents<br />
of the Kontron microETXexpress-XL<br />
are fully <strong>in</strong>dustrial temperature rated and are<br />
vendor-confirmed to withstand temperatures<br />
from -40°C to +85°C. The <strong>com</strong>pany has now<br />
launched the latest addition to its COM Express<br />
family. The new Kontron nanoETXexpress-<br />
TT is an ultra-small form factor module im-<br />
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
plement<strong>in</strong>g two significant developments <strong>in</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>dustry <strong>in</strong>to the COM form: the market<br />
entry of the Intel Atom processor E6XX series,<br />
and adoption of the latest COM Express<br />
COM.0 Rev. 2.0 specifications. The result is<br />
an ultra-<strong>com</strong>pact module that fuses the flexibility<br />
and performance of the new Intel product<br />
with the capabilities presented by the new<br />
COM Express type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out. Be<strong>in</strong>g one of<br />
only four Premier Members of the Intel <strong>Embedded</strong><br />
Alliance, Kontron is <strong>in</strong> a position to<br />
<strong>in</strong>troduce its own products featur<strong>in</strong>g latest<br />
Intel processor technology parallel to its launch.<br />
By the early adoption of new technologies, all<br />
parties benefit from mutual experience, result<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> technically mature solutions. For<br />
OEMs and developers this means that they already<br />
have access to the latest Intel® technologies<br />
at board and system level, reduc<strong>in</strong>g their<br />
time-to-market for latest solutions.<br />
The prime benefit of the new module is its<br />
suitability for use <strong>in</strong> extreme operat<strong>in</strong>g environments.<br />
The Kontron nanoETXexpress-TT<br />
is the first ultra module designed to COM Express<br />
type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out specifications that works<br />
<strong>in</strong> the extended <strong>in</strong>dustrial-grade temperature<br />
range E2 spann<strong>in</strong>g -40°C to +85°C. Intel guarantees<br />
performance <strong>in</strong> this range for its <strong>com</strong>ponents<br />
operat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the module. Plus, the<br />
module has no mov<strong>in</strong>g parts; even the memory<br />
is firmly soldered on. Another attractive feature<br />
41 December 2010
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Figure 1. The Kontron nanoETXexpress-TT is the first COM Express solution featur<strong>in</strong>g the new<br />
Intel Atom processor E6XX and is specially suitable for applications <strong>in</strong> extreme environments<br />
(top view left, bottom view right).<br />
of the module is that it is fanless and does not<br />
require ventilators – a possible source of failures<br />
- for smooth operation <strong>in</strong> extreme conditions.<br />
Added to this is the long-term availability —<br />
chip producer Intel plans five years product<br />
availability plus a two-year transition period<br />
after the EOL date.<br />
A major difference between the Intel Atom<br />
processor E6XX and its predecessors is the<br />
processor architecture. In this new design, the<br />
processor chip no longer consists of just the<br />
pure <strong>com</strong>puter core; <strong>in</strong>terfaces have been added<br />
that, <strong>in</strong> the earlier architecture, were typically<br />
<strong>in</strong> the northbridge and southbridge, such as<br />
those for graphics, memory, PCIe, SPI, and<br />
LPC. In this way the processor can not only<br />
tackle graphics jobs faster, but be<strong>com</strong>es more<br />
autonomous overall. It no longer works with<br />
proprietary <strong>in</strong>terfaces like FSB or DMI, nor<br />
does it orient on one particular Intel hub. Instead<br />
it uses PCI Express as an open standard<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface for <strong>com</strong>munication between the<br />
processor and I/O chip. This enables the Intel<br />
Atom E6XX series of processors to <strong>in</strong>terconnect<br />
not only with the Intel platform controller<br />
hub EG20 but also with I/O hubs from thirdparty<br />
manufacturers such as OKI Semiconductor,<br />
STMicroelectronics, and Realtek and<br />
any PCIe-capable device. These hubs satisfy<br />
the specific proprietary I/O requirements of,<br />
for example, applications such as <strong>in</strong>-car <strong>in</strong>fota<strong>in</strong>ment<br />
or media phones. This is however<br />
unimportant <strong>in</strong> the standardized COMs, because<br />
the match<strong>in</strong>g Intel platform controller<br />
hub (PCH) EG20 provides precisely those <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
required by COM Express COM.0<br />
type 10 at an unbeatable price/performance<br />
ratio.<br />
Us<strong>in</strong>g the Intel Atom processor E6XX for standardized<br />
COMs together with the Intel platform<br />
controller hub EG20 results as follows.<br />
The Intel platform controller hub EG20 <strong>in</strong>tegrates<br />
a number of <strong>com</strong>mon I/O blocks such<br />
as SATA, USB host and device,<br />
SD/SDIO/MMC, and Gigabit Ethernet MAC.<br />
Plus, it offers various embedded <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
such as CAN, IEEE 1588, I2C, UART, and<br />
GPIO. Many different applications such as <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
automation, retail, gam<strong>in</strong>g, or digital<br />
signage require these <strong>in</strong>terfaces. The latest<br />
Intel Atom processor series is perfectly tailored<br />
to the characteristics of the type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out<br />
first def<strong>in</strong>ed by the PICMG <strong>in</strong> the upgraded<br />
COM Express COM.0 Rev. 2.0 specification.<br />
Compared to the type 1 p<strong>in</strong>-out, followed by<br />
the other ultra form factor product nanoETXexpress-SP,<br />
type 10 (Kontron nano ETXexpress-<br />
TT) more explicitly reflects the requirements<br />
of new and highly <strong>com</strong>pact processors. A<br />
closer look at the <strong>in</strong>dividual p<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g shows<br />
the differences to bear <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d when migrat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
from type 1 to type 10, although Kontron<br />
type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out is backward-<strong>com</strong>patible with<br />
type 1. The p<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> rows A and B on the connector<br />
that were reserved for SATA ports 2<br />
and 3 <strong>in</strong> type 1, for example, are vacated <strong>in</strong><br />
type 10. The new processor generations suitable<br />
for type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out usually provide a maximum<br />
of two SATA <strong>in</strong>terfaces anyway. The p<strong>in</strong>s could<br />
be used as SATA ports, but are now reserved<br />
for alternative purposes, such as USB 3.0 at a<br />
later date. Kontron consequently re<strong>com</strong>mends<br />
that SATA 2 and 3 no longer be allocated on<br />
the COM Express connector <strong>in</strong> designs for<br />
both type 1 and type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-outs. In this way<br />
the modules rema<strong>in</strong> <strong>com</strong>patible, but at the<br />
same time, they are ready for USB 3.0. A<br />
further difference <strong>in</strong> rows A and B is the p<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of the PCIe lanes. Here type 1 p<strong>in</strong>-out<br />
offers six lanes, although the chipsets used for<br />
this p<strong>in</strong>-out never offered PCIe lanes <strong>in</strong> such a<br />
quantity. Therefore the p<strong>in</strong>s for PCIe lanes 4<br />
and 5 are vacated <strong>in</strong> p<strong>in</strong>-out type 10 and can<br />
likewise be used for up<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g technologies.<br />
A further difference is that type 10 now uses<br />
the p<strong>in</strong>s reserved <strong>in</strong> type 1 - for the second<br />
LVDS channel, TV-out, and VGA - to support<br />
the SDVO port (alternatively DisplayPort or<br />
HDMI) via DDI. Ultra-small form factor modules<br />
with a COM Express type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out thus<br />
officially have dual display capability, because<br />
they still support an LVDS channel separately.<br />
The background to these examples is as follows.<br />
The new small form factor processors, at which<br />
type 10 is aimed, support up to two SATA <strong>in</strong>-<br />
December 2010 42<br />
terfaces and four PCIe lanes anyway and offer<br />
no VGA but graphics <strong>in</strong>terfaces, such as SDVO,<br />
DP, and HDMI. Vacated p<strong>in</strong>s on the module<br />
connectors of the ultra standard can consequently<br />
be used for the new purposes.<br />
What do the new processor and p<strong>in</strong>-out type<br />
add to the module <strong>in</strong> terms of performance?<br />
First take a look at the architecture. The Kontron<br />
nanoETXexpress-TT sets up on the Intel<br />
Atom processor E6XX <strong>in</strong> versions 0.6 GHz,<br />
1.0 GHz, 1.3 GHz, and 1.6 GHz plus the Intel<br />
platform controller hub EG20. In Computeron-Modules<br />
with earlier Intel Atom processor<br />
generations, data flow from the processor to<br />
the <strong>in</strong>terface chipset is proprietary through<br />
the FSB, whereas <strong>in</strong> the nanoETXexpress-TT<br />
important graphics <strong>in</strong>terfaces have been shifted<br />
from the controller hub <strong>in</strong>to the processor<br />
chip, and <strong>com</strong>munication between the two is<br />
through PCI Express. As far as the performance<br />
of the memory is concerned, the new COM<br />
also has an edge over its predecessors thanks<br />
to the new processor. It processes data at a<br />
rate of 800 MT/s, albeit on a 32-bit channel,<br />
whereas earlier Intel Atom processors use 64<br />
bits. Tests will consequently <strong>in</strong>dicate whether<br />
there is actually a difference <strong>in</strong> performance<br />
and how big it is. A bonus that <strong>com</strong>es with the<br />
nanoETXexpress-TT is, of course, the number<br />
of <strong>in</strong>terfaces. Match<strong>in</strong>g the COM Express type<br />
10 p<strong>in</strong>-out it offers four PCIe lanes one of<br />
which is used for connect<strong>in</strong>g the Intel platform<br />
controller hub EG20. In addition, it features<br />
six USB <strong>in</strong>terfaces plus an extra one dedicated<br />
and reserved for the client. All preced<strong>in</strong>g<br />
processors carried out the external boot for<br />
firmware hub support via a LPC bus. The new<br />
design provides for implement<strong>in</strong>g the boot<br />
operation over the SPI <strong>in</strong>terface, which is<br />
firmly assigned <strong>in</strong> all new and old p<strong>in</strong>-out<br />
types of the COM Express COM.0 Rev. 2.0<br />
specification. The module thus already features<br />
someth<strong>in</strong>g that will apply to all new COMs <strong>in</strong><br />
future and that COM.0 Rev. 2.0 prepares for -<br />
all future processors will solely support this<br />
second boot option via SPI. The nanoETXex-<br />
Figure 2. The Kontron HMITR — a fanless<br />
and ma<strong>in</strong>tenance-free, EN50155-<strong>com</strong>pliant<br />
rugged display <strong>com</strong>puter — is among the<br />
first products of the <strong>com</strong>pany to be equipped<br />
with the new Intel Atom processor.
press-TT module <strong>in</strong>cludes some <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g<br />
memory options. It offers two SATA <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
(aga<strong>in</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g the COM Express COM.0<br />
type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out). Kontron <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>es two options<br />
by offer<strong>in</strong>g these SATA <strong>in</strong>terfaces: firstly,<br />
the two <strong>in</strong>terfaces are directed to the COM Express<br />
connector where data can be exchanged<br />
at a rate of 300 MB/s, and secondly, a soldered<br />
microSD card socket on the module is connected<br />
via SDIO. The second possibility is to<br />
direct one SATA <strong>in</strong>terface to the COM Express<br />
connector and use the rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g one for onboard<br />
flash memory. As yet, however, there is<br />
no <strong>in</strong>dustrial temperature grade (E2) SATA<br />
flash memory on the market, so this option is<br />
not likely to be<strong>com</strong>e relevant until a later date.<br />
The advantages of the Intel Atom processor<br />
E6XX and platform controller hub EG20<br />
particularly impact <strong>in</strong> terms of graphics performance.<br />
By <strong>in</strong>tegrat<strong>in</strong>g the graphics <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
<strong>in</strong> the processor chip, as <strong>in</strong> the new Intel processors,<br />
the graphics core frequency of the nanoETXexpress-TT<br />
modules with 0.6 GHz and<br />
1.0 GHz processors is 320 MHz, and for the<br />
1.3 and 1.6 GHz processors all of 400 MHz.<br />
Additionally, the new Intel processor features<br />
video encod<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong> other words hardware-supported<br />
cod<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>in</strong><strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g video signals.<br />
These two features together result <strong>in</strong> 40 percent<br />
more speed to implement 3D graphics than <strong>in</strong><br />
<strong>com</strong>parable Intel® platforms to date. For what<br />
k<strong>in</strong>d of requirements is the Kontron nanoETXexpress-TT<br />
the most suitable solution? Firstly<br />
of course <strong>in</strong> cases where you have to operate<br />
<strong>in</strong> an extended temperature range and environmental<br />
extremes. Then, <strong>in</strong> the version with<br />
a 0.6 GHz processor, product featur<strong>in</strong>g low<br />
thermal design power (TDP) that results <strong>in</strong><br />
low heat dissipation.<br />
The video encod<strong>in</strong>g functionality with support<br />
of MPEG4, H.263, and H.264 standards makes<br />
the module <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g for all video applications.<br />
In addition, the Intel Atom processor E6XX<br />
offers virtualization and hyperthread<strong>in</strong>g across<br />
all performance bands of the processor family,<br />
which is <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly called for <strong>in</strong> safety-relevant<br />
applications <strong>in</strong> the medical and military<br />
sectors, for example. A major advantage is the<br />
large number of PCIe <strong>in</strong>terfaces that the Kontron<br />
nanoETXexpress-TT supplies. This enables<br />
developers to connect significantly more devices,<br />
besides <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g flexibility <strong>in</strong> general.<br />
It even offers serial <strong>in</strong>terfaces, which are still<br />
highly popular among designers work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
automation. Given the new Intel Atom E6XX<br />
processors together with the new p<strong>in</strong>-out possibilities<br />
of the COM Express COM.0 Rev. 2.0<br />
specification and the grow<strong>in</strong>g attraction of<br />
the ultra form factor, the new generation of<br />
COM Express modules is obviously ready to<br />
w<strong>in</strong> new markets. Such as for example, bat-<br />
tery-powered or solar-powered applications,<br />
w<strong>in</strong>d power plants, <strong>in</strong>-car applications, POS<br />
for outdoor <strong>in</strong>stallation, or embedded m<strong>in</strong>i-<br />
PCs for construction sites or other tough <strong>in</strong>dustrial<br />
environments.<br />
In addition to the Kontron nanoETXexpress-<br />
TT, Kontron is us<strong>in</strong>g these advantages of the<br />
new Intel Atom processor E6XX series <strong>in</strong> other<br />
embedded systems, such as its fanless and<br />
ma<strong>in</strong>tenance-free and EN50155-<strong>com</strong>pliant<br />
Kontron rugged display <strong>com</strong>puter HMITR.<br />
Tra<strong>in</strong> conductors, for example, can benefit<br />
from this human/mach<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>terface (HMI) to<br />
supervise all the functions of a tra<strong>in</strong>. In such<br />
applications the extended temperature range<br />
plus reliability and constantly low power consumption<br />
are especially important factors.<br />
Moreover, the entire system is EN50155 certified,<br />
guarantee<strong>in</strong>g its safe use <strong>in</strong> tra<strong>in</strong>s. The<br />
Kontron HMITR also offers flexible upgrad<strong>in</strong>g<br />
through its Ethernet <strong>in</strong>terface and a solidstate<br />
disk or SD card memory, and ease of<br />
scal<strong>in</strong>g through its modularity. As part of its<br />
customization and orig<strong>in</strong>al design and manufactur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
(ODM) services, Kontron offers designers<br />
the option of creat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dividual board<br />
designs with the Intel Atom processor E6XX.<br />
The <strong>com</strong>pany implements FPGAs, proprietary<br />
ASICs (PLC logic), or dedicated standard<br />
PCIe devices for this purpose. The result is<br />
PC systems that offer various standard <strong>in</strong>terfaces<br />
plus extra <strong>com</strong>munication ports, wireless<br />
<strong>in</strong>terfaces, GPS services, and audio and video<br />
stream<strong>in</strong>g. All the designer needs <strong>in</strong> order to<br />
manufacture these devices is the processor<br />
and the particular <strong>com</strong>ponents. Energy consumption<br />
and material use can be reduced to<br />
a m<strong>in</strong>imum <strong>in</strong> this way. Designers can also<br />
use third-party I/O hubs as an alternative to<br />
Intel®’s platform controller hub EG20. In the<br />
PCIe-based <strong>in</strong>terface, the new Intel Atom<br />
processor E6XX series offers the developer<br />
exceptional flexibility <strong>in</strong> the I/O design of an<br />
x86 application. In this way the application<br />
spectrum of x86 technology can be expanded<br />
even further towards dedicated x86 systems<br />
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Figure 3. The type 10 p<strong>in</strong>-out as def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong><br />
the COM Express COM.0 Rev. 2.0 specification<br />
more explicitly reflects the requirements<br />
of new and highly <strong>com</strong>pact processors, like<br />
the Intel Atom E6xx processor series.<br />
of specially energy-efficient design. That can<br />
be implemented very effectively with ultrasmall<br />
form factor COM Express solutions like<br />
the Kontron nanoETXexpress-TT COMs for<br />
embedded PC applications. On the strength<br />
of all these features, this COM and other systems<br />
that set up on the Intel Atom processor<br />
platform are highly suitable for applications<br />
that are required to run reliably <strong>in</strong> extreme<br />
operat<strong>in</strong>g environments - <strong>in</strong> markets such as<br />
digital signage, energy, <strong>in</strong>dustrial automation,<br />
medical, defense and security, public transportation,<br />
as well as traffic control and surveillance.<br />
n<br />
43 December 2010
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Rugged vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platforms<br />
– design considerations<br />
By Benson Chiu, ADLINK<br />
Vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platforms<br />
are systems for mobile<br />
applications <strong>in</strong> the harsh<br />
environments of the traffic<br />
and transportation sectors.<br />
The ideal platform should be<br />
specifically designed to<br />
meet these requirements and<br />
not just be a ruggedized<br />
office-based system.<br />
n The trend <strong>in</strong> vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platforms<br />
for end users has moved from office-based PC<br />
platforms to rugged <strong>in</strong>dustrial PC (IPC) products.<br />
IPC adoption is projected to <strong>in</strong>crease at<br />
an above average rate <strong>in</strong> the traffic and transportation<br />
sectors. A significant driv<strong>in</strong>g factor<br />
of this growth is the <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g popularity of<br />
panel and box <strong>com</strong>puter use on tra<strong>in</strong>s, buses,<br />
and at rapid transit term<strong>in</strong>als. In-vehicle digital<br />
signage and customer <strong>in</strong>formation displays<br />
are the most popular applications <strong>in</strong> these environments.<br />
The <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g availability and reliability<br />
of the vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform is a<br />
significant source of stimulation to the growth<br />
<strong>in</strong> rugged IPC deployment <strong>in</strong> the traffic and<br />
transportation sectors. Rugged IPCs are well<br />
suited to harsh environments and are therefore<br />
well suited to the <strong>in</strong>-vehicle environment. So<br />
what are the requirements of a vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
platform for the traffic and transporta-<br />
Figure 1. Based on an Ampro<br />
by Adl<strong>in</strong>k ReadyBoard EPIC<br />
form factor SBC, the airport<br />
shuttle bus <strong>in</strong>formation system<br />
can drive two displays: one<br />
digital video output with HD<br />
video decoder for an <strong>in</strong>-vehicle<br />
digital signage application,<br />
and an analog output for<br />
driver navigation and dispatch<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation.<br />
tion sectors? Vibration and shock are <strong>com</strong>monplace,<br />
as are additional demands such as<br />
extended temperature operation, conformal<br />
coat<strong>in</strong>g support and automotive power design.<br />
Also required are system enclosures designed<br />
to meet IP Codes (International Protection<br />
Rat<strong>in</strong>g) with the degree of protection aga<strong>in</strong>st<br />
the <strong>in</strong>trusion of particulates and water that is<br />
necessary for the specific application. In<br />
addition to the ruggedness provided by an<br />
45 December 2010
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Figure 2. In a vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform, the power unit should have reverse battery protection, surge and over-voltage protection, and a DC/DC<br />
converter.<br />
IPC, vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platforms may also<br />
have specific video requirements. Digital signage<br />
is a boom<strong>in</strong>g application <strong>in</strong> retail, education,<br />
hospitality and transportation. In-vehicle<br />
digital signage is <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong> demand. With<br />
modern video technology, high def<strong>in</strong>ition<br />
video content is be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g the default standard<br />
<strong>in</strong> digital signage applications. However, ma<strong>in</strong>stream<br />
embedded platforms generally do not<br />
have sufficient performance for HD video<br />
playback as their primary focus is low power<br />
consumption applications. Therefore, a vehicle<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform will also require a high<br />
def<strong>in</strong>ition video decoder to support video<br />
playback at resolutions from QCIF to Full HD.<br />
An often asked question is - how rugged is<br />
rugged? The balance of cost and performance<br />
is always a dilemma to manufacturers. A true<br />
vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform should be rugged<br />
by design and not just ruggedized. In order to<br />
support the extremes of shock, vibration, humidity<br />
and temperature, care must be given to<br />
<strong>com</strong>ponent selection, circuit design, PCB layout<br />
and materials, thermal solution, enclosure design,<br />
and manufactur<strong>in</strong>g processes. Robust<br />
test methodologies <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g highly accelerated<br />
life test<strong>in</strong>g (HALT) help to ensure that the<br />
platform is optimized while still <strong>in</strong> the design<br />
phase and meets MIL-STD shock and vibration,<br />
the ISO-7637 automotive EMC standard, and<br />
other reliability requirements.<br />
The automotive EMC environment is one of<br />
the most severe and the most unpredictable.<br />
The key areas for consideration are as follows:<br />
broadband radiated emissions, narrowband<br />
radiated emissions, conducted transient emissions,<br />
conducted transient immunity, radiated<br />
immunity, and ESD. Conducted transient emissions<br />
and immunity are well known as critical<br />
phenomena to power <strong>in</strong> the automotive environment.<br />
<strong>Control</strong> of conducted transients <strong>in</strong><br />
a vehicle is not covered by legislation <strong>in</strong> the<br />
same way as transients <strong>in</strong>ternal to systems <strong>in</strong><br />
other environments. The ISO-7637 standard<br />
covers tests for conducted transients, as well<br />
as tests for transients <strong>in</strong>ductively and capacitively<br />
coupled <strong>in</strong>to adjacent wires from the<br />
vehicle battery. Both 12V and 24V systems are<br />
covered by the standard. In order to meet<br />
ISO-7637, a power design for real automotive<br />
environment is required, not just a wide range<br />
of power <strong>in</strong>put. In a vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform,<br />
the power unit should have reverse battery<br />
protection, surge and over-voltage protection,<br />
and a DC/DC converter.<br />
Furthermore, the automotive power design<br />
must have the ability to run on a wide range<br />
of vehicle power <strong>in</strong>puts, and ensure the platform<br />
can operate dur<strong>in</strong>g load dump or cold<br />
crank situations. Use of a high efficiency buckboost<br />
controller <strong>in</strong> the automotive power unit<br />
is re<strong>com</strong>mended to provide the platform with<br />
the required voltage supplies to the vehicle<br />
<strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform. Another factor to be<br />
aware of is that <strong>in</strong> the near future, 42V systems<br />
could replace current 12V and 24V automotive<br />
systems. As more electronic devices are <strong>in</strong>stalled<br />
<strong>in</strong> vehicles, 42V systems can provide more<br />
than twice the power efficiency of 12V/24V<br />
systems. This should be considered for future<br />
vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform development. Conformal<br />
coat<strong>in</strong>g is a method of provid<strong>in</strong>g protection<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st moisture, contam<strong>in</strong>ants, dust,<br />
abrasion, corrosion and short circuits, and is<br />
especially effective for <strong>in</strong>-vehicle environments.<br />
December 2010 46<br />
Conformal coat<strong>in</strong>gs also can protect circuits<br />
and <strong>com</strong>ponents from solvents, and ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><br />
the <strong>in</strong>sulation resistance of the circuit board.<br />
The selection of coat<strong>in</strong>g material is an important<br />
consideration. Preferred coat<strong>in</strong>g materials<br />
are fast dry<strong>in</strong>g and easy to repair, have high<br />
moisture resistance and superior dielectric<br />
properties, and conta<strong>in</strong> a UV safety tracer for<br />
ease of <strong>in</strong>spection under a blacklight. Conformal<br />
coat<strong>in</strong>g are generally applied <strong>in</strong> th<strong>in</strong> layers<br />
(typically 1~3 mils) onto the PCB assembly<br />
and <strong>in</strong> accordance with MIL-I-46058 and IPC-<br />
CC-830 standards. Temperatures <strong>in</strong> automotive<br />
environments can change drastically, ris<strong>in</strong>g as<br />
much as 20°C ~ 30°C with<strong>in</strong> 15 m<strong>in</strong>utes with<br />
exposure to direct sunlight. Upper extremes<br />
of 50°C <strong>in</strong>side a car are not un<strong>com</strong>mon. The<br />
ideal vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform is specifically<br />
designed to withstand high temperature and<br />
rapid temperature changes. It is also critical<br />
for vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platforms to undergo<br />
thorough temperature test<strong>in</strong>g to ensure reliable<br />
operation under these temperature conditions.<br />
An example of the screen<strong>in</strong>g profile from such<br />
a test is shown below.<br />
An example of a typical vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
platform application is <strong>in</strong> an airport shuttle<br />
bus <strong>in</strong>formation system for use by an <strong>in</strong>ternational<br />
airl<strong>in</strong>e runn<strong>in</strong>g a city-to-airport transit<br />
bus service. To implement this system, a rugged<br />
vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform with shock and<br />
vibration-resistant design, flexible expansion<br />
<strong>in</strong>terfaces for <strong>com</strong>munications, low power consumption,<br />
HD video decoder, and automotive<br />
power design is required. Based on an Ampro<br />
by Adl<strong>in</strong>k ReadyBoard EPIC form factor SBC,<br />
the airport shuttle bus <strong>in</strong>formation system<br />
can drive two displays: one digital video output<br />
www.embedded-control-europe.<strong>com</strong><br />
The Onl<strong>in</strong>e Information Source for <strong>Europe</strong>`s <strong>Embedded</strong> Eng<strong>in</strong>eers
Figure 3. Ampro by Adl<strong>in</strong>k Extreme Rugged products screen<strong>in</strong>g profile<br />
with HD video decoder for an <strong>in</strong>-vehicle digital<br />
signage application, and an analog output for<br />
driver navigation and dispatch <strong>in</strong>formation. A<br />
flexible expansion <strong>in</strong>terface, such as m<strong>in</strong>i-PCIe<br />
or PCI-104, supports a WiFi/WiMAX/3G<br />
tele<strong>com</strong>munication module to receive real-time<br />
Kontron AM4530<br />
AdvancedMC NAS Storage Module<br />
Unique <strong>in</strong> the market, the Kontron AM453x<br />
AMC module is a cost-<strong>com</strong>petitive storage<br />
solution for MicroTCA and ATCA platforms<br />
that require Network Attached<br />
Storage connectivity.<br />
Specifically for MicroTCA-based systems, the AM453x module provides<br />
access to storage for Processor AMC modules that are without a SATA<br />
connection, such as the AM4100 PPC AMC for control plane applications<br />
or the AM42xx Cavium OCTEON II AMC for data plane applications.<br />
From an ATCA platform standpo<strong>in</strong>t, the AM453x can be a s<strong>in</strong>gle<br />
po<strong>in</strong>t of code storage for the entire system when populated <strong>in</strong> one or<br />
both AMC slots of the Kontron AT89xx switch. This makes it an ideal<br />
solution for fast boot code or application code updates.<br />
Two AM4530 modules can be set up <strong>in</strong> a redundant configuration for<br />
<strong>in</strong>creased storage reliability, and are accessible by all blades and AMCs<br />
<strong>in</strong> the system via the base or fabric <strong>in</strong>terface.<br />
In terms of media, the AM453x supports both Hard Disk Drives and<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation, such as flight arrival and departure<br />
<strong>in</strong>formation, news, and advertis<strong>in</strong>g content for<br />
the signage display. Other expansion options<br />
<strong>in</strong>clude a digital I/O module, GPS, or video<br />
grabber module. Automotive power design allows<br />
reliable operation of the airport shuttle<br />
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Solid State Drives us<strong>in</strong>g the 2.5” form factor and SATA <strong>in</strong>terconnect.<br />
Basic NFS NAS is available via port 0 and 1 <strong>in</strong> the Common Option<br />
Region (Base Interface or <strong>Control</strong> Plane) and/or port 8 and 9 <strong>in</strong> the<br />
FAT Pipes Region (Fabric Interface or Data Plane) with VLAN support<br />
provided <strong>in</strong> all flavors.<br />
Included <strong>in</strong>to the module design are extensive sensors for monitor<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and event generation on thresholds. There are two redundant Boot<br />
Block Flash BIOS and IPMI firmware with rollover.<br />
Features<br />
n AM4530 available with 120GB or 250GB SATA HDD<br />
n AM4531 available with 64GB SATA SSD or 128GB SSD<br />
n Base or/and Fabric access via VLAN<br />
n AMC.0, AMC.1, AMC.2 and AMC.3 <strong>com</strong>pliant<br />
n IPMC, Dual IPMB, IPMI v2.0<br />
TO ORDER EVALUATION UNITS OR<br />
UPGRADE AN EXISTING DESIGN CONTACT US AT:<br />
Kontron Modular Computer<br />
Sudetenstrasse 7<br />
87600 Kaufbeuren<br />
Germany<br />
+49 (0) 8341 803 333<br />
+49 (0) 8341 803 339<br />
support-kom@kontron.<strong>com</strong><br />
bus <strong>in</strong>formation system and avoids damage<br />
from conducted transient emissions <strong>in</strong> the automotive<br />
environment. The security of public<br />
transportation systems has be<strong>com</strong>e an <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g<br />
concern <strong>in</strong> recent years. City buses, railways,<br />
subways and other transit systems are implement<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong>telligent platforms to monitor public<br />
areas and ensure riders safety. Stationary CCTV<br />
systems can handle the requirements at stations,<br />
but rail carriages are still bl<strong>in</strong>d spots. A rugged<br />
vehicle <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g platform plus <strong>in</strong>telligent IP<br />
cameras is required to extend the range of the<br />
security system to the entire transit system. A<br />
mass transit rail carriage needs a rugged system<br />
to fit <strong>in</strong>to limited space that is able to withstand<br />
the dust, shock, and vibration encountered <strong>in</strong><br />
the operat<strong>in</strong>g environment.<br />
Such a platform could be based on an Ampro<br />
by Adl<strong>in</strong>k RuffSystem, which meets MIL-STD-<br />
810 shock and vibration standards and has<br />
IP50 rat<strong>in</strong>g. Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports can<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface with IP cameras and operate with <strong>in</strong>telligent<br />
surveillance software <strong>com</strong>b<strong>in</strong>ed with<br />
built-<strong>in</strong> GPIO or digital I/O functionality to<br />
automatically detect potential threats, or objects<br />
on the tracks to aid emergency management<br />
and response. This <strong>in</strong>telligent system could<br />
also be used to <strong>in</strong>crease operational efficiency<br />
and performance. n<br />
47 December 2010
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Modular controllers enable platform<br />
concept for custom applications<br />
By Ingo Brussog, Siemens EDM<br />
Despite the varied purposes<br />
that <strong>in</strong>dustrial controllers<br />
serve, an analysis of<br />
several hundred enquiries and<br />
projects has revealed<br />
correspondences between the<br />
detailed requirements. On this<br />
basis EDM has developed a<br />
modular platform concept<br />
adaptable to particular<br />
customer needs.<br />
n Industrial controllers can be def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> many<br />
ways. For example, an <strong>in</strong>dustrial oven or heat<br />
pump has to be controlled. A s<strong>in</strong>gle controller<br />
can perform a wide variety of tasks <strong>in</strong> a large<br />
number of <strong>in</strong>dustries. There are, for example,<br />
simple control tasks, which can be performed<br />
by any standard controller <strong>in</strong> the catalog ranges<br />
of countless suppliers. However, specific and<br />
<strong>in</strong>novative requirements demand special solutions.<br />
This is where Siemens EDM <strong>com</strong>es <strong>in</strong>: it<br />
focuses on the needs of <strong>in</strong>dustry. Solutions tailored<br />
to <strong>in</strong>dustrial needs are required <strong>in</strong> quantities<br />
rang<strong>in</strong>g from a few hundred to 100,000<br />
per annum. Despite this high number, an <strong>in</strong>dustry-wide<br />
analysis of several hundred enquiries<br />
and projects has revealed correspondences<br />
between the detailed requirements. As<br />
a result of this exam<strong>in</strong>ation, EDM has developed<br />
a platform and modular concept that can be<br />
adapted to particular customer requirements.<br />
A modern <strong>in</strong>dustrial controller generally consists<br />
of a ma<strong>in</strong> module with <strong>com</strong>plex <strong>in</strong>terfaces,<br />
the HMI (human mach<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>terface), the associated<br />
high-performance processor, a suitable<br />
operat<strong>in</strong>g system, and one or more sensor-actuator<br />
modules. The assembly varies <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividual<br />
cases, but some modules recur repeatedly,<br />
for example digital <strong>in</strong>put, digital output, analog<br />
<strong>in</strong>put as a measur<strong>in</strong>g circuit, and analog output<br />
as a control signal. Identical software modules<br />
are also required, for example: remote service,<br />
update algorithms, data logg<strong>in</strong>g, and access<br />
rights. EDM refers to them collectively as<br />
system services.<br />
Many years of service experience with a large<br />
number of processors has shown that the currently<br />
available representatives of the ARM<br />
family are particularly suitable, for example<br />
the ARM7 and, <strong>in</strong> future, the Cortex M derivatives<br />
as well. They are already used as a proven<br />
CAD macro for the real-time handl<strong>in</strong>g of cus-<br />
December 2010 48<br />
Figure 1. Example of<br />
a customer-specific<br />
solution based on an<br />
ARM9 module with<br />
a 5.7“ QVGA and an<br />
8.4“ VGA touch display,<br />
ready for <strong>in</strong>stall<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
a metal hous<strong>in</strong>g<br />
tomer-specific sensor-actuator modules. The<br />
ARM9 platform already covers more than one<br />
pure CAD macro. It is available as a prefabricated<br />
module, <strong>com</strong>plete with memory, onboard<br />
power supply and all current, conventional<br />
standard <strong>in</strong>terfaces. <strong>Embedded</strong> LINUX or<br />
W<strong>in</strong>dows CE can be offered as the operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system. The ARM9 platform can be used for<br />
connect<strong>in</strong>g the widest range of displays, with<br />
up to VGA resolution. It is predest<strong>in</strong>ed for employ<strong>in</strong>g<br />
resistive touches as the means of <strong>in</strong>put.<br />
EDM offers an ARM11 platform if the <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g<br />
power of an ARM9 be<strong>com</strong>es <strong>in</strong>adequate.<br />
Figure 2. Example of a customer-specific solution <strong>in</strong> the low-level segment consist<strong>in</strong>g of an ARM9<br />
head assembly with embedded L<strong>in</strong>ux (a) and an ARM7-based sensor-actuator module (b)
Figure 3. Customer-specific sensor-actuator module with expansion modules plugged <strong>in</strong><br />
This is available as a f<strong>in</strong>ished, check-card sized<br />
core module with all important <strong>com</strong>ponents,<br />
and can be used on a customer-specific baseboard<br />
that is yet to be developed. Individually<br />
configured, it conta<strong>in</strong>s all the coarse <strong>com</strong>ponents,<br />
such as sockets, plugs, transmitters and<br />
power supply. The ARM11 module is also<br />
available with embedded L<strong>in</strong>ux or W<strong>in</strong>dows<br />
CE. The ARM11 not only offers many times<br />
the <strong>com</strong>put<strong>in</strong>g power of an ARM9, but can<br />
also resolve graphics up to XGA format and<br />
show videos <strong>in</strong> real time. For the top class,<br />
EDM still has Power PC platforms <strong>in</strong> its range,<br />
which are used to perform data-<strong>in</strong>tensive and<br />
highly graphic tasks. In this case, not only embedded<br />
L<strong>in</strong>ux but also VxWorks can be offered<br />
as the real-time operat<strong>in</strong>g system.<br />
The ARM9 processor platform is available <strong>in</strong><br />
a low-cost version with a graphics-capable display<br />
(64x160) and Jog-Dial as the <strong>in</strong>put medium.<br />
The pure processor module is available<br />
for use <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividually prepared solutions.<br />
Hous<strong>in</strong>g, display, <strong>in</strong>put medium and an <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
module can be added accord<strong>in</strong>g to customer<br />
requirements. There are even readymade<br />
solutions for high-end requirements. As<br />
SITOUCH, the ARM9 platform can be supplied<br />
with either a 5.7“ QVGA or a VGA display and<br />
touch <strong>in</strong> a flush wall hous<strong>in</strong>g, or with an 8.4“<br />
VGA display and touch <strong>in</strong> a stand-alone metal<br />
hous<strong>in</strong>g. These platforms all run with 24 VDC,<br />
without a fan, and <strong>in</strong> an ambient temperature<br />
up to 60°C. The EDM concept is highlighted<br />
by the fact that the platform, which is also<br />
known as ma<strong>in</strong> modules, can be coupled via a<br />
proven, standard RS485 <strong>in</strong>terface to one or<br />
more customer-specific sensor-actuator modules.<br />
By means of a proprietary protocol, this<br />
<strong>in</strong>terface ensures that the <strong>in</strong>telligence of the<br />
controller is <strong>in</strong>formed at all times of the<br />
current status of the entire mach<strong>in</strong>e and can<br />
affect it <strong>in</strong> real time.<br />
Two-module solutions have proven themselves<br />
<strong>in</strong> several projects, each consists of an ARM9<br />
HMI module adapted for the project, and a<br />
sensor-actuator module developed <strong>in</strong>dividually<br />
for the project. In l<strong>in</strong>e with the EDM philosophy,<br />
the sensor-actuator module is <strong>com</strong>posed<br />
of previously tried and tested basic I/O configurations,<br />
and controlled and driven by an<br />
ARM7 or Cortex M3. The ARM7 or Cortex<br />
M3 <strong>com</strong>municates cont<strong>in</strong>uously with the<br />
ARM9 head via the serial <strong>in</strong>terface and the<br />
special mach<strong>in</strong>e protocol. The concept is designed<br />
so that either multiple sensor-actuator<br />
modules can be cascaded <strong>in</strong> order to realize,<br />
for example, different expansion stages for different<br />
types of mach<strong>in</strong>e. Or <strong>in</strong>dividual expansion<br />
modules can be plugged <strong>in</strong>to <strong>in</strong>terface<br />
sockets on the sensor-actuator module. These<br />
are, <strong>in</strong> turn, automatically recognized and <strong>in</strong>tegrated<br />
by the ARM7, and f<strong>in</strong>ally by the operat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
system. This example can be realized<br />
equally well with ARM11 or Power PC <strong>in</strong>stead<br />
of the ARM9. The requirements of the customer<br />
system are decisive. n<br />
www.embedded-control-europe.<strong>com</strong>/newsletter<br />
www www.embedded-conntrol-europe.<strong>com</strong>/n<br />
newsletter<br />
INDUSTRIAL COMPUTING<br />
Editors<br />
Jürgen Hübner<br />
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wp@iccmedia.<strong>com</strong><br />
Tony Devereux<br />
devrex@teyboyz.freeserve.co.uk<br />
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49 December 2010
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