p. 6 Editor’s Foreword p. 8 VITA News Super buzz at CES,...
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p. 6 Editor’s Foreword Super buzz at CES, ETT p. 8 VITA News Bicycle Shop furnishes technology incubator
Transcript of p. 6 Editor’s Foreword p. 8 VITA News Super buzz at CES,...
p. 6 Editor’s ForewordSuper buzz at CES, ETT
p. 8 VITA NewsBicycle Shop furnishes technology incubator
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@VitaTechnologySPRING 2015 | VOLUME 33 NUMBER 1
Standards for software defined radios expand
By Jerry Gipper, Editorial Director » p. 18
ARMed and readyBy Jerry Gipper,
Editorial Director » p. 14
All registered brands and trademarks within VITA Technologies magazine are the property of their respective owners. ™VPX and its logo is a registered product/trademark of VITA.© 2015 OpenSystems Media © 2015 VITA Technologies
enviroink.indd 1 10/1/08 10:44:38 AM
On the coverThe Spring issue of VITA Technologies features articles from Editorial Director Jerry Gipper on the recent CES and ETT conferences; an update on ARM processors; expanding standards for software defined radios; and more! The featured product on the cover is a VPX Backplane Cabling System from Meritec.
DEPARTMENTS
6 Editor’s Foreword Jerry Gipper
Super buzz at CES, ETT
8 VITA News Staff, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions
Bicycle Shop furnishes technology incubator
10 VITA Standards Update Jerry Gipper
VITA Standards Organization activity updates
12 Defining Standards Jerry Gipper
Patent policy proposal stirs the pot of business versus innovation interests
22 Primetime Choices
3 Annapolis Micro Systems, Inc. – WILDSTAR OpenVPX ecosystem 2 Behlman Electronics – New higher 3U power 16 Elma Electronic – Reliable. Rugged. Has to work. Elma’s VPX platforms are all that –
and more. 5 Interface Concept – Build your own VPX system! 17 Meritec – VPX backplane cabling system
9 North Atlantic Industries – Rugged SBCs from NAI2 Orbit Power Group and Orbit Electronics Group – New higher 3U power;
new higher 6U health monitoring performance 24 Pentek, Inc. – Critical recording in any arena when you can’t afford to miss a beat! 11 Schroff Pentair – VME, VME64X, and VPX systems ... faster. 21 Themis Computer – Scale up and scale out – RES HD servers 7 VadaTech Inc. – Psst ... Can you keep a secret? 20 VEROTEC Electronics Packaging – TecSYS development platforms
Advertiser Index
Super buzz at CES, ETTBy Jerry Gipper,
Editorial Director » p. 6
4 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
John McHale, Group Editorial Director Military Embedded Systems PC/104 and Small Form Factors PICMG Systems & Technology VITA TechnologiesRich Nass, Embedded Computing Brand Director Embedded Computing Design [email protected] Pavlat, Editorial Director PICMG Systems & Technology [email protected] Schwaderer, Editorial Director Embedded Computing Design [email protected] DeVoe, Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design, DSP-FPGA.com [email protected] Gilmore, E-cast Manager [email protected]
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Emily Verhoeks, Financial Assistant Headquarters – ARIZONA: 16626 E. Avenue of the Fountains, Ste. 201 Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 Tel: (480) 967-5581MICHIGAN: 30233 Jefferson St. Clair Shores, MI 48082 Tel: (586) 415-6500
ISSN: Print 1941-3807, ISSN Online 1550-0403VITA Technologies is published four times a year (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) by OpenSystems Media, 16626 E. Ave of the Fountains, Ste 201, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268. VITA Technologies is free to qualified engineers or management dealing with or considering open-system technologies. For others, paid subscription rates inside the US and Canada are $45/year. For first-class delivery outside the US and Canada, subscriptions are $60/year (advance payment in US funds required). Periodicals postage paid at Scottsdale, AZ, and at additional mailing offices.Canada: Publication agreement number 40048627. Return address WDS, Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 615POSTMASTER: Send address changes to VITA Technologies, 16626 E. Avenue of the Fountains, Ste. 201, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.
Jerry Gipper, Editorial Director [email protected] Harvey, Assistant Editor [email protected]
Jennifer Hesse, Managing Editor [email protected] Sweet, Creative Director [email protected]
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www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 5
Figure 1 | Jerry Gipper presenting at the Embedded Tech Trends conference in Phoenix, Arizona.›
exchange thoughts that we will all get a chance to read about in the coming year. The theme this year was “Kickoff to Super Technologies,” coinciding with the Super Bowl frenzy in the Phoenix area. No NFL football players were spotted but you could feel their presence.
Fourteen sponsors participated in Embedded Tech Trends, meeting with leading media representatives, including yours truly. The list of companies is as follows:
› ADLINK Technology › Artesyn Embedded Technologies › CES – Creative Electronic Systems SA › Concurrent Technologies Plc › Curtiss-Wright › Elma Electronic, Inc. › LCR Embedded Systems, Inc. › MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH › Mercury Systems › Pentek, Inc. › TechwaY › TE Connectivity › Teledyne LeCroy › VadaTech
The agenda was packed with 21 presentations over the two-day event. The format is much like a TED Talk with short presentations at a very quick pace. Topics included:
January is always a very busy time. CES is going on in Las Vegas. Embedded Tech Trends follows less than two weeks later. I began the year with my annual trek to Vegas to see for myself what was new in consumer electronics. The show was bigger than ever with over 2.2 million square feet of exhibition space, way too much to see in the time available! I did my best by getting any early start on Sunday.
All I can say is I sure hope that the retailers like Best Buy and Fry’s Electronics do a great job of filtering out the chaff. There were a lot of products at CES that should never see the light of day. In today’s world of Kickstarter financing, there are a lot of dreams that might be better off if we never saw them again. That said, there was still plenty to catch my eye.
The curved 4K HD TVs were every-where – makes me glad I bought mine last year. 3D printing has hit the big time with products of all kinds on display. Be careful what you eat in the future because it may not look like anything you are familiar with today! Printing food was not what I had in mind when I saw my first 3D printer at CES four years ago. Activity tracking was everywhere (I had 36,000 steps on my FitBit on Tuesday!); soon any mobile device – from watches to tablets will be able to monitor your habits. Smart appliances are getting more practical and useful. Computers of any type have almost disappeared from the halls. Wearables are where the action is now.
Next up was Embedded Tech Trends in Phoenix, Arizona (www.embeddedtech-trends.com) where I was the host. This event is a business and technology forum focused on the critical and intelligent embedded systems industry. Sponsors and media representatives gathered to
6 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
Editor’s Foreword By Jerry Gipper, Editorial Director
Super buzz at CES, ETT
@VitaTechnology [email protected]
I wrapped up the event with a quick update on VITA activities. The afternoon time was reserved for media-sponsor meetings to discuss new products, strategies, and editorial opportunities. Everyone left feeling a bit overwhelmed but satisfied. All of the presentations have been posted at the Embedded Tech Trends website: http://www.embeddedtechtrends.com/2015/2015-Presentations.htm.
Next stop for me will be the Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference and Exposition in Los Angeles on March 22-26 to learn more about how optical fiber may impact the critical embedded computing industry (www.ofcconference.org).
Jerry Gipper [email protected]
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› Embedded Market Update with IHS › Making the Cloud Tactical › Safe Communication for Inflight
Systems › SWaP and Modularity: Extending
VPX Concepts into Smaller Scale Using VNX
› Communications Technology for Defense and First Responders
› Advances in Digitizers Power Mil/Aero and High-Energy Physics Applications
› How to Do Protocol Testing from SSDs to IoT
› Impact of High Speed Serial Links (HSS) in Embedded Computing
› VPX Optical Interfaces: Standards, Protocols, and Applications
› Creating Better Access Networks for Improved Data Analytics
› Critical Global Market Challenges: RoHS and Trusted Computing
› Creating High Performance Clusters for Embedded Use
› Looking Toward Next Generation VPX Optical Solutions
› Open RF Plumbing: A Novel Approach to Overcome Decades of “Closed” Design and Integration Practices
› Distributed Computing Goes Safety 3U-VPX Mission Computers
› Ensuring Product Integrity with Truly Open Solutions
› MTCS – Modular Train Control System
› Update on SpaceVPX (VITA 78) and Introduction to Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA)
› CERDEC C4ISR/EW Hardware/Software Convergence
› Path to the Fleet › RapidIO Overview
www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 7
EMBEDDED TECH TRENDS
IS A BUSINESS AND
TECHNOLOGY FORUM
FOCUSED ON THE CRITICAL
AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
INDUSTRY.
Inspired by the legacy of innovation and celebrated history of its famous founders, the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions has formed the Curtiss-Wright Bicycle Shop, an internal incubator for first-phase exploration of next-generation market-leading technologies.
Named for the historic bicycle shops where the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss first launched many of their leg-endary inventions, the Bicycle Shop pro-vides the resources for evaluating and proving new embedded defense and aerospace technologies before they are brought to market. For these projects, the Bicycle Shop’s resources can enable rapid, focused development and analysis to ensure that new rugged system tech-nologies have achieved the technical maturity and deliver the product integ-rity demanded by critical applications. The Bicycle Shop provides the organiza-tion and infrastructure to deliver proven and trustworthy next-generation Open Architecture solutions to our customers and partners.
Modeled on renowned research and development centers such as Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin’s center for Advanced Development Programs, the Bicycle Shop serves as Defense Solutions’ incubator and laboratory for the exploration of next-generation market-leading technologies.
A far-reaching charterThe Bicycle Shop’s research and devel-opment charter goes far beyond nur-turing and evaluating new technologies. These technologies must also conform to key industry standards that form the foundation of COTS Open Architecture system design. Curtiss-Wright is helping define and evolve these important stan-dards through participation and support of industry consortia such as VITA and the U.S. Army’s VICTORY initiative. The Bicycle Shop serves as stewards of these
open standards while exploring ways to optimize the performance and product integrity of open standard-compliant system elements.
Disruptive vs. sustaining innovationThe focus of the Bicycle Shop will be on what we identify as either “disruptive innovation” or “discontinuous sustaining innovation.” Those technology advances that represent traditional product evolu-tion won’t qualify as Bicycle Shop proj-ects. A disruptive innovation is one that helps create a new market and value network. This type of innovation will eventually disrupt an existing market and value network and displace an earlier incumbent technology. We also recognize two types of sustaining inno-vations, continuous and discontinuous. A sustaining innovation does not create new markets or value networks. Instead, it evolves the existing status quo with better value, which enables COTS ven-dors to compete against each other’s sustaining improvements. Continuous innovations are those that are simply evolutionary. Discontinuous innovations, those that are transformational or revo-lutionary, join disruptive innovations as ideal Bicycle Shop projects.
Projects in progressWhile now being announced to the market for the first time, the Bicycle Shop was initiated internally as a stealth project more than two years ago. Its inaugural efforts have already borne fruit. For example, one of the first Bicycle Shop project technologies brought to market was Curtiss-Wright’s Fabric40 10 Gbps backplane and inter-connect solution. Fabric40, fully com-pliant with existing VITA standards, delivers the highest-speed system fabric performance to a full range of rugged modules, backplanes, and enclosures, enabling system designers to easily and rapidly integrate and deploy HPEC super computer-quality processing for the most demanding C4ISR applications.
Examples of current and ongoing Bicycle Shop projects include:
› Module-based fluid flow-through cooling
› Direct digital manufacturing to cost-effectively leverage and integrate 3D printing into the manufacturing process
› Network bridging technologies to enhance VICTORY and network-centric computing with support for both legacy and contemporary data communications interface standards and the development of ultra small form factor solutions for SWaP-C sensitive platforms.
Investigating a new technology?The Bicycle Shop ensures that new technologies are evaluated and dem-onstrated before they are included in product development. This reduces development and schedule risk for our customers and removes the burden that might be placed on them by vendors with less deep resources who provide them with new, but unverified, next-generation technologies.
Customers are welcome to suggest new technologies for the Bicycle Shop to consider investigating. This provides us with valuable market input for new areas to explore, though in some cases we will already be working on that particular technology. Bicycle Shop projects enable customers to leverage our efforts and perhaps reduce their own, while working to ensure that their solutions are mature before going to market.
Vendors are encouraged to check out www.cwcdefense.com/about-us/bicycle-shop.html to suggest or inquire about current or potential projects. We are also interested in pursuing joint Bicycle Shop projects with our customers; a bicycle built for two.
Bicycle Shop furnishes technology incubator
VITA News By Staff, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
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VITA Standards Organization activity updates
VITA Standards Update By Jerry Gipper
The January VITA Standards Organization (VSO) meeting immediately followed Embedded Tech Trends in Phoenix, Arizona.
Over 30 people were in attendance to participate in status updates and several working group discussions. This update is based
on the results of this meeting. Visit the VITA website (www.vita.com) for details on upcoming VSO meetings.
ANSI accreditationAccredited as an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developer and a submitter of Industry Trade Agreements to the IEC, the VSO provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards. The VSO meets every two months to address embedded bus and board industry standards issues.
VSO study and working group activitiesStandards within the VSO may be initiated through the forma-tion of a study group and developed by a working group. A study group requires the sponsorship of one VITA member, and a working group requires sponsorship of at least three VITA members.
Work in progressSeveral working groups have current project work underway; the following roundup summarizes those projects.
VITA 17.x: Front Panel Data Port (FPDP)Objective: This standard defines a multi-drop synchronous parallel non-addressable bus connection between multiple boards in a single chassis. Extension specifications define pro-tocols for specific use cases.
Status: ANSI/VITA 17.1 was opened up for minor edits and is now going through the process for re-accreditation. A VITA 17.3 working group was recently formed to incorpo-rate the Interlaken protocol for packet transfers scaling from 10 Gb/s to 100 Gb/s.
VITA 46.11: System Management on VPXObjective: This standard defines a system management archi-tecture for VPX systems.
Status: Currently in “VITA Draft Standard for Trial Use” status. Input from the first round of interoperability testing is being incorporated into the specification with plans to move to ANSI ballot in April 2015.
ANSI/VITA 49.x: VITA Radio Transport (VRT)Objective: The VITA Radio Transport (VRT) standard defines a transport-layer protocol designed to promote interoperability between RF (radio frequency) receivers and signal processing
equipment in a wide range of applications. The VRT protocol provides a variety of formatting options that allow the transport layer to be optimized for each application. The ANSI/VITA 49.1 VITA Radio Link Layer (VRL) standard specifies an optional encapsulation protocol for VITA-49.0 (VRT) packets.
Status: The working group has reopened ANSI/VITA 49.1 for revision. The VITA 49.2 working group is preparing a draft for control packet and spectrum analyzer packet specifications.
VITA 57.4: FMCObjective: The goal of this project is to develop a next genera-tion specification calling for a new set of connectors to support higher speed serial interfaces.
Status: The working group has reviewed connector options and is working on a draft specification.
ANSI/VITA 65: OpenVPX Architectural Framework for VPXObjective: The OpenVPX architectural framework specification is a living document that is continuously being updated with new profile information and corrections.
Status: The working group is currently receiving input on new profiles for the next edition. A proposal was presented to enable the working group to incorporate profiles into the specification faster and more effectively.
VITA 66: Optical Interconnect on VPX – Half Width MTObjective: The VITA 66 base standard defines physical features of a stand-alone compliant blind mate Optical Interconnect for use in VPX systems. This standard defines a Half Width MT style contact variant.
Status: The working group has submitted VITA 66.4 for ANSI balloting, the final step to an approved specification
VITA 67.3: VPX: Coaxial Interconnect, 6U, Four Position SMPM ConfigurationObjective: This specification details the configuration and inter-connect within the structure of VITA 67.0, enabling a 6U VPX interface containing multi-position blind mate analog connec-tors with up to four SMPM contacts.
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
Status: The working group has started on the draft specification.
VITA 68: VPX: Compliance ChannelObjective: This standard defines a VPX compliance channel including common backplane performance criteria required to support multiple fabric types across a range of defined baud rates. This allows backplane developers to design a backplane that supports required bit error rates (BER) for multiple fabric types. This also allows module developers to design plug-in modules that are interoperable with other modules when used with a compliant backplane.
Status: The working group has developed a simulated model and is now collecting actual performance data to help refine the models.
VITA 78-NGSIS: SpaceVPX SystemsObjective: This document describes an open standard for creating high-performance, fault tolerant, interoperable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for spacecraft and other high availability applications. Such systems will support a wide variety of use cases across the aerospace community. This standard leverages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards.
Status: Completed ANSI ballot and will be released to the public in February 2015.
Participating in these working groups is a great way to influ-ence the direction of the next generations of technology important to the critical embedded computing industry. Contact VITA if you are interested in participating in any of these working groups, and for details on upcoming VSO meetings.
Copies of all specifications reaching ANSI recognition are available from the VITA website. For a more complete list of VITA specs and their status, go to www.vita.com/Specifications.
www.vita.com
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www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 11
THIS UPDATE IS BASED ON THE
RESULTS OF THE JANUARY VSO
MEETING. VISIT THE VITA WEBSITE
(WWW.VITA.COM) FOR DETAILS ON
UPCOMING VSO MEETINGS.
On February 2, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will not challenge a proposal by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to update the IEEE Standards Association’s (IEEE-SA) patent policy. That policy governs the incorporation of patented technology in IEEE standards and explains the terms under which holders of patents essential to IEEE stan-dards commit to make licenses available for use in implementing IEEE standards.
The IEEE had submitted a business review letter on September 30, 2014, asking for a statement on the inten-tions of the DOJ’s antitrust enforcement of a proposed update to the IEEE-SA’s patent policy.
But what was the update the IEEE-SA was asking the DOJ to review? The IEEE claims that the purpose of the policy revision was to provide greater clarity on issues that have divided Standard Essential Patent (SEP) owners and stan-dards implementers in recent years. Four key elements were included in the policy update:
› Greater clarity on the meaning of “Reasonable” rate; the value of a patent.
› Greater clarity on non-discrimination (through definition of “compliant implementation”); distinguishing between suppliers and end users.
› Greater clarity of availability of “prohibitive orders”; preventing threats of withholding patent licensee after submitting patent letter of assurance.
› Greater clarity on permissible demands for reciprocal licenses; preventing licensing without reciprocal licenses on own essential patent claims on same standard.
Patent policy proposal stirs the pot of business versus innovation interests
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
While I am not a legal authority, I thought it would be interesting to hear from industry pundits on what they thought of the proposed update. Most comments blame this policy update on past issues with patents in various wireless standards that are developed through the IEEE-SA. Issues have arisen over Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms. This is an age-old challenge that has no easy defi-nition, but the IEEE is trying lay down some ground rules to get a step closer.
Rather than try to analyze or reproduce the comments of some of the pundits, I will summarize their positions and leave it for you to make your own interpretation. Erik Telford, acting president at the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, posted his concerns that the Obama administration, with its regulate-rather-than-investigate approach, was trying pressure the IEEE to change its policy:
“Specifically, the DOJ and a few companies with uncomfortably close ties to the White House are pressuring the IEEE to change its current patent policy to shift power away from innovators – imposing price caps and weakening patent enforcement rights of all innovators who contribute to IEEE standards.”
He ends his comments with this question: “Why [would] the DOJ involve itself in a technical organization’s internal rule-making process? Did I mention the DOJ isn’t saying anything public about this, either?” His post went up before the DOJ released its letter to the IEEE.
Patent licensing professional Alex Fasell goes into more detail in his analysis of the update to the IEEE patent policy, and I recommend reviewing his blog post to consider his perspective:
“The Standardization Setting Organizations (SSO) IPR policies set the delicate basis for achieving a long-term balance between incentive for innovation and incentive for implementation. This balance is for the common good of technological innovation, a healthy marketplace for implementers, and ultimately consumer choice. However, it seems to me that in the new draft patent policy for IEEE, shorter-term business inter-ests of implementers may have been allowed to take on rather more weight than they should have. To my knowledge, no obvious market need has been demonstrated for any of the changes proposed. Nor is there any legal mandate for them and in fact, some changes even tend to run contrary with U.S. Federal Circuit opinion.”
Ray Alderman, VITA chairman of the board and self-proclaimed ex ante pundit, had this to offer:
“I think it basically says that (1) once an SEP holder declares their patent to a com-mittee and offers RAND licensing, if something goes wrong for some reason, that patent holder CANNOT ask a court for an injunction against the implementers using their patented technology without a license. The patent holder must negotiate and resolve the problems with the potential licensees in good faith. (VITA’s policies already have this provision: disputes go to arbitration.)
“(2) It says that an SEP holder CANNOT ask for fees and royalties for the patent being put in the standard that are greater than if the patent was NOT being put
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
in the standard. In other words, an SEP holder cannot benefit from the power of the patent being in the standard as leverage to demand higher royalties and fees from licensees (how they intend to establish those two numbers is not stated). Also, an SEP holder CANNOT get an injunction to coerce the licensees to pay higher fees and royalties than the patent would demand if it were not included in the standard.
“VITA’s policies do NOT have this pro-vision. But what we do have is ‘manda-tory disclosure of maximum fees, royalty rates, and terms’ ex ante, before the fact. That way, implementers can see what their costs are at the beginning, before they invest in compliant prod-ucts. The IEEE has ‘voluntary disclosure’ of the rates and terms, and only two companies (out of 40 disclosures) have voluntarily disclosed their rates and fees on the front end (they waited until imple-menters had invested in compliant prod-ucts, and THEN announced rates, which were obviously higher than anticipated and based on the value of the patent being put in the standard rather than standing alone).
“What the IEEE has done is try to plug up the holes in their ‘voluntary’ disclo-sure policies. If they had just adopted VITA’s policies of ‘mandatory ex ante disclosure,’ none of these changes here would be needed (but, I suppose they could not get the members to support mandatory disclosure). And they seem to have created a new Frankenstein: How do they value a patent both before and after it has been put into a standard?”
SummaryOn December 6, 2014, the IEEE Board of Governors voted 9-3 to approve the update, without modification, contin-gent upon receipt of a favorable busi-ness review letter from the DOJ and review by the IEEE Board of Directors. The IEEE Board is expected to vote on the update at its regularly scheduled meeting in February 2015. By the time you read this, the vote may be tallied.
I agree with Ray that if the IEEE had a stronger position on ex ante patent dis-closure upfront, many issues could be
circumvented much earlier in the process. The area I continue to struggle with is the definition of FRAND. Minds much greater than mine have attempted to put together clear definitions to no avail. I do not believe that a better definition will stifle inno-vation, as some pundits claim. As long as business is at stake and lawyers exist, an acceptable definition will be difficult to construct.
References[1] Full text of the redlined policy, Draft 39, http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/pp-dialog/
drafts_comments/SBBylaws_100614_redline_current.pdf[2] Business review request letter from the IEEE, September 30, 2014, http://www.justice.gov/
atr/public/busreview/request-letters/311483.pdf [3] U.S. Department of Justice response, February 2, 2015, http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/
busreview/311470.htm [4] U.S. Department of Justice press release, February 2, 2015, http://www.justice.gov/atr/
public/press_releases/2015/311475.htm [5] “On the draft IEEE patent policy,” Alex Fasell, December 29, 2014,
http://patentperspectives.blogspot.com/2014/12/on-new-draft-ieee-patent-policy.html[6] “Obama’s Government Takeover of WiFi,” Erik Telford, RedState, January 30, 2015,
http://www.redstate.com/diary/eriktelford/2015/01/30/obamas-government-takeov
www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 13
ARMed and readyBy Jerry Gipper, Editorial Director
ARM processors have traditionally been used as cores in intelligent peripherals. They are finally starting to show up on traditional single board computers (SBCs) as either the primary processor or in an FPGA with an integrated ARM core. Size, weight, and power (SWaP) criteria have driven choices in the past but what other factors are now being considered when choosing a processor?
VMEbus, introduced in 1981, was archi-tecturally based on the Motorola 68000 processor bus and, as a result, all of the processor boards of those early days used 68000 processors. Over time, other processors were used, including Intel x86 and Sun Microsystems SPARC. Even Motorola moved on with the intro-duction of the 88000 RISC and PowerPC architecture processors. VMEbus has since morphed into VPX, a switched fabric architecture that is processor agnostic.
Today the processor of choice is usually something from the Intel family, often the 4th generation Intel Core processor family series. Intelligent peripheral chips that are ARM-based have been around for several years, and are widely used in computing platforms. Over the past 2-3 years, we at VITA Technologies have started to notice critical embedded and intelligent computing products, in par-ticular SBCs and computers-on-modules (COMs) with host processors that are ARM-based. In our annual Business
Barometer feature in this past Winter issue, we made note of this change as early as 2013, but in 2014, ARM finally made a strong showing. Today there are a number of suppliers using ARM pro-cessors with products in multiple form factors, mostly small form factor sizes.
ARM roadmapARM processors come in many configu-rations from many licensees. The ARM Cortex architecture is available in three series – A, R, and M, each targeted at specific applications (see Table 1).
Nearly every processor supplier has ARM-based processor families in their product lineup (see Table 2). Each has added their own special features and interfaces to the ARM core to differ-entiate their products. Application-specific processors based on ARM cores present a whole new wealth of choices for board developers, as many of the higher performance alternatives are excellent candidates for critical embedded computing platforms. Even
FPGA suppliers have ARM core options available. ARM supports this FPGA strategy by developing processors for FPGA fabrics, enabling users to rapidly reach markets while maintaining com-patibility with traditional ARM devices. The fabric independent nature of these processors enables board developers to choose the target device that is right for their application rather than be locked to a specific semiconductor vendor or architecture.
Why ARM processorsMany designers choose an ARM pro-cessor to address one or more of the SWaP parameters that challenge their design (see Figure 1). ARM processors are recognized as being very power efficient while still delivering on per-formance, especially 64-bit, multi-core processors. But what other influences lead one to choose an ARM processor? VITA Technologies asked embedded computer vendors why they chose an ARM processor and what they see in store for their ARM-based products.
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
MAIN FEATURE
Dirk Finstel, CEO EMEA and Executive Vice President of the Global Module Computer Product Segment at LiPPERT ADLINK Technology GmbH pointed out three reasons why an ARM processor is attractive to their designers.
1. As x86 processors haven’t been available in a range below 1-2 W TDP (thermal design point), ARM processors are the best fit to offer the best computing performance and lowest power consumption. As an entry-level product offering to build mobile embedded devices offering a rich I/O set, ARM cores are a mandatory requirement for our customers.
2. As the majority of future embedded devices will be battery powered and connected to the Internet, with modest computing performance, ADLINK wants to be part of this Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem offering those products. The low power needs of the ARM architecture makes this possible.
3. Our customers coming from microcontrollers and low performance ARM devices are looking for higher performance, more memory, and high-speed I/O interfaces such as USB 2.0, PCIe, SATA, and LCD display cores. As most of them don’t have experience using complex operating systems like Windows Embedded Compact 7, VxWorks, or Linux, this opens a new market for ADLINK in which we haven’t participated in previously.
ADLINK primarily implements the Cortex-A series using a variety of pro-cessor cores tuned to the specific needs of the product lines. Entry-level prod-ucts up to about 600 MHz use Cortex A8, moving to the Cortex A9 to get a performance boost up to 1.2 GHz, and single to quad cores. The Cortex A15 boosts that another 40 percent. The highest-end products benefit from the larger memory addressing capability of the Cortex A57 64-bit ARM processor.
ADLINK’s strategy is to use the Cortex M-series processors in co-processor con- troller roles for board management
ARM Cortex-A Series – High performance application processors for feature rich operating systems
Cortex-A processors deliver exceptional 32-bit performance for high-end computing, with the Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 processors delivering combined 32-bit and 64-bit performance, enabling next-generation mobile, networking, and server products. The processors are available in single-core and multi-core varieties, delivering up to four processing units with the ability to integrate NEON multimedia processing blocks and advanced Floating Point execution units.
ARM Cortex-R Series – Exceptional performance for real-time applications
Cortex Real-time Embedded processors were developed for deeply embedded real-time applications where the need for low power and good interrupt behavior are balanced with exceptional performance and strong compatibility with existing platforms.
ARM Cortex-M Series – Cost-sensitive embedded processors for deterministic microcontroller applications
Cortex-M series processors were developed primarily for the microcontroller domain where the need for fast, highly deterministic interrupt management is coupled with the desire for extremely low gate count and the lowest possible power consumption.
Table 1 | ARM processor series.›
Supplier Products ARM Cortex
Freescale i.MX Applications Processors ARM Cortex-A8/A9, ARM9, ARM11 cores
QorIQ Processing Platforms Power Architecture and ARM Cortex-A7/A9/A53/A57 cores
AMD Project SkyBridge A57
Nvidia Tegra K1 A15
Qualcom Snapdragon 810 Quad-core ARM Cortex A57 and quad-core A53
Xilinx Zynq-7000 Dual A9
Table 2 | Sampling of ARM technology-based solutions.›
7
Figure 1 | ARM Cortex processor roadmap. Courtesy of ARM, 2H 2014, Expiration Q1 2015›
www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 15
where they can act as control units for the primary processors to manage power sequence control, data acquisition units to gather temperature and voltage informa-tion, mean-time between failure (MTBF) real-time calculations, and forensic analysis.
Products that operate on batteries and have high computing performance needs will stick with the Cortex A-series processors. Intelligent peripherals with ARM cores embedded in FPGAs will be used for security cards as they offer the best perfor-mance at low gate counts and with a rich software ecosystem. ADLINK develops products over a very large spectrum of computing platforms, including COMs and handheld and tablet products where the performance of the Cortex A-series make a perfect fit.
Curtiss-Wright has made recent announcements of products that use ARM proces-sors. Gregory Sikkens, Product Marketing Manager for ARM SBCs at Curtiss-Wright mentioned that they use the Freescale i.MX6, which has dual ARM Cortex A9 cores.
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“The device’s high degree of I/O inte-gration, low power, low cost, and suit-able performance make it very attractive for upgrades thanks to the flexibility of Freescale’s family of pin-compatible ARM devices,” stated Sikkens. “It enables easy upgrade to a quad core device for those applications and customers who prefer more cores.” The Freescale i.MX6 is used in the Curtiss-Wright Digital Beachhead Ethernet Switch and Vehicle Management Computer which is used in VICTORY “appliance” type applications.
Used in single board computer products is the Freescale Layerscape LS1020A, which is a dual ARM Cortex A7 core processor. Sikkens likes this processor because “This device is part of the QorIQ family that includes some of the Power Architecture devices that are used on our other SBCs, which provides a range of devices that share a familiar complement of I/O and features such as the Freescale security engine.” One key feature that is important to his cus-tomer base is that Freescale has ECC/parity across all the device’s memory and memory interfaces, including the cache; this is a Freescale enhancement that is not an available feature of the ARM core. Another reason is the avail-ability of the device – it offered the earliest scheduled release with the right mix of features and performance to provide an ARM-based SBC that is I/O and pin compatible to existing Curtiss-Wright Power Architecture and Intel SBCs, while providing an upgrade path to higher performance devices as they become available.
The Curtiss-Wright first generation strategy for ARM processors is to use Freescale’s QorIQ Cortex devices mainly as the primary processor on rugged single board computers designed for use in demanding applications such as mission computers. They will also use the i.MX6 type of processors, which are ideal for use in “appliance” type applica-tions as part of a complete system solu-tion where a feature-rich I/O subsystem is required.
“We are seeing interest in the VPX3-1701 3U ARM-based SBC hosting a graphics mezzanine, such as our XMC-715 module, which enables us to provide a complete
16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
MAIN FEATURE
single slot graphics solution at less than 30 watts maximum power,” says Sikkens (see Figure 2).
SummaryThe reasons for implementing an ARM processor are widely varied. Besides the need to improve SWaP metrics for which ARM is exceptional, there are other rea-sons. The fact that there are hundreds of ARM licensees means that all types of
Figure 2 | The VPX3-1701 is the first release in Curtiss-Wright’s ARM SBC product roadmap.
›
Supplier VPX SBC VITA 73 SFF VME SBC COM COM Express Custom
ADLINK Technology, Inc. √
Aitech Defense Systems √
Curtiss-Wright √
MEN Mikro Elektronik √
North Atlantic Industries √
PCI Systems √
Table 3 | Sample of ARM-based suppliers.›SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
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application-specific components with very diverse I/O and features are on the market. New application-specific capabilities are being added constantly. This means that an SBC designer has many more choices, more appropriate than ever before to a specific application. The choice of the right ARM processors can help differentiate products in a very competitive SBC market.
A search of the VITA product directory turns up several ARM processor-based prod-ucts (see Table 3). The list continues to grow quickly as new products are introduced each month. The list is not at all inclusive – you can be sure there are many more products on the shelf today that are “ARMed and ready.”
www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 17
MANY DESIGNERS CHOOSE AN ARM PROCESSOR TO
ADDRESS ONE OR MORE OF THE SWAP PARAMETERS
THAT CHALLENGE THEIR DESIGN. ARM PROCESSORS ARE
RECOGNIZED AS BEING VERY POWER EFFICIENT
WHILE STILL DELIVERING ON PERFORMANCE.
processes that used to be only theoreti-cally possible.
SDRs have gained traction in many mili-tary and commercial radio applications, especially in applications where many services must use common communica-tion channels or changing mission needs require the communication network to be dynamically reconfigured.
VITA 49 overviewVITA members recognized the limita-tions of existing SDRs as they related to interoperability between radios and sensors. Several years ago the VITA 49 VITA Radio Transport (VRT) working group was formed to define a frame-work for SDRs, making them more open and interoperable. Out of that working group emerged two specifications.
ANSI/VITA 49.0, the VRT protocol stan-dard defines a transport-layer protocol or framework designed to promote interoperability between RF receivers
and signal processing equipment in a wide range of applications. The VRT framework provides a variety of format-ting options that allow the transport layer to be optimized for each applica-tion. The framework defines interoper-able sensor architectures that are link independent.
Target applications for VITA 49 enabled SDRs include:
› Spectral Monitoring and Scanning › SIGINT and Tactical Information › Communications and COMINT › Radar and EW Countermeasures
The protocol is made up of three components. VRT IF (intermediate fre-quency) data packets capture payload data, time stamps, channel, and signal ID. The data formats are very flexible to accommodate a wide range of equip-ment and they support extremely pre-cise time stamping needed for maximum accuracy.
The single biggest challenge in radio technology is radio frequency (RF) spec-trum utilization. Only a finite amount of RF spectrum is available – it is highly regulated, a lot of it is not usable, and what is available may be full of all kinds of users. Widespread use of wireless connectivity for any intelligent device is driving up demand even more for that limited bandwidth, making the RF spectrum even more crowded. An SDR makes it somewhat easier to maximize available bandwidth, making it possible to select appropriate spectrum based on the mission and environment.
SDR is a radio communication system where components that have been typically implemented in hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/ demodulators, detectors, etc.) are in- stead implemented by means of soft - ware on a computer or embedded system. While the concept of SDR is not new, the rapidly evolving capabilities of digital electronics render practical many
VITA 49 started an effort to develop interoperability standards for software defined radios (SDRs). The initial effort met with great success and is now expanding to add additional capability for a complete radio/sensor system. This article looks at what is under development by the VITA 49 working group.
Standards for software defined radios expandBy Jerry Gipper, Editorial Director
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
SPECIAL FEATURE
VRT context packets report all opera-tional parameter values of the radio equipment. A standardized method-ology allows the protocol to support a wide range of standard and unique parameters implemented in RF receivers.
The third component is the VRT infor-mation stream. It contains the first two components of IF data packets and con-text packets. This enables a RF receiver to associate data and context streams appropriately for different applications.
VITA 49.0 does not support control of hardware or radio transmit operations (see Figure 1). ANSI/VITA 49.1, the VITA Radio Link Layer (VRL) standard, speci-fies an optional encapsulation protocol for VITA-49.0 VRT packets. There are two motivations behind this encapsula-tion. The first motivation is to provide link-layer functionality, such as framing and error checking, when it is needed.
The prime example of the need for the VRL protocol is that of a digital recording device that receives a raw bit stream, writes it to disk, and then plays it back later. When playing back the record-ings of VRT packets, it is desirable to be able to find packet boundaries from any arbitrary starting point in the recording. Since the VRT protocol alone does not support framing capability, VRL – or some equivalent – is needed.
The second motivation for the VRL stan-dard is the desire to be able to recog-nize VRT packets when they are carried over a link layer that does not specify the
protocol of the payload. For example, a link may carry a mixture of packets, some VRT, and some of other types. The VRT packets might be routed at the receive end to a processing engine by some hardware that routes received packets based on pay-load type. This application would require unambiguous identification of VRT payloads. Some link protocols provide no method to indicate that a VRT packet is contained. Thus some unique identifier is needed for this purpose. In such cases, the VRL protocol serves to identify the VRT protocol as the payload.
Future enhancementsOriginally, the VITA 49.0 VRT protocol was defined for interoperability between radio receivers and signal processing equipment but now it is seeing implementations for digitized signal sample streams for software radio systems with a need to support interoperability between signal processing equipment and radio transmitters. Further efforts have recently begun to take VITA 49 to the next level to support additional use cases.
The VITA 49.2 working group has started working on transmit and control extensions to meet the expanded objectives of VRT (see Figure 2). The original work remains
Figure 2 | Proposed VITA 49.2 packets.›
RF TUNER ANTENNA PLATFORM
A/D CONVERTER
DIGITAL DOWN
CONVERTER
Antenna Control
RF Tuner Control
A/D Control
DDC Control DDC tuning, bandwidth, etc.
A/D sample rate, triggering, overload, etc.
RF tuning, bandwidth, gain, phase lock, etc.
Antenna azimuth, angle, polarization, location, altitude, speed, heading, etc.
IF data, ID, time stamp VRT IF Data Packetizer
VRT Context Packetizers
VRT Information
Stream To VRT Receiver
Figure 1 | VITA 49.0 – VITA Radio Transport Protocol.›
www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 19
valid but new protocols for complete receive and transmit systems, plus con-trol systems are being proposed and developed.
Functional objectives for VITA 49 are now expanding:
› Precision time stamping for beam-forming, antenna array processing
› Synchronization across channels and sites
› Stream tagging for identification, content, format, and operational parameters
› Monitor status of receiver and transmitter equipment
› Control operation of receiver and transmitter equipment
Top of the priority list are a device con-trol packet and spectrum survey control packet. The device control packet would send operational control parameters to
radio equipment with acknowledge-ment. These additions make it possible for active operation of the radio to be interoperable. The proposed packet fields would include:
› Controller/Controlee Unique Identifier
› Message ID › Control/Ack Indicator › Control Indicator › Control Fields
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VRT Receiver System
Data Packets
Context Packets
Control Packets
Capabilities Packets
Spectrum Packets
VRT Transmitter
System
VRT Processing
and Control System
Control Packets
Capabilities Packets
Stimulus Packets
Context Packets
Figure 3 | VITA 49.2 – Transmit and control extensions.›
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
SPECIAL FEATURE
If you are interested in learning more or would like to participate in the VITA 49 working group, contact VITA for more information: www.vita.com.
References1. “Software-Defined Radio Handbook,” Rodger Hosking, Pentek, www.pentek.com2. “Introduction to VRT and Data Packet Structure,” Matt Lamanque, ThinkRF,
www.thinkrf.com/blog3/ 3. “VPX Optical Interfaces: Standards, Protocols, & Applications,” Embedded Tech Trends
presentation by Rodger Hosking, Pentek, www.embeddedtechtrends.com 4. “VITA 49: VITA Radio Transport (VRT), A Spectrum Language for Software Defined Radios,”
VITA Standard Organization presentation by Robert Normoyle, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)
The spectrum survey control packets provide various control fields; center fre-quency, span, sweep rate, start/stop fre-quency, and resolution bandwidth critical to controlling a spectrum analyzer. The working group is currently evaluating two different proposals for this packet type.
According to Robert Normoyle at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), the Office of Naval Research (ONR) initiated a Joint Open Architecture Spectrum Infrastructure (JOASI) effort. Lead by APL, the team consists of 11 prominent organizations that are industry experts on communi-cation, electronic warfare (EW) systems, and RF spectrum standards. This group developed an EW Ontology comprised of an integrated set of spectrum standards that will enable efficient, cooperative, and non-interfering use of the elec-tromagnetic spectrum (EMS) domain. JOASI’s ontology conveys system com-mands, status, capabilities, observations, and policies that can be used during battle operations.
This effort is introducing additional transmit and control extensions that are under consideration:
› Capabilities Packets that announce configurable assets of each device and parameter ranges
› Transmitter Context Packets that deliver operational status and parameters of transmitters
› Spectrum Packets that deliver limited spectral data for monitoring and scanning
ConclusionVITA 49 extensions enhance the total SDR system architecture (see Figure 3). The first wave of enhancements help to eliminate stove-pipe architectures that emerge when there are no suitable standards and enhanced interoperability between components when multiple invested parties are involved in the development of a standard specification.
Additional technological enhancements will address standards for multi-channel phase coherent architectures and trans-port protocols for multi-function SDR architectures.
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www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 21
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2015 www.vita-technologies.com
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Ethernet switch and SBC in one module claims VICTORYSmall, modular computing is forcing a new look at system architectures. Curtiss-Wright Corporation’s VPX3-671 module is a great example. Curtiss-Wright claims that the VPX3-671 Ethernet Switch and single board computer (SBC) is the industry’s first single-slot commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) module solution for integrating the essential networking elements needed to implement the U.S. Army’s VICTORY standard. The lightweight, rugged, and compact VPX3-671 provides a line replaceable module (LRM) that features a core subset of advanced network
switch and computing resources approach for implementing VICTORY, the U.S. Army’s mandated approach for modernizing ground vehicle networks. System integrators can quickly and cost-effectively embed the networking and vehicle management processing capabilities needed to modernize today’s tactical ground vehicles. The VPX3-671 delivers a fully-featured 12-port managed GigabitEthernet(GbE)switchthatistestedtobecompliantwiththeVICTORYspecificationasanInfrastructureSwitch.Flippingthearchitecturalmodel,theVPX3-671’s1.2GHzFreescaleQorIQdual-coreP2020-basedgeneralpurposeSBCisoptionalandisinstalled as a daughtercard.
Curtiss-Wright Corporation • www.curtisswrightds.com • www.vita-technologies.com/p372599
Parallel computing gets ruggedGraphics and video processing are key elements of many critical embedded systems. The Tech Source Condor GR2 3U VPX is a new rugged 3U VPX form factor graphics/video card with general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) capability, developed specifically for supporting the CUDA parallel computing programming model and the OpenCL programming language. The new card is based on the leading-edge NVIDIAGeForceGTX-850Mprocessor–offering640shaderunitsclockedat876MHzand2GBofGDDR5memory–andusesNVIDIA’sMaxwellGPUarchitecture.TheCondorGR23UVPXgraphics/videocard is designed for very high performance parallel computing in rugged environments such as avionics, manned and unmanned video streaming, radar, sonar, image analysis, and security/surveillance applications.
Selwyn L. Henriques, president and CEO of Tech Source commented, “Our new CUDA-powered VPX card delivers very high GPGPU performance with processing speeds of over 1 teraflop per second, dramatically improving power efficiency, control logic partitioning, workload balancing, clock-gating granularity, and instruction scheduling.”
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A true single board computer for VMEVME single board computers are now truly a single board. The VP B1x/msd, a6UVMEboardbasedona4thgenerationIntelCorei7/i5processorfromConcurrent Technologies is a prime example. The VP B1x/msd include a processorandanIntelHDGraphics4600,whichhas20executionunitsandcan support three simultaneous display outputs. A front or rear VGA port is provided for backwards compatibility with previous boards. Up to two DVI-D interfaces and a DisplayPort connection are available as options forapplicationsneedinghigh-resolutiondigitaldisplaysupport.A2.5-inch
drivecanbeaccommodatedon-boardforhardorsolidstatedisks.OthersolidstatestorageoptionsincludeaCFastslotandaFlashdiskmodulesitetoprovideachoiceforreliableprogramanddatastorage.OneortwoXMC/PMCsitesareavailableforlocal I/O expansion. Other enhancements include USB3 connectivity for high-speed interfacing and setup operations.
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www.vita-technologies.com VITA Technologies Spring 2015 | 23
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Rugged recording in a portable packageFrontPanelDataPort(FPDP)isverypopularinsignalprocessingplatforms.PentekleveragesFPDPintheTalonModelRTR2736Amulti-channelSerialFPDP(sFPDP)ruggedportablerecorder,suitableformilitaryandaerospace,radar, and communications applications. The RTR 2736A is capable of capturinguptoeightSerialFPDPdatastreamsinrealtimetosolidstatedrives (SSD). It fully complies with the VITA 17.1 specification and additionally supportssFPDPbaudratesupto4.25Gbaud,makingitanidealupgradetoexisting systems. The Talon portable chassis features a portable, lightweight, briefcasestylehousingmeasuringonly16.0"Wx6.9"Dx13.0"Handweighingjustlessthan30pounds.ItalsosupportsACandDCpoweroptions.Thisruggedwork-stationisreinforcedwithshock-absorbingrubbercornersandanimpact-resistantprotectiveglassforitshighresolution17"LCDmonitor.Hotswappablesolid-statedrivesexhibit high immunity to shock and vibration for full operation in ground vehicles, ships, and aircraft.
Pentek • www.pentek.com • www.vita-technologies.com/p372601
Customize times twoPerformance and maximum customization all in one 6U VPX slot looks pretty impressive.TheInterfaceConceptIC-FEP-VPX6bisdesignedtomeetthemostdemanding needs of embedded high performance signal and image computing applications.TwoXilinxVirtex-7FPGAsandoneFreescaleQorIQT1042orT2081e5500quad-coreprocessorprovidetheflexibilityandperformance.TwoFMCslots,oneperFPGA,notchuptheabilitytocustomizetheboard.APCIeadvancedswitchallowsversatilecouplingbetweenthemulticoreprocessor,thetwoFPGAs,andthefabriclinksoftheP1VPXconnector.TheQorIQprovidestheusualexternalinterfaces: Ethernet, Serial, and USB ports. Moreover, one eUSB slot enables an optional SSD module.
OtherFabricLinksoftheVPXbackplanearedirectlyconnectedtotheFPGA’sGTHtransceivers.Moreover,thetwoFPGAsaredirectlyinterconnectedvia8GTHlanesand35LVDSsignals.
Interface Concept • www.interfaceconcept.com • www.vita-technologies.com/p372609
Breakout flexibility and performanceAnother way to gain the greatest design flexibility is with a very modular architecture and host processor that is designed to be customized. The North Atlantic Industries (NAI) 6U VME64ARM1singleboardcomputer(SBC)poweredbythelatesthigh-speedARMCortex-A9dual core processor is that architecture. Built on NAI’s Custom-On-Standard Architecture (COSA), these SBCs are designed to support a multitude of mil/aero applications that require high-density, highly configurable I/O, and communication functions. Pre-existing, fully tested functionscanbeselectedquicklyandeasilytomeetsystemrequirements.Furthermore,eachI/O function has its own dedicated processing, thereby unburdening the SBC from unnecessary data management overhead – delivering size, weight, and power (SWaP) efficiencies and reduced overall system costs.
Six high-performance function module slots enable system integrators to choose from a selectionof40+field-provenI/Oandcommunicationfunctions.
North Atlantic Industries • www.naii.com • www.vita-technologies.com/p372610
Pentek’s rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast, reliable and secure operation in your environment.
Call 201-818-5900 or go to www.pentek.com/go/mestalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog.
Introducing Pentek’s expanded line of Talon® COTS,
rugged, portable and lab-based recorders. Built to capture wideband SIGINT, radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box:
• Analog RF/IF, 10 GbE, LVDS, sFPDP solutions• Real-time sustained recording to 4 GB/sec• Recording and playback operation• Analog signal bandwidths to 1.6 GHz• Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drives• GPS time and position stamping• Hot-swappable storage to Windows
® NTFS RAIDs
• Remote operation & multi-system synchronization• SystemFlow
® API & GUI with Signal Analyzer
• Complete documentation & lifetime support
Pentek, Inc., One Park Way, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 • Phone: 201.818.5900 • Fax: 201.818.5904 • e-mail:[email protected] • www.pentek.comWorldwide Distribution & Support, Copyright © 2013 Pentek, Inc. Pentek, Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek, Inc. Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Can’t Afford to Miss a Beat!
