Brand New Small Form Factor (SFF) System Features 10 Gb/s Optical Links for High-Bandwidth Embedded Computing

The latest 3U VPX embedded system from Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) sets a new standard for high-bandwidth data acquisition and signal processing in harsh environments.

With multiple high-speed optical links, an Intel® Xeon® D-1500 processor, and a Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA, the XPand6215 offers uncompromising performance and reliability in a SWaP-optimised two-slot system.

High-Speed, Fibre Optic Communications
The XPand6215 is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) rugged chassis hosting two conduction-cooled 3U VPX modules. One slot contains the XPedite2570, a reconfigurable fibre-optic I/O module based on the Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ family of FPGAs.

The XPedite2570 supplies 12 protocol-independent optical transceivers operating at up to 10.3125 Gb/s, along with 8 GB of DDR4 ECC SDRAM in two channels capable of up to 38 GB/s aggregate bandwidth. The transceivers utilise 50/125 μm multi-mode fibre with MT connectors and are qualified over the full -40°C to +85°C industrial temperature range for reliable performance in extreme environments.

These optical links are paired with a user-programmable Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA, which provides a blend of performance and cost-effectiveness that is ideal for packet processing and DSP-intensive processing in embedded applications.

Unparalleled, Multi-Core Processing Power
The other slot of the XPand6215 contains the XPedite7670, a 3U VPX Single Board Computer based on the Intel® Xeon® D-1500 family of processors (formerly Broadwell-DE). Available with up to 16 Xeon®-class cores in a single, power-efficient System-on-Chip (SoC) package, this processor puts the XPand6215 in the upper echelon of embedded system performance. Xeon® D processors with up to 12 cores offer native extended temperature support with an operating temperature range of -40⁰C to +85⁰C.

The XPedite7670 also provides up to 16 GB of DDR4-2133 ECC SDRAM, while an XPort3305 10 Gigabit Ethernet XMC module installed on the XPedite7670 provides a rugged 10GBASE-SR Ethernet port.

Industry-Leading Functional Density in a Small Form Factor (SFF) Enclosure
The XPand6215 makes the most of every pound and square inch, packing maximum functionality into a streamlined two-slot design. Its integrated 28 VDC power supply eliminates the need for an additional power supply slot. It also includes a memory bay for a removable 2.5 in. solid-state drive (SSD), adding the option for up to 1 TB of storage. Fully loaded, the system weighs approximately 4kg, making it ideal for cutting-edge military and industrial applications that require small, lightweight solutions.

Qualified to the MIL-STD-461E/F, MIL-STD-810, and MIL-STD-704F standards, the XPand6215 has passed a battery of tests to ensure reliable operation in even the most challenging environments.

The XPand6200 Series of rugged, embedded systems are available in a diverse range of configurations, making them uniquely-suited to a variety of processing-intensive applications.

Please contact Sarsen Technology to discuss your requirements.

VersaLogic Releases 'Raven' - Embedded SFF Computer based on Intel Bay Trail Processor

The team at VersaLogic has just announced the release of the Raven - a compact and rugged embedded x86 computer built around the Intel Bay Trail processor.

See Raven datasheet (pdf)

This is VersaLogic's fourth product released in the Embedded Processing Unit (EPU) format. EPU's combine processor, memory, video, and system I/O into an extremely compact full function embedded computer.

The Raven, equipped with an Intel Atom 38xx processor, is designed to withstand extreme temperature, impact, and vibration. It has been engineered and tested to meet the military and medical industries' evolving requirements to develop smaller, lighter, and lower power embedded systems while adhering to stringent regulatory standards.

Available in single-, dual-, and quad-core versions, the Raven provides great performance and I/O features, moderate power consumption (6 to 8W typical depending on model), and a compact package. The Raven provides compatibility with a broad range of standard x86 application development tools for reduced development time.

Features

• Wide Range Voltage Input
  Accepts 8 to 30 volts DC with OVP, reverse polarity protection, and RF noise filtering.
• High-performance Video
  Integrated Intel Gen 7 graphics core supports DirectX 11, OpenGL 4, and H.264, MPEG-2 encoding/decoding. Mini DisplayPort and LVDS video outputs. LVDS backlight control.
• Network
  Dual Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) with remote boot support.
• SATA
  3 Gb/s SATA port supports bootable SATA hard drive.
• Mini PCIe Card Sockets
  Dual full-sized sockets. Supports A/D, Wi-Fi modems, GPS, MIL-STD-1553, Ethernet, flash data storage with auto-detect mSATA flash storage support, and other mini PCIe modules.
• MicroSD Socket
  Supports removable microSD card solid-state drives.
• Industrial I/O
  One USB 3.0 port and four USB 2.0 ports support keyboard, mouse, and other devices. Four RS-232/422/485 serial ports, three 8254 timer/counters, and I2C support.
• Analog + Digital I/O
  On-board data acquisition support. Eight multi-range analog inputs and eight 3.3V digital I/O lines.
• SPI Interface
  Supports SPI and SPX devices, including low cost analog and digital modules.
• Intel Atom "Bay Trail" Processor
  Up to 1.9 GHz clock rate. Quad-, dual-, or single-core options. Low power consumption.
• Fanless Operation
  No moving parts required for CPU cooling in most configurations.
• Trusted Platform Module
  On-board TPM security chip can lock out unauthorised hardware and software.
• RAM
  Up to 4 GB soldered-down DDR3L RAM.
• FLASH
  Up to 8 GB of on-board eMMC flash storage.
• Industrial Temperature Operation
  -40° to +85°C operation for harsh environments
• MIL-STD-202G
  Qualified for high shock/vibration environments.
• Software Support
  Compatible with a variety of popular x86 operating systems including Windows, Windows Embedded, Linux, and VxWorks.

The Raven is a newly released product. It may be available in limited quantities. Please contact Sarsen for more details.

Extra Diagnostic Power When You Need It - The GUARDIAN Series I/O boards from United Electronic Industries

Author: Laura Biddiscombe

The Guardian series of boards from United Electronic Industries (UEI) provide a host of powerful diagnostics and have been extremely popular in simulator applications as well as other applications requiring high system up-time and maintainability.

The Guardian series boards provide an extra level of diagnostics and are designed to help you quickly and easily diagnose and correct short circuits, open circuits, over-voltage conditions and many other possible failure conditions. These features are also very useful when used in conjunction with Power On Self Test (POST). All Guardian series I/O boards are shown on a green background in the latest edition of the UEI Product Catalogue - click here to request a free copy.

With so many I/O options available to the UEI's unique PowerDNA/DNR I/O interface chassis, there are virtually limitless possibilities for deployment to suit your unique application, all with outstanding software support for a great number of operating platforms including Linux, Windows and Real-time operating systems. Application packages including LabVIEW, MATLAB, DASYLab are also supported. As with all PowerDNA/DNR products from UEI, their I/O boards are guaranteed to remain available for the next 10 years.

The DNx-DIO-449 from United Electronic Industries is a 48 channel, high performance AC and DC digital input board designed for use in a wide variety of digital monitoring applications.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166, or email the team.

Sun is Shining, Weather is Sweet....

That’s right. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, it’s not dark; it’s just your sunglasses. The pain on the back of your neck and shoulders is actually sunburn. It’s summer, people, and we’ve finally had some pretty fabulous weather, with the UK racking up temperatures hotter than Barbados and Tahiti at times.

But take a minute to actually think about the sun. As well as being the giver of tan lines and facilitator of days at the beach it’s also the closest star to Earth, (practically next door at only 149,600,000 km away), and is about 4.6 billion years old. We actually know quite a lot about it, thanks to solar imaging.

BittWare was involved in a project to design a solar image processing system for one of their customers. The processing requirements were quite specific – the customer was looking for adaptive image processing using multi-channel correlation. This called for a very large multi-processor system with a huge amount of I/O bandwidth, extensive integration work, and a very efficient cooling system.

 

BittWare’s solution included ten DSP-based boards, supplying 80 DSPs, and a custom designed chassis to provide efficient cooling. They drew on decades of expertise in digital signal processing design, enabling them to create an 80-DSP system that functioned with no issues, which also cooled properly. Although the hardware used was COTS hardware, significant application-specific design work was needed to ultimately provide the final system to their customer.

Enjoy the sun this weekend!

Training on a Friday afternoon....

Every so often at Camp Sarsen, we decide it’s time to refresh our knowledge and tap into our manufacturer’s vast resources with a little bit of training.

This week UEI are sharing their secrets about the UEISIM. It's a great bit of kit, and it's one that has seen growing interest over the last few months. So we decided to swot up to make sure we're ready to answer all your questions about the hardware and how it works.

The UEISIM is available on PPC Cube, GigE Cube and RACKtangle platforms

In basic terms, the UEISIM turns a PowerDNx Ethernet data acquisition module into a target on which you can run Simulink models and read/write physical I/O. It offers Simulink users a flexible I/O target for real time applications like simulation model verification, rapid prototyping, and hardware-in-the-loop testing. You can use it to experiment with control system design, signal processing, data acquisition and similar tasks directly from the Simulink environment, without the need to use any additional tools.

We will be delving into UEISIM nitty-gritty this afternoon, looking at the software, I/O capabilities, deployment scenarios, ruggedisation, chassis design and connectivity ports and interfaces.

If our brains are still intact after all then give us a call to:
a) test us, or
b) discuss your Simulink application!

T - +44 1672 511166
E - info@sarsen.net

Have a great weekend!

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance". Confucius

Sarsen Spotlight Shines on the UEI Guardian Series

United Electronic Industries (UEI) is a leader in the PC/Ethernet data acquisition and control, Data Logger/Recorder and Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) and Modbus TCP markets.

They currently offer over 50 different I/O boards for their Cube and RACKtangle chassis. The RACK/Cube versions of the boards are electrically identical and use the same printed circuit board, components and software.

The 'Guardian' series boards provide a host of powerful diagnostics, and have been extremely popular in simulator applications as well as other projects requiring high system up time and maintainability.

The Guardian series boards are designed to help you quickly and easily diagnose and correct short circuits, open circuits, over-voltage conditions and many other possible failure conditions. These features are also very useful when used in conjunction with Power On Self Test (POST).

Some of the benefits of the Guardian Series

• Built-in monitoring of output voltage and current detects shorts/opens
• PWM output and soft-start mode
• Built-in A/D converter allows actual input voltage to be measured
• Output current readback
• Output voltage readback

The PowerDNA Cube and RACKtangle I/O chassis and I/O layers are supported by all popular Windows, Linux and Real-time operating systems. The UEIDAQ Framework provides a simple and universal API and supports all common programming languages. The Cube is also fully supported by an extensive array of application packages including LabVIEW, MATLAB, DASYLab and more.

With so many I/O options available there are virtually limitless possibilities for deployment to suit your unique application. UEI also guarantees that the hardware you purchase today will be still be available 10 years from now, giving you complete peace of mind that your solution will be supported for the duration of it's life, and possibly beyond!

For more information on UEI and the Guardian series, please give us a call on +44 1672 511166, or email us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sarsen Technology is here if you need us, Santa!

Things are ramping up at the North Pole....

On the run up to Christmas Eve, Santa has to go through his list of names, and check it twice, to see who has been naughty and who has been nice. He then has to decide which toy each child deserves. It’s a long process, and it could be much simpler, using BLITzEN – the BittWare Low latency Intelligent Toy Evaluation Network.

It’s based on the Altera Stratix V FPGA, provides CPU offload, the highest performance transceivers , and with maximum processing performance per watt to minimize energy and thermal requirements it’s perfect for Santa’s busy Workshop, as it helps him to determine not just what children want but rather what they deserve.

Those Reindeer are an essential part of the process, and Santa knows he needs to make sure they are happy and performing at their best. The UEI Cube is small and rugged, and can be used to measure the tension on their specially adapted harnesses using its strain gauge layers, so Santa knows the second there are any problems. That sleigh is heavy!

Flying around the world in a reindeer-drawn sleigh would be made much easier with a display system running on the Copperhead Core i7 EBX board from VersaLogic. Its performance level allows for the integration of multiple high-bandwidth functions, such as digital signal processing and real-time video processing. The Copperhead features a high-speed memory interface, up to 16 GB on-board RAM capacity, and three independent display outputs, so Santa can check his route, run his aforementioned naughty-or-nice list, and still video-chat with the sleigh-port, an underground facility run by Elves that serves as a command and control centre. 

Phew! Its a busy time for the guys and girls at the North Pole, but don't worry Santa, Sarsen Technology is here to help. Give us a call on +44 1672 511166 or drop us an email!!

Military Simulator Technology from UEI

When someone says “Simulator” most people immediately think “Flight Simulator”.

However, simulators are now also used to train ‘drivers’ on fire trucks, tanks, military ground vehicles and even conventional and nuclear power plants. Military trainers in particular are basing much of their driver training on very complex and realistic simulators.

The simulator can provide a realistic experience of driving a tank, personnel carrier, or MRAP in a convoy at night while under attack. These are very real conditions that are very difficult to train for in actual vehicles. The combination of small footprint and real-time update speed make the United Electronic Industries (UEI) RACKtangle an ideal ground vehicle simulator solution.

Interestingly, UEI’s wide selection of I/O capabilities is often more critical in ground simulators than flight. In addition to the standard analog and digital I/O, most military ground simulators also require a combination of serial, CAN, ARINC-429 and/or MIL-STD-1553. UEI offer support for all these functions through their range of boards and chassis.

The UEI RACKtangle I/O chassis has been selected by FlightSafety International as the computer-based I/O hardware for future flight simulators. The UEI system provides the interface between the controlling computers and the simulator’s various systems including Avionics Instrument Control (AIC), Control Loading and Motion (CLM) and Flight Deck I/O (FDK). In PowerDNA mode the system can be almost arbitrarily large - UEI have been used on military aircraft flight simulators requiring greater than 7000 I/O points!!

For more information on how UEI can work in your simulator application, please give us a call on +44 1672 511166, or drop us an email with your requirements.

SUMIT - I/O Expansion Module Development Made Easier....

Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology (SUMIT ™) is a stackable, form-factor independent expansion format that includes both high and low speed bus signals. The SUMIT spec is targeted for products using state-of-the-art serial buses and legacy chipset expansion buses all in the same form factor.

The specification is an I/O-centric approach, which defines the connector and stacking method, but it doesn’t address the specific location requirements for the connectors on any specific form factor boards. Only the location (placement) of one connector relative to the other is specified, to ensure proper routing of signals that are passed from one connector to another as they continue up the stack.

A SUMIT stack is designed to be processor independent, as it focuses on bus and interconnect technology rather than any single processor or DSP architecture. Two connectors are used on each module, SUMIT A and SUMIT B. These connectors carry multiple high-speed serial PCIe and USB 2.0 buses and include Low Pin Count (LPC), Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), and SMBus/I2C for legacy requirements. While the optional SUMIT B connector carries mostly PCIe interfaces, the SUMIT A connector carries a single x1 PCIe and four USB 2.0 buses, as well as the legacy interfaces.

With no hardware configuration needed to route multiple interfaces, SUMIT gives designers a solution for creating embedded expansion modules that require high-speed interfaces as well as legacy support.

VersaLogic's EBX, EPIC and PC/104 SUMIT platforms are combined with an optional ISA connector to support legacy PC/104 expansion modules. The signals available on VersaLogic's CPU boards include PCI Express lanes, low speed signals such as LPC and SPI, and legacy USB and ISA signals. VersaLogic currently offer 3 SBCs featuring optional SUMIT expansion –

• Komodo - A dual core SBC on a SUMIT-EPIC™ platform. The Komodo features a very high performance Intel® Core™2 Duo processor, dual Gigabit Ethernet, and high performance integrated video.


• Ocelot - An Intel Atom™ based embedded computer in a SUMIT-104 format. The Ocelot uses an industrial temperature Atom version to provide high performance (1.6 GHz) at very low power (7 Watts). The Ocelot, at only 90 mm x 96 mm, is compatible with most SUMIT and PC/104 expansion boards, and is available in both standard (0º to +60ºC) and extended (-40º to +85ºC) temperature versions.


• 'Brand New' Copperhead - The Copperhead is a high-performance embedded computer powered by a 3rd Generation Intel Core i7 processor. Based on the industry-standard EBX format, the Copperhead is available in either quad- or dual-core models (17 to 45W power dissipation). It features several heat management configurations and offers options for I/O interfaces and interface connectors.

VersaLogic Komodo

For more information please give us a call on +44 1672 511166 or drop me an email and we'll answer any questions you might have.

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Data Acquisition and Temperature Monitoring with United Electronic Industries

United Electronic Industries (UEI) is a leading provider of PC based I/O products, including Ethernet data acquisition and embedded/industrial control interfaces, Data Loggers/Recorders and Linux based Embedded Controllers (PACs).
UEI supply products to many different markets, with a focus on simulation, industrial, aerospace, and laboratory data acquisition and control applications.
If you're not sure whether UEI has the right product to solve your problem you should check out the application stories on their website; you may be surprised how many different uses there are for the UEI hardware... 

High Channel Count Temperature Monitoring

A major appliance manufacturer automated temperature measurement in a CSA oven test stand. Though conceptually a simple application, the system requires monitoring over 1700 thermocouples.The previous solution involved four technicians monitoring a bank of digital panel meters and making manual entries into a test log. 
This inefficient, error-prone method was replaced by 18 PowerDNA DNA-PPC8 Cubes populated with DNA-AI-207 analog input boards.

DNA-AI-207 analog input board

The Cubes are distributed around the test chamber, minimizing the length of thermocouple wire required. The built-in single port Ethernet switch provided in the PowerDNA Cube allows the Ethernet to be daisy chained from one cube to the next. The entire system is implemented using a single Ethernet port on the host computer.

Software for this system was written in C++ using the UEIDAQ Framework. The Framework provides a powerful, yet simple set of drivers that may be called from all popular programming languages and application packages (e.g., LabVIEW, MATLAB) and supports Windows/ Vista. UEI also provides a high level API to support Linux and most popular Real-Time operating systems including QNX, RTX, and VxWorks. The library adds simulated hardware that allows you to test-drive the software, (or start developing your application) without any DAQ hardware. The UEIDAQ library is included with all UEI DAQ hardware at no charge. It is available for download from the UEI website.

The PowerDNA® (Distributed Networked Automation) Cube and PowerDNR RACKtangles are compact, rugged, Ethernet-based data acquisition and control chassis. PowerDNA series chassis act as I/O slaves to a host computer. Programs/applications running on a host PC receive data from input (or I/O) boards within the chassis and write data to output channels. I/O boards may be installed in any combination, allowing the Cube/RACKtangle to be precisely matched to your system requirements. This configuration works well in both data acquisition and control applications. 
Supporting LabVIEW, DASYLab and MATLAB, UEI is a great choice for your data acquisition and control requirements...

Tell us about your application - email laura.jeffs@sarsen.net or call the office on +44 1672 511166