What is an Embedded Processing Unit (EPU) ?

Embedded Processing Unit

Definition - Fully assembled and tested x86 embedded computer based on COM Express form factor.

The EPU concept is based on the flexibility of a 2-board set forming a complete embedded computer product. When you combine two completely separate CPU and I/O modules, tightly sandwiched together, the final product provide a huge range of advantages and a much smaller footprint than equivalent single board computers.

VersaLogic's family of rugged EPU products are designed around the COM Express form factor, and are delivered as fully assembled and tested units (including heat plate).



What's Inside

 

EPUs offer a long list of advantages over other embedded computer board products, including:

• Fast time-to-market 
• Smaller footprint 
•  -40° to +85°C operation 
• Fully tested 
• Available off-the-shelf!

There is also often the added complication of designing a custom carrier card for COM Express modules. EPUs eliminate the effort needed to design with high speed signals, validate the I/O circuits to make sure they work properly, create testing methods for the finished units, etc. The expertise required to create software drivers, BIOS customisation, and API code for the on-board I/O is also removed for easy integration.

EPU modules are almost obsolescence proof. The industry standard form factor means it's really easy to migrate to an EPU with a newer CPU module, but keep your existing I/O configuration and connectors for drop-in compatibility. This is combined with VersaLogic's standard 5-year availability guarantee and Product Life Extension programs for almost completely future-proof technology solutions.

Have a look at the EPU Product Overview to find out more.

If you think one of VersaLogic's rugged, off-the-shelf EPU embedded computer models might be a good fit for your application please give one of our experienced engineers to discuss your requirements.

T: 01672 511166
E: info@sarsen.net  

Why Do We Ask for End User Statements?

The U.S. Government controls exports of sensitive equipment, software and technology as a way of promoting their national security interests and foreign policy objectives.

We work with a number of manufacturing partners based in the United States, and some of them make a practice of requesting End Use Statements for all international orders, and for all items, whether a license is technically required or not.

This includes items that are coded as EAR 99, which means that they are still subject to Export Administration Regulations, but they don't have an Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) on the Commerce Control List.

The majority of the boards and systems that we sell are considered 'dual-use', and do have an ECCN, rather than an EAR 99 classification, which is why our partners record the end user information for their products. By obtaining the "End User Statement" they are able to properly identify any license requirements and exceptions.

If you have any problems completing an End User Statement for one of our partners we are here to help. Please contact the team here on 01672 511166 and we can go through it with you step by step.

1553 Tutorial - Alta Data Technologies

Alta Data Technologies LLC (Alta) is a company dedicated to providing the best possible MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC-429/717 COTS communications products and service in the Aerospace Industry.





Find out more - Alta Data

Alta has designed a full line of PCI, PCI Express (PCIe) interface cards for almost any computer backplane. They also supply their own innovative real-time Ethernet connectivity devices.

Alta is the only COTS supplier to test 1553 card designs to SAE AS4111 Protocol Validation Tests, and they manufacture their products to the highest IPC-610 Class 3 standards using processes managed by an ISO9001 quality management system. All of this is backed up by their 5 year limited warranty – one of the best in the industry. Alta is fully supported in the UK by Sarsen Technology.

MIL-STD-1553

MIL-STD-1553 has had a long, popular life – and will continue to be supported for decades to come in new and legacy applications. Alta engineers and managers have been in the avionics industry since the early 1980’s and have worked on nearly every major avionics program.

They have put together a MIL-STD-1553 tutorial, designed to complement the referenced MIL HDBK 1553A Notice II (3572 downloads) document, which provides an excellent detailed review of the 1553 standard (MIL-HDBK-1553A Section 20 provides a summary of MIL-STD-1553B Notice 2).  Commercially available chip-sets and interface cards (like Alta’s) “off load” the protocol processing (protocol engine) so the engineer’s primary concern is design/integration of application software and cabling issues.

You can download the tutorial by clicking here. If you have any questions please get in touch with the Sarsen team - info@sarsen.net

New 3U VPX Rugged Video Capture Board from EIZO Rugged

EIZO Rugged Solutions has released the Condor GR4 3U VPX 3G-SDI capture board, an ultra-high performance rugged graphics/capture board with four 3G-SDI inputs and outputs.

• The MIL-STD-810G Condor GR4 3U VPX card is a single slot, SWaP-conscious card for ultra-high performance rugged ISR applications

The new graphics module is based on the NVIDIA® Quadro® P5000 and P3000 graphics processing units (GPUs) with 2,048 or 1,280 CUDA cores respectively and up to 6.4 TFLOPs shader performance.

Condor GR4 3U VPX Datasheet

The Condor GR4 is a single slot, SWaP-conscious card designed for today’s rugged Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) applications such as avionics, manned and unmanned video streaming and security/surveillance.

Selwyn L. Henriques, president and CEO of EIZO Rugged Solutions, commented, “The Condor GR4 3U VPX card is the perfect solution for today’s ISR market that is transitioning to 3G-SDI. Our ISR customers typically have 3-4 sensors per gimbal and have been demanding a single slot, SWaP-conscious card that does everything – ingest information from the sensors, output this high definition data over 3G-SDI, process it using the GPU and then encode each stream using the onboard H.265/H.264 encoder.

The Condor GR4 3U VPX offers four 3G-SDI inputs and four 3G-SDI outputs and a DisplayPort output. With NVIDIA GPUDirect™ Direct Memory Access (DMA) support, the captured video data is transferred directly into GPU memory for processing or display, both resulting in extremely low latency. The MIL-STD-810G compliant card supports PCI Express 3.0 (up to 8 lanes) and is available in conduction-cooled and air-cooled variants.

Read Full Press Release

For more information on the Condor GR4 3U VPX card or any other product from EIZO Rugged Solutions, please contact the Sarsen Technology team - info@sarsen.net

Extreme Engineering Releases 3U VPX Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGA Module

Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) introduces the XPedite2570, a rugged FPGA processing module with a high-speed optical front-end interface. Equipped with an integrated Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA, the XPedite2570 optimises both cost and performance for high-bandwidth embedded computing applications.

XPedite2570 Datasheet

Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA Delivers Great Performance Without Great Cost
The XPedite2570 is a high-performance, conduction-cooled 3U VPX FPGA processing module based on the Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ XCKU115 FPGA.

The Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ family of FPGAs provides the best price/performance/watt at 20nm, as well as the highest signal processing bandwidth for a mid-range device.

Ideal for programs that need to optimise both cost and capability, the Kintex® UltraScale™ XCKU115 packs over 1.4 M system logic cells, 5,520 DSP slices, and 75.9 Mb of block RAM into a cost-effective package. It also provides a straightforward upgrade path for legacy systems, offering up to 40% power savings compared to the previous generation of FPGAs.


Optimised for High-Bandwidth Applications
The XPedite2570 is a reconfigurable FPGA resource designed to meet the demands of high-bandwidth applications such as packet processing, signal processing, and DSP-intensive applications. It features 12 rugged, protocol-independent fiber optic transceivers operating at up to 10.3125 Gb/s, along with 8 GB of DDR4 ECC SDRAM in two independent channels capable of up to 38 GB/s aggregate bandwidth. The XPedite2570 has several options for high-performance backplane I/O, including a x8 Gen3 PCI Express interface, dual GTH transceivers with a maximum data rate of 16.375 Gb/s, and up to 44 LVDS transceivers for user I/O.

X-ES’ board support package for the XPedite2570 includes an FPGA Development Kit for Xilinx Vivado complete with a reference design, IP Integrator IP blocks, HDL, test benches, and Linux drivers, so developers can jump right into application development without having to work through hardware integration issues.

Build a Rugged COTS System with Compatible X-ES Products
For lower development costs and faster deployment, pair the XPedite2570 with a 3U VPX single board computer (SBC) and install them together in the XPand6215, a Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) rugged system designed to meet the rigorous standards of MIL-STD-704F and MIL-STD-461. The XPand6215 can support several embedded single board computers from the XPedite767x product line, such as the XPedite7670. This family of high-performance SBCs is based on the Intel® Xeon® D processor, which provides up to 16 Xeon®-class cores in a single, power-efficient System-on-Chip (SoC) package.

More about Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES)

New Concept Modular Computer Could Change The Way You Design Embedded Systems

myOPALE™ from ECRIN Systems offers disruptive technology designed to multiply the capabilities of your next embedded computers in a much smaller foot print, thanks to PCI Express® over Cable interconnectivity, and standard 5.25’’ building blocks with mini-SAS HD connectors.

For three decades, Industrial PC’s have tended to use one of two types of architectures from the Eighties: ATX/miniITX motherboard, or PICMG® passive backplane. In both cases, the CPU board and its I/O cards were physically and mechanically linked through a PCI Express PCB.

The myOPALE Concept was born from four simple concepts:

• - Break the mechanical link between the CPU and I/O cards, using PCI Express Over Cable interconnection;
• - Design with building blocks based on a standard 5.25’’ form factor;
• - Use widely deployed inter-connectivity standards from SNIA/SFF Technology Affiliate, encompassing cables, connectors, form factor sizes and housing dimensions;
• - Integrated thermal solution at building blocks level.

For more details, including datasheet and technical specs, please visit the myOpale page on our website or contact one of our engineers to discuss your application.

Absolute Quality! ISO 9001 at Sarsen Technology

A good quality process drives a company, and ideally, involves everyone in producing a quality service or product.

We've been working hard over the 12 months since our last audit to continue to develop and improve our quality processes, in order to provide the best possible service to our customers.

Following our very successful transition audit this week we are about to migrate to IS0 9001:2015 from our currently held IS0 9001:2008 accreditation.

ISO 9001 is a global standard that specifies the requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Companies like ours use the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer requirements.

It oversees everything from process management to customer satisfaction to make sure the customer isn’t affected by any bad practices at their suppliers. Most of our customers simply can't work with suppliers who don’t hold a recognised quality certification, and so its very important that we maintain our ISO certified status.

One of our most fundamental quality goals is to boost customer satisfaction by planning for and  exceeding our customer's expectations, in terms of both service and technology offerings. By maintaining our proven and positive customer satisfaction levels we retain our customers project after project, because the happiest customers are definitely the most loyal.

For more information on our quality policies please contact Sarsen Technology - info@sarsen.net