In Case You Missed It... DSEI 2017

Sarsen Technology exhibited in the dedicated Security Zone at DSEI 2017, showcasing the some of the worlds highest-performance computing hardware from some of our international manufacturers..

We were joined by Ken Sheth and Tony Barbieri from EIZO Rugged Solutions who were running a very cool interactive GPGPU CUDA demo, based on the new Condor GR3 3U VPX single board computer.

Kerry Howell and Gary Harris from VersaLogic were also with us on the stand and introduced their brand new Ethernet over Fibre mini PCIe module which was very popular. VersaLogic's family of rugged, embedded computers were on display, including a special focus on the modules with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), including the new Raven and Liger boards.

If you stopped by the stand you would have seen a number of 1553 and ARINC boards from Alta Data and a wide range of rugged SBCs from Extreme Engineering, including the XPedite8150 COM Express Module based on the Intel Atom E3800 'Bay Trail' series of processors. We also had a lot of interest in the PCIe boards from BittWare, featuring both Xilinx UltraScale and Intel Arria 10 and Stratix V FPGAs.

If you didn't make it to DSEI this year but you'd like some more info on the technology we were talking about at the event please get in touch - info@sarsen.net

 

DSEI 2017 - EIZO Rugged Solutions Tyton VS2 H.265 Video Encoder Showcase: Stand N7-185

DSEI 2017

28 days to go - are you visiting DSEI 2017? If you are we'd like to invite you to the Sarsen Technology stand, N7-185, where we will be showcasing the some of the worlds highest-performance computing hardware designed for wide range of security sectors, from UAVs and electronic countermeasures to surveillance cameras, secure storage and deep packet inspection.

We are very pleased to be welcoming our partners from EIZO Rugged Solutions, who are pioneers in high performance computer graphics hardware solutions for niche markets. Their Condor XMC/VPX video capture products offer high resolution video capture, both in raw and H.264 formats. AMD and NVIDIA GPUs supporting OpenCL and CUDA are available for GPGPU applications.


Tyton VS2 Rugged H.265 Video Encoding and Streaming Solution

Tyton VS2 from EIZO Rugged Solutions is a powerful H.265 (HEVC) / H.264 (AVC) video encoding and streaming solution that has been designed to serve video transmission needs in extreme field environments. Tyton VS2 is non-intrusive and yet feature rich, offering bypass video outputs, low latency encoding and low power consumption.

Visit Tyton VS2 Product Page

The rugged, standalone Tyton VS2 is capable of capturing two 3G-SDI, HD-SDI or SD-SDI video inputs simultaneously and encoding them using the highly versatile video encoding standard H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC), as well as the newly adopted H.265 (HEVC) standard. It can create multiple encoded video streams per input (input is split and encoded separately with unique settings per encode.


Features

Rugged Stand-Alone Solution	Multiple Encoded Streams per Input (8x Dynamic Encoding Cores)
H.265 (HEVC) / H.264 (AVC) Video Encoding and Streaming	Customisable Design Even at Low Volumes
Two 3G-SDI Video Inputs (other video formats possible on per customer basis)	Stereo Audio Input w/ AAC Audio Encoding
Two Bypass SDI Video Outputs	Low Power & Low Latency
1GB Ethernet Output (All encoded streams sent over same Ethernet port)	Small Compact Form Factor
SNMP based control API (for easy integration into existing user applications)	Rugged Design for Vibration, Shock, Humidity (MIL-STD-810G & IP67)
Web Server Configuration App for easy configuration of device	-45°C to 85°C Operating Temperature
CoT & KLV Metadata Insertion	Ideal for Rugged Applications: Including Avionics, Defense, ISR and Command & Control
Long Term Product Availability	Tyton VS2 Datasheet

For more information please get in touch with the Sarsen Technology team - info@sarsen.net

DSEI 2017 - VersaLogic Rugged Embedded Single Board Computer Showcase: Stand N7-185

DSEI 2017

The doors open at DSEI 2017 in just 39 days, and we're gearing up to make sure we provide visitors with a complete overview of the exciting new technology we supply here in the UK.

Sarsen Technology will be exhibiting in the dedicated Security Zone at DSEI 2017, showcasing the some of the worlds highest-performance computing hardware supported by a number of software options.

Our fastest growing market sector is niche computing systems for government and defence security applications, and the products we supply can be used in a wide range of security sectors, from UAVs and electronic countermeasures to surveillance cameras, secure storage and deep packet inspection.

With this in mind we've invited our long term manufacturing partner VersaLogic to introduce their very latest rugged, embedded computers at the event.

Why VersaLogic?

VersaLogic offers a wide range of complete Single Board Computers (SBCs). These self-contained computers are equivalent to a desktop computer, but in a smaller, more rugged and reliable package. Most have standard inputs and outputs such as keyboard, USB, video, Ethernet, etc.

VersaLogic's embedded computers are designed for the most demanding applications. From ultra small (credit card size) to industry-standard PC/104- and EBX-sized boards, their x86 compatible computers are used whenever reliability counts, thriving in the harshest environments including temperature extremes (-40° to +85°C) and intense shock, vibration, and humidity.

New Technology

The latest board to be announced is the Liger - a high-performance SBC combining Intel’s 7th generation Core “Kaby Lake” processor with a PC/104-Plus expansion interface to provide a rugged, backwards compatible module.

The Liger also contains a full complement of on-board I/O interfaces including USB 2.0, USB 3.0, mini PCIe expansion socket, TPM chip, multiple serial interfaces and 8-bits of digital I/O.

For more information about VersaLogic and what you can see at DSEI 2017 please get in touch!

Free Tickets for DSEI 2017 - One Week Left!

It's not too late to get your free ticket to DSEI 2017!

Event: DSEI 2017
Date: 12-15 September 2017

Stand: N7-185

Location: ExCeL, London
Visit: www.dsei.co.uk
Contact: Laura Biddiscombe - laurab@sarsen.net 

Sarsen Technology will be exhibiting in the dedicated Security Zone at DSEI 2017, showcasing  some of the worlds highest-performance computing hardware supported by a number of software options.

The DSEI Security Theatre has been expanded and enhanced for 2017 to include

• Security capability demonstrations
• The impact of international terrorism and regional instability on security decisions and humanitarian needs
• The challenges of increased mass migration on border security and civil order
• Evolving cyber technology and warfare: defensive and offensive
• Developing the next generation of ‘cyber warriors’
• Cyber intelligence and capability: the growing need for industry-government collaboration
• Emerging security trends, e.g. UAS, Internet of Things, IP enabled infrastructure, vehicles and wearable devices

Government market sectors including cyber security, intelligence, surveillance and secure communications have become increasingly important in recent times. As cyberspace becomes an ever more intrinsic component for a huge range of market sectors this reliance a has led to a significant focus on preventing a range of cyber-attacks, from malicious software to hacking. To tackle these events, both government and private organisations are looking beyond the traditional purchases of cyber security software systems.

This change makes Sarsen Technology uniquely placed to support customers in creating their own bespoke and off the shelf hardware and software solutions. Our product lines have been chosen to support applications that need to account for ambitious data bandwidths and strict security requirements, and in many cases reduce size, weight, and power (SWaP).

Our fastest growing market sector is niche computing systems for government and defence security applications, and the products we supply can be used in a wide range of security sectors, from UAVs and electronic countermeasures to surveillance cameras, secure storage and deep packet inspection.

We will be supported at the show by EIZO Rugged Solutions and VersaLogic, and you will also be able to see product demonstrations featuring Xilinx and Intel/Altera FPGA solutions from BittWare. There will be more information about which demos will be running closer to the time.

If you would like to visit the Sarsen stand at DSEI 2017 we have a number of free tickets available.

Please contact Laura Biddiscombe to request a ticket.


 

Trenton Systems Introduces New Purley Platform Skylake-SP Host Boards

Intel's next-generation Xeon Gold and Silver processors (formally known as Skylake-SP) developed under the family code name 'Purley' have now been released and Trenton Systems is pleased to be  launching a range of new products based on this architecture.

The Intel Xeon Gold and Silver processors are supported on the new SEP8253 system host board (SHB). The SEP8253 is the latest module in Trenton Systems’ HDEC Series® High Density Embedded Computing family of backplanes, host boards and rugged aluminium 19” rackmount chassis.

A drop-in replacement for the popular HEP8225, the SEP8253 brings support for dual Intel Xeon Gold and Silver processors and 8 DDR4-2666 memory DIMMs for up to 1TB of memory to the HDEC platform. 

It delivers 88 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 to an HDEC Series backplane, delivering the ultimate in flexibility when designing COTS PCIe embedded computing solutions that take advantage of FPGA and GPU co-processors, fabric interfaces like 50 or 100GbE, Infiniband or NVMe storage. 

Onboard interfaces include 4 USB 3.0, 2 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 2, 10GbE interfaces, VGA and Serial COMM support, with 6 additional USB 3.0, 6 SATA/600 and various serial, USB 2.0, GPIO, fan speed monitoring and I²C bus signals passed to the backplane.

The SEP8253 single board computer is designed, built and integrated by Trenton Systems in the USA to exacting quality and longevity standards. All Trenton's board products with a 5-year warranty, 15 years of processor availability, and free, in-house, lifetime technical support.

Please visit the Trenton Systems website for more information: www.trentonsystems.com.

Swindon FPGA Meetup - 18th July 2017

Swindon FPGA Meetup Group

The aim of the Swindon FPGA Meetup is to provide a forum where people based in the Swindon area who have an active interest in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology can get together to discuss industry developments in hardware & software tools, verification, architectures, simulation, verification and test.

We aim to connect local Engineers and Technologists who are working in the electronics industry and using FPGAs in their projects and applications. Rather than selling solutions, we want to share our industry knowledge and experience to further our collective technical expertise.

The first meetup is scheduled for Tuesday, July 18th at The Plough on the Hill near Swindon, and the organisers will provide food and a beer.

If there are any topics you would like to discuss please join the Swindon FPGA Group on Meetup.

Swindon FPGA Meetup Group - Event Details

Please get in touch for more information. We look forward to seeing you there!

In Review: Xilinx SDSoC and Levels of Abstraction

The SDSoC development environment from Xilinx provides engineers and developers using Zynq SoC and MPSoC with a familiar C/C++ design environment, including a straightforward Eclipse IDE, expanded library, board, and design services ecosystem support.

In a recent article posted on the Xilinx blog, Part 196 of Adam Taylor's MicroZed Chronicles takes a good look at what SDSoC is, how it works and the benefits gained from using it.

Adam Taylor’s MicroZed Chronicles, Part 196: SDSoC and Levels of Abstraction

Originally posted by Xilinx Employee sleibso ‎05-22-2017 09:40 AM - edited ‎05-22-2017 10:28 AM 
Re-posted with permission.

We have looked at SDSoC several times throughout this series, however I recently organized and presented at the NMI FPGA Machine Vision event and during the coffee breaks and lunch, attendees showed considerable interest in SDSoC - not only for its use in the Xilinx reVISION acceleration stack but also its use in a range of over developments. As such, I thought it would be worth some time looking at what SDSoC is and the benefits we have previously gained using it. I also want to discuss a new use case.

SDSoC Development Environment

SDSoC is an Eclipse-based, system-optimizing compiler that allows us to develop our Zynq SoC or Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC design in its entirety using C or C++. We can then profile the application to find aspects that cause performance bottlenecks and move then into the Zynq device’s Programmable Logic (PL). SDSoC does this using HLS (High Level Synthesis) and a connectivity framework that’s transparent to the user. What this means is that we are able develop at a higher level of abstraction and hence reduce the time to market of the product or demonstration.

To do this, SDSoC needs a hardware platform, which can be pre-defined or custom. Typically, these platforms within the PL provide the basics: I/O interfaces and DMA transfers to and from Zynq device’s PS’ (Processing System’s) DDR SDRAM. This frees up most the PL resources and PL/PS interconnects to be used by SDSoC when it accelerates functions.

This ability to develop at a higher level and accelerate performance by moving functions into the PL enables us to produce very flexible and responsive systems. This blog has previously looked at acceleration examples including AES encryption, matrix multiplication, and FIR Filters. The reduction in execution time has been significant in these cases. Here’s a table of these previously discussed examples:

For more information on Xilinx Zynq MPSoC based hardware, the SDSoC environment or embedded computing in general please get in touch with the knowledgeable team at Sarsen Technology - info@sarsen.net