COTS Journal

July 2018, Volume 20 – Number 7 • cotsjournalonline.com

JOURNAL

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

Rugged Box Systems Enable Vehicle Mobile Networking

Successfully Building a Rapid Prototype

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing JOURNAL

COTS (kots), n. 1. Commercial off-the-shelf.

Terminology popularized in 1994 within U.S. DoD by SECDEF Wm. Perry’s “Perry Memo” that changed military industry purchasing and design guidelines, making Mil-Specs acceptable only by waiver. COTS is generally defined for technology, goods and services as: a) using commercial business practices and specifications, b) not developed under government funding, c) offered for sale to the general market, d) still must meet the program ORD. 2. Commercial business practices include the accepted practice of customer-paid minor modification to standard COTS products to meet the customer’s unique requirements.

—Ant. When applied to the procurement of electronics for he U.S. Military, COTS is a procurement philosophy and does not imply commercial, office environment or any other durability grade. E.g., rad-hard components designed and offered for sale to the general market are COTS if they were developed by the company and not under government funding.

SPECIAL FEATURES 14

18

DEPARTMENTS

Rugged Box Systems Enable Vehicle Mobile Networking

By John Reardon, Contributing Editor

06 Publisher’s Note

How Artificial is your Intelligence?

Successfully Building a Rapid Prototype

By Steve Travis, Vice President, Chassis Plans

08

The Inside Track

COT’S PICKS 23

Editor’s Choice for July

COTS Journal | July 2018

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The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

JOURNAL EDITORIAL INTERIM EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Glenn ImObersteg, glenn@convergencepromotions.com SENIOR EDITOR Rob Hoffman, rob.hoffman@highassure.com MANAGING EDITOR Bryan Ruiz, bryandruiz22@gmail.com

ART/PRODUCTION CREATIVE DIRECTOR & LAYOUT Designs by Dave, drdesignservices@ymail.com DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER Kyle Mac, kmac038@gmail.com

COTS Journal PUBLISHED BY RTC MEDIA Copyright 2018, RTC Media. Printed in the United States. All rights reserved. All related graphics are trademarks of The RTC Group. All other brand and product names are the property of their holders.

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COTS Journal | July 2018

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

John Reardon, Publisher

How Artificial is your Intelligence?

Do you ascribe to the theory that computers will some day mimic the functions of a human? Do you have fears that computers will take over the world? Are you worried that the joy of driving will be taken away from us? Each month I interview and discuss how technology will change the world going forward. It is in some ways the most enjoyable part of my career.

The excitement I find in understanding how technologies are used for advancing our CR4ISR needs is what COTS Journal is all about.

For some reason Billy Joel’s song comes to mind: It’s just a fantasy It’s not the real thing It’s just a fantasy It’s not the real thing But sometimes a fantasy Is all you need In recent months I have had long and lengthy debates with colleagues regarding how close Artificial Intelligence will mimic the human mind. How Quantum computing will advance compute speeds to never before rates; how robotics will make human’s obsolete in the labor force. It has been described to me how the “smart home” and “the internet of things” will create a highly coordinated world. It is not that these ideas or theories are not of interest – it is trying to discern the “possible” from the “likely” the “clever” from the “valued”.

It is not unreasonable to start comparing the way the human mind works to that of a computer when discussing Quantum Computing or Machine Vision. It is not farfetched to augment our intelligence with Virtual Reality for quickened response times. It is at this point that I find myself wanting to

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COTS Journal | July 2018

be grounded with what is “likely and Valued” verses what is “possible and clever”.

Tesler’s Law states that everything has an inherent amount of complexity that cannot be removed or hidden. Instead, it must be dealt with, either in product development or in user interaction. As a result, Tesler believes it is incumbent on the Engineer to solve the problem rather than the millions of users taking time with a complex interface. This question as to rather the software engineer should add complexity of the code or the user should deal with a complex interface is an example that goes to the core of the issue. (It brings me comfort in knowing that those guys at Apple are working hard to make

my phone more capable, but yet less complex for me to use).

In 1983, President Reagan announced his “Star War Initiative” to the world. At the time I knew he was reaching with current technologies and I felt in his choice of names reflected his understanding of this. It was a wonderful idea – using technology to blanket the Country from threat of ballistic missiles.

Today we are faced with an ever-increasing complexity of possible threats that we can employ technologies to solve. From security at our ports to highly coordinated battle plans, from the use of UAV’s to complex cyber security efforts; today’s engineers face a similar conflict to our editors. To dream about how technology can be applied, but to remain grounded in the value proposition of the task.

Scientists have always employed the doctrine of “repeatability”.

The idea of repeating an experiment numerous times with the goal of pushing the boundaries of intelligence is not quite the same for computers but it follows same reasoning. By feeding a large data set into a computer and having it replicate answers over and over is comforting. Something we don’t find in humans.

So as I struggle against the tides of possibilities to bring valued content. As you struggle against the laws of physics to achieve the near impossible, take a moment and ask yourself if there is a “therethere” for your application. Does a computer mimicking a human really what we want? What applications would benefit by human intuition, doubts or fears? Is AI really just Tesler’s law at work?

How complex is too complex?

GE scientists are aiming to build the world’s first industrial immune system that can detect, locate and neutralize cyber threats just like the human immune system detects and acts to neutralize viruses that infect the body.

COTS Journal | July 2018

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The

INSIDE TRACK

Deployment of a tethered drone for security of France 2nd largest air show, for flow management and parking security Elistair’s Orion drone has been recently deployed in conjunction with Delta Drone to provide surveillance of La Ferté Alais air show. This deployment was in support of the firefighting unit SDIS 91 and the Gendarmerie in order to assist in providing security for the 40,000 visitors.

merie and SDIS 91 fire service. There were two key areas which needed an enduring aerial view: • A live feed to assist with the organization of parking areas and to monitor their fill rate and flow management.

The ISS (Intelligent Security Systems) division of Delta Drone, a major actor in the integration of civilian drone services for professional use, successfully deployed the tethered Orion system to provide enhanced security and surveillance of this popular and busy event.

Fully automated, enduring and with a state of the art optical surveillance camera, Orion easily integrated into the existing security and crisis management system of the event.

• Continuous sursur-veillance of the area of the event including the monitoring of the active runway and taxiway for intrusions and to detect any fire hazards during the air show. Positioned at within a restricted access area at the center of the event and equipped with a stabilized day/night camera, X30 optical zoom; Orion was able to provide surveillance of several square kilometers. The drone transmitted live images of the Elistairs event via a local 4G network to

Designed for extended flight time of more than 10 hours and able to cover large and difficult-to-reach areas, the tethered drone system Orion provided live and relevant situational awareness for commanders in the Gendar-

Small Satellites proves interesting for many reasons At a specialized factory in the Arizona desert, Raytheon technicians are building satellites small enough to be carried by hand.

Roughly the size of a five-gallon paint

bucket, they weigh about 50 pounds; tiny compared to large weather or surveillance satellites, which can weigh as much as a school bus and cost up to $1 billion.

Raytheon has more than 60 years of missile manufacturing expertise, and has adapted its assembly lines to build these detailed satellites at less than one hundredth of the cost of their larger kin.

“With our automated production lines, Raytheon can produce large numbers of these highly reliable small satellites quickly and affordably,” said Dr. Thomas Bussing, Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems vice president. “Delivering on-demand, space-based, tactical information to ground troops in remote locations could help save lives on the battlefield.”

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COTS Journal | July 2018

the emergency management control room. The deployment of Orion provided a force multiplying capability to the emergency services tasked with providing security of the event.

The market for small, “disposable” satellites is estimated to be worth $7 billion over the next several years. And while the product is new, designers were able to draw on Raytheon’s deep experience in building satellite sensors and the control systems for them.

The satellites are being built by Raytheon’s Missile Systems business. Its Intelligence, Information and Services division built the ground command station. And colleagues from the company’s Space and Airborne Systems business contributed their knowledge of radiation and thermal analysis.

Dan Cheeseman, a chief architect and engineer for Raytheon’s Operationally Responsive Space Programs, said he postponed retirement to work on the project.

“This country has a romantic engagement with space,” Cheeseman said. “If you’re an engineer, you are always thinking about space.

That frontier excites people, and we have many young engineers who love working in this area.”

The

INSIDE TRACK

U.S. Air Force selects Avalex Technologies’ new-generation cockpit management unit as part of its F-16 future technology MOUS Satellite communications fleet upgrade.

New-generation Avalex ACM 9454 CMU will greatly expand the capabilities of currently fielded radios by enabling the seamless integration of the military’s emerging Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), which will deliver a 10-fold increase in available satellite communications channels for airborne warfighters.

Gulf Breeze, FL (DATE) – Representatives of Avalex Technologies, announced today that after an extensive evaluation process, the United States Air Force has awarded the company a contract to provide its new-generation ACM 9454 cockpit management unit (CMU) as part of its F-16 Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) avionics modernization program.

“The MUOS upgrade has been created to meet the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) ever-expanding need for uninterrupted, global digital satellite communications (SatCom).

Once implemented, the number of available SatCom channels will increase by 10-fold, giving our pilots much greater connectivity in tomorrow’s battlespace,” stated Tony Hatten VP, Business Development. “The ACM 9454 has been in service aboard a variety of U.S. military aircraft for years, and has already proven itself to be a reliable controller for any current ARC-210 and APX-119 radio system.

So, based on past experience, the Air Force’s F-16 Field Program Office has selected it as the next-generation controller for all blocks of MUOS-upgraded F-16 Falcons.”

ple voice and data communications systems.

“Another advantage of the Avalex Technologies’ cockpit management unit is that it is a commercial off the shelf (COTS) solution,” Hatten said. “That means there is no added development cost or development cycle time required for the implementation program. As F-16’s are brought in for the MUOS upgrade, they can be fitted with the ACU 9454 at the same time.”

About the Avalex ACM 9454 Cockpit Management Unit: • Drop in replacement for current ARC-210 full-size controllers • Provides seamless control of all MUOS digital networking radios • Intuitive controller/user interface • Full-color, sunlight readable, NVIS-A compatible display • Standard radio user interface (RUI) • Interface to 10 common ARC-210 and APX-119 military radios, as well as IFF, TACAN, and Transponders • Optional digital map-display capabilities.

“The ACM 9454 was originally developed to meet the U.S. DoD’s needs for a unit that could easily control a variety of airborne radios, while at the same time, being a ‘drop-in’ replacement for legacy radio controllers,” (NAME) said. “We are extremely proud that the unit continues to meet these current needs, while also being the ideal radio-controller solution for the next-generation of U.S. military aircraft upgrades.”

Hatten explained that along with being a key part of the F-16 MUOS upgrade, the ACM 9454 offers other key advantages including acting as a single-point controller for any type of radio system, which eliminates the need for pilots to ACM 9454 cockpit management unit (CMU) receive training on multi10

COTS Journal | July 2018

U.S. Navy Awards Boeing $805 million MQ-25 Contract Boeing will provide the carrier-based unmanned aerial refuelers to extend the range of deployed fighters Boeing [NYSE: BA] will build the U.S. Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft, the MQ-25 aerial refueler, through an $805 million contract awarded today.

Boeing was awarded the engineering and manufacturing development contract to provide four aircraft. Boeing plans to perform the MQ-25 work in St. Louis.

“As a company, we made an investment in both our team and in an unmanned aircraft system that meets the U.S. Navy’s refueling requirements,” said Leanne Caret, president and CEO, Boeing Defense, Space & Security. “The fact that we’re already preparing for first flight is thanks to an outstanding team who understands the Navy and their need to have this important asset on carrier decks around the world.”

MQ-25 is designed to provide the U.S. Navy with a much-needed refueling capability. According to the U.S. Navy, the MQ-25 Stingray will allow for better use of combat strike fighters by extending the range of deployed Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Boeing EA-18G Growler, and Lockheed Martin F-35C aircraft. MQ-25 will also seamlessly integrate with a carrier’s catapult and launch and recovery systems.

Boeing has been providing carrier aircraft to the U.S. Navy for more than 90 years.

The MQ-25

The

INSIDE TRACK

T-Kartor USA Awarded IDIQ Contract to Support the Aeronautical Safety of Navigation Mission for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) In support of NGA’s JANUS multiple award Indefinite Delivery – Indefinite Quantity contract valued at $320M over a ten-year period, T-Kartor USA will collect and manage NGA’s worldwide Airfield Foundation Data and Vertical Obstructions data.

NVIDIA Introduces RAPIDS OpenSource GPU-Acceleration Platform for Large-Scale Data Analytics and Machine Learning

NVIDIA announced a GPU-acceleration platform for data science and machine learning, with broad adoption from industry leaders that enables even the largest companies to analyze massive amounts of data and make

accurate business predictions at unprecedented speed.

This gives data scientists a giant performance boost as they address highly complex challenges, such as predicting fraud, forecasting and understanding human behavior.

Reflecting the growing consensus about the GPU’s importance in data analytics, an array of companies is supporting RAPIDS.

As NGA is transitioning to a GEOINT Broker role leveraging content of both national and international partners, T-Kartor USA will provide production, modernization and innovative solutions to enhance current Aeronautical Navigation Office capabilities.

“Our diverse and dynamic team provides strong product knowledge and a commitment to a continuous policy of modernization and innovation. Our company is honored to have the opportunity to support one of our nation’s most important missions,” said Simon Bailey, CEO of T-Kartor USA.

Rockwell Collins and Iridium Partner to Deliver Next-Generation Aviation Services Rockwell Collins to add Iridium CertusSM to its suite of connectivity solutions for business, commercial and government aviation customers.

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) today announced Rockwell Collins (NYSE:COL) as the newest Iridium Certus service provider for the aviation industry.

Rockwell Collins will be adding the service to its comprehensive suite of aircraft connectivity applications for commercial, government and ARINCDirectSM business customers.

In addition to being a service provider, Rockwell Collins is also a Value Added Manufacture (VAM) for the design and production of Iridium Certus terminals. As a VAM and a service provider, Rockwell Collins will play a critical role in delivering the next-generation L-band broadband solution to customers around the world.

“Iridium Certus will be an important

new service addition to meet the connectivity needs of commercial, business and government aircraft,” said Michael DiGeorge, vice president of Commercial Aviation Services for Rockwell Collins. “For our ARINCDirect business aviation operators, Iridium Certus will offer small form factor antennas and terminals which are ideal for operators of smaller aircraft requiring internet connectivity. For our airline and government customers, the Iridium Certus service will enable a variety of capabilities for cockpit safety, enhanced aircraft reporting, graphical weather, EFBs and other operational aircraft services.”

Iridium Certus will bring broadband functionality, with enterprise-grade quality of service, to the aviation industry no matter where in the world an aircraft may fly. The service will soon deliver the fastest L-band broadband speeds on the market at a competitive price with industry-leading small form factor antennas and terminals. The Iridium Certus high-gain antenna (HGA) solutions will provide data speed options of up to 704 Kbps, and eventually as high as approximately 1.4 Mbps following full Iridium® NEXT deployment, with an antenna size of approx-

imately 24 x 10 x 6cm, while the low-gain antenna (LGA) solutions will enable data speeds of up to 176 Kbps.

COTS Journal | July 2018

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INSIDE TRACK

Mercury Systems Adds Over 50 Models To Its Rugged Server Product Line Extending their leadership in rackmount server market for defense applications Mercury Systems, Inc. announced it added more than 50 models to its EnterpriseSeries™ rackmount server product line, extending its leadership as one of the largest, most capable rugged rackmount server providers. Built from the ground up for mission critical applications where industry-leading performance, reliability, and SWaP are imperatives, Mercury’s servers are deployed in a variety of critical defense, industrial, and commercial applications.

Zettar Transferred, with Encryption, One Petabyte of Data in Just 29 Hours Using AIC Servers AIC announces a recent world-record accomplishment: one petabyte in 29 hours encrypted data transfer, with data integrity checksum unconditionally enabled, over a distance of 5000 miles. The average transfer rate is 75Gbps, or 94% utilization of the available

Leonardo DRS and RAFAEL Test Lighter TROPHY Vehicle Protection System for Smaller Platforms

“These new models in our EnterpriseSeries rackmount server line further expand Mercury’s capabilities in the C4ISR market,” said Scott Orton, Vice President and General Manager of Mercury’s Trusted Mission Solutions group. “We believe our knowledge and expertise in defense computing environments is second to none.

With a multitude of form factors, configurations, and enhancement options – including nation-state-level security features – we can help Mercury

our customers define the optimum server solution for their mission.”

bandwidth of 80Gbps. The company’s SB122APH, 1U 10-bay NVMe storage server provides the critical storage service.

It is anticipated that, by 2025, the project will routinely move science data between the beam-lines and one or more of the High End Computing facilities within the DOE complex at > 1 Tbps (i.e. 10x100Gbps point-to-point).

Exascale computing is essential for maintaining the nation’s prestige, advancing sciences, and improving the economic well-being of the society. For context, an exabyte is equivalent to 1,000 petabytes.

This strenuous and production-level trial is part of the intense preparation for the ambitious data transfer requirement of the premier U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) Exascale Computing Preparation (ECP) projects.

closely to our customers and these activities represent our continuing investment in meeting their needs,” said Aaron Hankins, Vice President and General Manager of the DRS Land Sys-

Leonardo DRS, Inc. and partner Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. of Israel announced today that they have successfully completed a lengthy live-fire qualification process for key elements of the lighter weight –yet equally performing - TROPHY Vehicle Protection System (VPS).

Leveraging material and component upgrades, as well as lessons learned over twenty-plus years of development, TROPHY VPS achieves up to 40% weight reduction and improved power management, depending on how it is integrated on a platform – with no reduction in its proven ability to protect against the full range of direct fire, anti-armor rocket and missile threats.

“DRS and our Rafael partner have listened 12

COTS Journal | July 2018

TROPHY Vehicle Protection System (VPS)

tems division. “We are leaning forward to bring added capabilities to TROPHY for the Army’s Vehicle Protection System program.”

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Rugged Box Systems Enable Vehicle Mobile Networking

By John Reardon, Contributing Editor

Stardards like VICTORY and programs like WIN-T are influencing the kinds of technology and product needed for upgrading today’s military vehicle platforms.

Advanced rugged box-level solutions are spinning up to feed those needs.

Initial Production (LRIP) of the Joint light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV).

Box-Level Vehicle Systems As vehicle upgrade programs move forward, a major decision for military system developer is whether to stick with standards-based slot card architectures or to instead on integrated of-the-shelf box-level computers. Over the past several years, traditional embedded board vendors are adding stand=alone rugged box-level systems to their military market offerings. Rugged box level system is per-

haps one of the most active design activities in the embedded computing industry. These solutions are edging out traditional backplane-centric slot card system architectures in many military platforms. This box-level system trend is dominating wherever size, weight and power (SWaP) is a priority concerns-especially in military vehicle electronic systems. Some of this box systems general computing mission computers, others are more function specific.

And example on the function-specific side is the SB1102-HDVR “Eagle” from General Microsystems (Figure 1 on previuos page). A

For military vehicles the trend continues to be in the direction of cramming more and more electronics, networking and embedded computing in the platform. While traditional slot-card technologies still rule for many tech refresh programs, more and more box-level systems are becoming the solution of choice. Meanwhile, open-standards like VICTORY are making it easier to de-couple C4ISR networks, communications and other mission types of functions from the basic control and power electronics of military vehicles. And in turn technology vendors are making specific VICTORY-compliant systems and board to feed those needs.

In summary DoD Budget plans for the upcoming fiscal year focus on modernizing ground platforms. The Army continues to modernize and upgrade select programs. Including Stryker vehicles, Abrams Tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and Paladin 155mm Howitzer. For the Marines, the ground force focus on the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV). The AVC will deliver shore and sea-based infantry to the battlefield in vehicles designed for future operational environments. Both Services are together procuring the final year of Low Rate 14

COTS Journal | July 2018

Figure 1: “EAGLE” SB1102-HDVR, Rugged, 4-Channel HD-DVR Recorder with Removable Drive(s)

follow-on to its predecessor SB1002-HDVR, the core i7 based SB1102 is a small form-factor rugged video recorder/workstation processor capable of simultaneously and in real time capturing four independent HD-SDI 1080p video channels at 60 fps, performing H.264 compression on-the-fly storing the video to onboard removable SSD nDrives at up to 1 Terabyte each, and distributing the video streams to seven Gbit Ethernet ports. There’s virtually no latency (only one frame) between the original video sources and when they appear on the SB1102-HDVR’s Ethernet switch LAN output. This means head-down oper16

COTS Journal | July 2018

ators using only cameras can operate their vehicle in real time and respond to bumps or obstacles even while four channels of HD video are being encoded, recorded, or encrypted.

Typical applications include mobile situational awareness in armored or tactical vehicles with four cameras providing a 360-degree view around the vehicle. Uncompressed, HDSDI (SMPTE 292) real time video from four cameras can be fused and presented to drivers and passenger via GBit Ethernet, enhanced, manipulated or over-laid with moving maps and other battlefield information. All the

while, the four HD 1080p video streams can be recorded (up to 3 Terabytes, total) and even encrypted on the fly.

VICTORY Rolls Forward An on-going problem inherent to military vehicle electronics in recent years has been the incompatible system architectures and redundant functionally of interconnects aboard vehicles. To solve that problem is what drove the creation of the VICTORY standard. The Vehicle Integration for C4ISR/EW interoperability (VICTORY) defines an approach for

Supporting the VICTORY initiative, a number of vendors have made compliance to the standard a part of recent board-and box-level product offerings.

And example on the board level side is Extreme Engineering Solutions’ XChange 3100.

The board a conduction cooled, 6U open VPX 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch module that is capable of supporting various configurations of up to twenty-two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, twelve 10/100/1000 base T Ethernet ports, and eighty-eight 1000 BASE-X Ethernet ports.

It features three Broadcom BCM56450 Ethernet switches, each including 102.5 Gbits/s of non-blocking switching, an on-chip ARM A9 Based CPU, an integrated hierarchical traffic manager to reduce overall board complexity and power, and a feature-rich packet processing engine, all within a single 40 nm device.

The board offers extensive IEEE protocol and IETF RFC support. VICTORY Infrastructure Switch support, advanced cable open/short detection, IPv4 and IPv6 support, and Ruggedized Enhanced Design Implementation (REDI) per VITA 48.

For its part Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division added support for Military Code (M-Code) Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) architecture on its DuraDBH-672 Digital Beachhead Gigabit Ethernet switch and vetronics computer subsystem. Now supporting an integrated M-Code Ground-Based GPS Receiver Applications Module (GB-GRAM-M), the Digital Beachhead addresses the U.S. Army’s GPS modernization programs and requirements for an assure PNT hub capable of delivering PNT to multiple devices on a VICTORY network backbone.

Abaco Systems released the RES3000 family of rugged, fully managed Ethernet switch appliances. Three versions are available, offering solutions with 12 or 24 1000BaseT ports.

All three share the same small size. All meet a wide range of MIL-STD specifications. Customer specific versions can also be provided.

Support for a broad range of network protocols is delivered by Abaco’s switch management environment. It supports a comprehensive set of Layer 2 and 3 protocols, provided customers with significant capability to configure their network.

commonality through Gigabit Ethernet networking, standard connectors and well defined electrical interfaces.

While the specification continues to evolve VICTORY is now a requirement on a number of acquisition programs. The framework includes architecture, a standard specification and reference designs. The architecture includes definitions of common terminology systems, component and interfaces. Meanwhile, the specification provides technical specifications for the systems components and interface identified in the architecture.

Figure 2: XChange3100, 6U VPX 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switch with Optional Layer 2 Switching and Layer 3 Routing Management Support

COTS Journal | July 2018

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Successfully Building a Rapid Prototype

By Steve Travis, Vice President, Chassis Plans

For many suppliers to large military and industrial contractors the idea of a rugged computer hardware and all that it entails may be a relatively unfamiliar topic, especially when it involves fulfilling the numerous Department of Defense requirements that may be involved in a military program. When approaching a project from the software perspective, which mainly defines the system’s functionality and usefulness to the customer, it is easy to lose sight of the complexity and detailed hardware specifications that are essential to its actual ability to function reliably in the application environment.

That environment could be airborne, a tactical operation center, a military vehicle or a shipboard application.

customer who had just won a military contract for a system based on its persistent surveillance software.

During initial laboratory testing the software was working fine, but the commercial grade computers used for development were failing in the field due to dirt and dust, seriously threatening the cancellation of the contract. Even with the short time (8 weeks) given to come up with a rugged solution or lose

We’ve all heard of defense standards, or MIL-STDs, that are required for contractors to meet, but how to fulfill them and reliably document them for a rugged computer system to meet the needs of the customer is not straightforFigure 1: A Chassis Plans ruggedized M2U system shows component placeward. Rather, it ment for enhanced cooling along with bracing of subsystems to resist shock is one of detail, and vibration. specialized design, and strict configuration management. While the under- the contract, the customer was able lying architecture may be that of the familiar to work with Chassis Plans to find PC, its actual physical design and internal a solution in time. Being aware of construction may have to meet a variety of the steps and procedures involved strict size, weight, power, security and envi- in custom, rugged, product design ronmental requirements; all of which must be may help future customers avoid carefully documented and certified. such a costly situation.

This was the experience of one Chassis Plans 18

COTS Journal | July 2018

First, it is important to realize

that designing a rugged computer involves more than just the enclosure but also the selection and certification of components (processors, peripherals, drives, connectors, boards, etc.) and their assembly into the rugged design. For that it is first necessary to understand—and for the customer to fully comprehend—what overall goal they are actually trying to achieve. With over 20 years of experience, Chassis Plans has a number of combat proven products that may very well fit the bill or require only a few modifications to do so (Figure 1 on precious page). A large library of proven designs is also available to assemble and configure into a custom design so that it is never necessary to start totally from scratch

to meet those requirements once they are understood. CP refers to this as MOTS- Modified Off The Shelf.

The first step is to engage in detailed consultation with the customer to understand exactly what they want to do. “Rugged” gets translated into “how rugged” in terms of shock and vibration. This varies between a shipboard, airborne or ground based application. The same is done for temperature range and a host of other parameters leading to the creation of a “technical resources document” that contains this information along with processor, memory, hard drive, etc., along with blanks to fill in unusual information or requirements.

This can then lead to the specification of the nature of the chassis required. At this point, the process also identifies the customer’s required project timeline and makes sure that the customer understands the test procedures and data that will be needed to meet the requirements, at which point there can be an actual quote.

Getting there, however, requires starting with the careful selection of components.

Since Chassis Plans is primarily an integrator of COTS hardware, this means selecting boards that contain qualified components.

One of the important qualifications is that components may not come from countries not on the Trade Agreement Act (TAA) Designated Country list, which excludes components manufactured in China, Russia, or Pakistan, to name a few This means carefully qualifying distributors to make sure their acquisition of components can be reliably traced, all of which must be documented. Clearly identifying the manufacturer is also needed for counterfeit prevention—positively identifying the manufacturer—which is not a simple matter, but one with which Chassis Plans has considerable experience. It should also allow determination of mean time between failures (MTBF) as well as a roadmap of that component’s market life and the identification of follow-on devices to extend it, which are also obtained from the manufacturer.

Other requirements include a conflict minerals statement certifying that raw minerals used in parts do not include minerals mined in countries experiencing conflict including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding countries using slave labor among other human rights violations. For security, there must also be a letter of volatility which certifies which memory devices, when powered down, do not retain any data content, are, in fact “volatile,” and identify any memory areas on any devices such as processors or video controllers that may contain nonvolatile pieces of memory that could theoretically store malicious content. The requirements for environmental, temperature and shock and vibration testing will also be included.

The ability to do all this detailed selection and certification is extremely valuable when presenting the project to a large customer like Lockheed Martin or Boeing, which have groups of individuals who must check and confirm that the requirements have been met.

A high quality of assurance means a smoother acceptance of the project, a shorter timeline and higher customer confidence.

COTS Journal | July 2018

19

The generation of all this information is of course also necessary to the start of the actual project including the scope of work—outlining what the project will entail and understanding the ultimate objective. Of course, changes can come up and the scope can be modified, which will have effects on price and lead time. So, it is important that there be an initial agreement and that any changes be clearly defined and signed off on so that everyone remains in agreement and any changes can be documented from start to finish.

Cooperative project management means that Chassis Plans will have one of its Program Managers assigned to the project to quickly engage with the customer should any issues arise. This can greatly speed up the process of identifying and making any needed changes and generally facilitating communication during the project making sure that everyone is on the same page.

The Engineering Phase In the case of the customer given a very limited time to come up with a rugged surveillance solution, the quick evaluation of system performance and environmental requirements

let Chassis Plans’ experienced engineering team immediately address the problem and begin work on a solution. This was possible by leveraging Chassis Plans’ vast 20+ year design library containing thousands of designs covering all manner of shapes, sizes, and board configurations, many of which are already MIL-STD certified. In fact, Chassis Plans has a spectrum of solutions that never requires starting from scratch. There is a range of existing products that either off the shelf or with minor modifications can meet many customers’ requirements.

Chassis Plans maintains an inventory of qualified board-level components, along with the library of design files for existing enclosure solutions that can be quickly customized before making any custom parts. This makes coming up with just the right custom design a very smooth operation. This enabled the engineers to come up with a solution that met the project requirements in time to save a multi-million-dollar contract. In addition to speeding the design, the SolidWorks system also provided detailed drawings and photorealistic images that connect to the points in the specification. These can then be presented

to the customer for approval or to identify the need for further clarification. The result is the speeding of the customer approval process and moving the whole project ahead smoothly.

Building the Prototype The goal, of course, is to produce a working, credible prototype that meets all the physical requirements for form, fit, connection and functionality that can be presented to the customer for approval and meet the requirements of their customer contract. To that end Chassis Plans employs a staff of manufacturing personnel, many with over 20 years’ experience, who can perform the mechanical assembly and fit testing along with the electronic assembly and test. Chassis Plans specifies custom metal and cabling work for custom assembly and brings together boards and peripherals either from its own library of approved and qualified components or from its own list of certified vendors.

Testing includes mechanical fit, airflow and heat dissipation along with verifying the mounting of the boards along with shock and vibration testing and the fit of all electrical connectors. This process also generates documentation in terms of assembly instruc-

IC-FEP-VPX3d

Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA 3U VPX board with FMC+ Based on the latest Xilinx 20nm FPGA family, the IC-FEP-VPX3d enhances the front-end processing (FEP) product line of Interface Concept.

By offering a better performance/power consumption ratio compared to the previous FPGA, the Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA makes the IC-FEP-VPX3d the perfect solution to applications requiring DSP intensive processing in a 3U VPX form factor. The IC-FEP-VPX3d and the other building blocks (Intel® and PowerPC SBCs, Ethernet Switches & Routers, FMC) running our Signal Processing Reference Design are the ideal platforms for customers who want to streamline development by concentrating their efforts on their most strategical tasks.

Processing Unit Kintex® UltraScale™ KU060, KU85 or KU115 Two banks of DDR4: 64-bit wide, up to 4GB each 3 * 128 MBytes of QSPI flash (bitstreams storage) 1 * 128 MBytes of QSPI flash (User Data storage)

VPX Interfaces - Four 4-lanes fabric ports on P1/P2 - 4 * GTH x4 (Fat Pipes P1A, P1B, P1C (*) & P1D (*) ) - 2 * GTH x4 (Fat Pipes P2C (*) & P2D (*) ) (*) depending on FPGA models - General purpose IOs - 16 differential pairs from FPGA onb P2

29000 QUIMPER FRANCE Tel. +33(0) 2 98 57 30 30 info@interfaceconcept.com 20

COTS Journal | July 2018

tions, process quality checkpoints, and test data.

The result of such a project is much more than just a prototype. It is a prototype supported by a package of documentation and a partner that together help assure the acceptance and production of the customer’s design. The design and documentation also support the life cycle and eventual needed modifications and enhancements that may be sought for the original design. Chassis Plans can install additional hardware such as I/O cards to make sure they also fit with the ruggedization as well as the cable routing and required cooling. Chassis Plans can also load the software in cooperation with the customer to make sure that what results is a complete product for the customer to sign off on, receive approval from their client, and ultimately send into production.

. . . and into Production Control of the manufacturing process is maintained and supervised by Chassis Plans in conjunction with its subcontractors, who, like Chassis Plans, are all certified to ISO 9001:2015 quality standards. A robust quality management system is essential in consistently providing products and services that meet statutory and regulatory requirements, such

many certifications that are often required.

The aim is to support the customer’s technical documentation as well as the documentation required by their customer and government agencies for certification and acceptance.

The ability to transmit three-dimensional CAD files and other engineering drawings both during the design phase, as well as during production and product delivery, allows a rapid exchange of information between Chassis Plans and their customer. STEP files are analogous to .pdf files in that they can be converted to other format for use in prototype dimensional checks, as well as during technical documentation such as a customer’s in-situ installation of system in shipboard or aircraft environments.

In addition, the large effort used to gather the information and data earlier in the process lets them now be assembled into reports and formatted documents to meet the necessary standards and certification requirements.

These include the MTBF information, the letter of volatility, counterfeit material and conflict mineral statements, TAA documentation and other required material as applicable.

The process that began with the identification of sharply specific requirements as op-

Elma’s Open VPX CMOSS Backplane Supporting the DoD C4ISR Modular Open as MIL-STD, among others. This also applies to the management of the supply chain through production, documentation and delivery.

One vital element of the design and prototyping process are the deliverables that accompany the prototype and help the customer quickly complete their internal processes. Mainly this is the delivery and support of documentation, which contributes to the customer’s ability to understand and maintain the design, supplies material for user manuals and provides the documentation needed for the

posed to general requirements then becomes one of setting and realizing goals starting with component selection and qualification, establishment of a clear plan of action, detailed design and engineering and manufacture. All the while clear communication with the customer ensures agreement and parallel effort to accommodate changes and maintain understanding and rigorous documentation supports meeting requirements for delivery of a rugged prototype that can be quickly accepted, certified and manufactured to assure success.

Suite of Standards for hardware convergence

With you at every stage!

Elma Electronic Inc., USA elma.com

COTS Journal | July 2018

21

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July2018

COT’S X-ES announces secure-by-design multi-core board now ready for 2nd Generation Integrated Modular Avionics XPedite7674 supports LynxSecure Safety Bundle for Intel Multi-core Processors to deliver integrated hardware/software IMA development Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) announced the integration of its secure-by-design XPedite7674 board with the LynxSecure Safety Bundle (LSB) from Lynx Software Technologies, the world leader in open, mixed criticality and MILS system development. The integration delivers an ideal platform for 2nd generation IMA development.

LSB is an open system architecture solution that unlocks the potential of multi-core processors such as the Intel® Xeon® D to deliver 2nd generation Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA).

Lynx and X-ES have created a Board Support Package (BSP) for LSB on XPedite7674, a family of rugged single-board computers for military and aerospace embedded computing applications offering up to 16 processor cores and extended-temperature support, designed with

X-ES’ SecureCOTStm technology.

Aaron Lindner, Director of Engineering at Extreme Engineering Solutions said, “The announcement by Lynx of the LynxSecure Safety Bundle represents an exciting shift in avionics system design, reducing the time, cost, and design risk associated with developing, certifying, and sustaining mixed criticality avionics designs on complex multi-core architectures. X-ES is proud to lead the way in supporting LSB on XPedite7674, an industry leading secure-by-design, high performance, rugged multiprocessing single board computer.”

Commenting, Lee Cresswell, Vice President of Global Sales at Lynx Software Technologies, said, “With the release of a board support package for this popular hardware platform, customers can start immediate development of IMA designs based on LSB. Together, Lynx LSB

Acromag’s New Quad-port Gigabit Ethernet XMC Modules Available in RJ45, SFP, and Rear I/O Versions to Meet a Variety of Application Requirements

The rear I/O routes four 1000BASE-T connections to the P16 connector and is compatible with conduction-cooling frames. Designed for COTS applications, these XMC modules are ideal for use in defense, aerospace, industrial, and scientific research computing systems. All versions are leadfree with prices starting at $670.

Three new 1GbE Network Interface Card (NIC) mezzanine modules provide a flexible, highdensity solution for Ethernet communication over fiber or copper media.

“As we continue to move our I/O products forward onto PCIe platforms via XMC modules, we saw a need to expand our Ethernet offering start-

Acromag’s new XMC 610 Series provide four independent gigabit Ethernet interface ports when used on VME, VPX, PCIe or other embedded computing carrier boards. The industry-leading Intel® I350 Ethernet Controller interfaces with the PCIe bus via four high-speed serial lanes on the XMC P15 connector. Three models are available. The XMC 611 offers four RJ45 connectors on the front panel for copper cabling while the substitutes four SFP connectors to additionally support fiber optic media.

and X-ES XPedite7674 offer customers an open development capability in which they can run bare metal, LynxOS-178, Linux or other RTOS or OS-based system modules or applications together, residing safely and securely in a single multi-core time and space partitioned system.

The XPedite7674 is a perfect environment within which to experience the open architecture and complete flexibility that LSB offers.”

Extreme Engineering Solutions www.xes-inc.com

ing with these three boards,” stated Russell Nieves, Acromag’s Vice President of Sales. “As a world leader in I/O, we will continue to release additional products with higher speeds to keep pace with our customers’ evolving requirements.”

Employing Intel’s advanced I350 4-port gigabit Ethernet controller, these networking modules introduce new levels of performance including improved power management technologies, such as energy-efficient Ethernet and direct memory access coalescing. Other enhancements add flexibility for virtual functions and increased offload capabilities. Auto-negotiation supports 10/100/1000 Mbps data rates. A 3.3V low power design and extended temperature operation from -40 to 85°C further simplify system integration.

Software support is available for embedded applications running on Linux®, Windows®, or VxWorks® operating systems.

BOXX Technologies. www.boxx.com

COTS Journal | July 2018

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July 2018

COT’S PICKS

Abaco Reports Significant Customer Interest in Industry’s First 3U VPX Solution to Feature new Xilinx RF System-on-Chip Technology

Abaco Systems today reported strong interest in the company’s recently-announced VP 430 the first 3U VPX COTS solution to feature the all new Xilinx® ZU27DR RF system-on-chip (RFSoC) technology. Abaco now has a backlog of customer orders, and expects to ship these imminently.

“We have been overwhelmed by the interest in this ground-breaking new product,” said Peter Thompson, Vice President, Product Management at Abaco. “Although we expected it to be well received among those developing advanced electronic war-

Pentek’s New Talon Extreme Rugged Wideband 1/2 ATR Recorder Family Delivers Reduced SWaP • Multichannel ultra-wideband and high dynamic range RF/IF Recorders • Up to 4 GB/s real-time recording rates • Removable SSD QuickPac Drive Packs hold up to 30.7 TB • Environmentally-sealed, conduction-cool- ed design ideal for harsh mechanical and thermal environments

Pentek announced the Talon RTX 25xx series, a new high-performance small form factor (SFF) recorder product line for extreme operating envi-

VadaTech Announces new Xilinx UltraScale+™ XCZU15EG FPGA Carrier Boards (In both AMC and 3U VPX) VadaTech, a leading manufacturer of inte-

fare applications, it seems that it has really caught their imagination.”

In the weeks since the VP430 was announced, and in response to enquiries from many prospective customers, Abaco has been working extensively to characterize the performance of the VP430.

“We now have wide-ranging performance data available, such as ADC/DAC crosstalk, analog performance, latency and more ,” continued Thompson, “and we’d be delighted to share that with companies looking for the kind of solution the VP430 represents.”

An example of the type of application being created with the VP430 at its heart is a next generation direction finding system for battlefield communicaronments. Optimized for SWaP (size, weight and power), the rugged sealed ½ ATR recorders are available with multiple input options and can hold up to 30.7 TB of removable SSD storage. These SFF recorders provide real-time streaming data rates of up to 4 GB/s for ultra-wide bandwidth RF or high-speed recording.

grated systems, embedded boards, enabling software and application-ready platforms, announces two new products based on the Xilinx Zynq® UltraScale+™ MPSoC (MultiProcessor System on Chip).

The VPX581 is a 3U VPX FPGA Carrier with the same base architecture, making it easy for COTS Journal | July 2018

Abaco Systems www.abaco.com

any environment, while maintaining the real-time recording performance of much larger and far less rugged systems.”

Pentek www.pentek.com

“While real-time recording of a gigahertz or more of RF bandwidth is commonly available in 19” rackmountable systems, shrinking this capability into a form factor suitable for UAVs, aircraft pods or other confined spaces has proven challenging for the industry,” said Chris Tojeira, Recording Systems director, Pentek. He added, “Our engineering team used years of valuable customer feedback to design a product suitable for almost

The AMC581 is an AMC FPGA Carrier with a single FMC (VITA 57) site and is compliant to AMC.1, AMC.2 and AMC.4 specifications. The onboard re-configurable FPGA interfaces directly to the AMC FCLKA, TCLKA-D, FMC DP0-9 and all FMC LA/HA/HB pairs. The FPGA interfaces to a single DDR4 memory channel (64-bit wide) for local data storage. The module has on board 64 GB of Flash, 128 MB of boot flash and an SD Card as an option.

24

tions.

Under development by a major prime contractor, the ground-based system will provide location tracking for all communications and radar in the monitored area as well as EW coverage for nearby assets and personnel.

developers to port between these two embedded

Concurrent Technologies computing form factors. The unit includes a dedgocct.com

icate Health Management processor for use with Chassis Management solutions supporting VITA 46.11 Tier-2 command set and is compatible with a chassis having JTAG Switch Module (JSM).

Both modules are based on Xilinx UltraScale+TM XCZU15EG MPSoC FPGA which provide 3,528 DSP Slices and 746k logic cells. The XCZU15EG includes a quad-core ARM application processor, dual-core ARM real-time processor and Mali™ graphics processing unit, as well as, over 26 Mb of block RAM and 31 Mb of UltraRAM. The device is aimed at applications such as situational awareness, secure networking and machine vision.

VadaTech Incorporateds www.vadatech.com

July2018

COT’S PICKS Matrox Imaging Releases FPGA Development Kit for the Matrox Rapixo CXP Pro Family of Frame Grabbers

Matrox® Imaging announce the arrival of the Rapixo CXP Pro Family of frame grabbers, a powerful development kit for the of frame grabbers, based on Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ devices. The Matrox FDK helps developers harness the full power and flexibility of FPGAs for image processing. Used in combination with Xilinx Vivado® Design suite, the Matrox FDK supports the development of custom FPGA configurations that relieve the host system of intensive image-processing functions.

Matrox Imaging provides a library of ready-made

New 3U VITA 62-compliant PSU Meets Power and Reliability Demands of Rugged, High Density Embedded Systems

FPGA design components within the Matrox FDK; the FDK also works in tandem with the Xilinx IP library, delivering more than 50 image-processing functions and associated source code to streamline application development. With the aid of Xilinx Vivado’s high-level synthesis (HLS) tool, components from either or both libraries compile quickly into compatible building blocks useable within the Matrox FDK. Designed for software application developers and FPGA designers, the Vivado HLS tool delivers streamlined access to the underlying FPGA hardware. Using C and C++ languages, the Vilvado HLS enables highly iterative, software-oriented design methods for quick development of FPGA hardware modules from C/C++ source code. This allows deVME, VPX and CompactPCI systems.

Technical Specifications: • 3U, VITA 62 PSU • Up to 500 W output capacity; wide input

Aitech’s P233 provides up to 500 W output; integrated protection features enhance reliability

• New Condor NVP2000x cards, available in conduction-cooled and air-cooled variants, bring CUDA platform to small form factor XMCs delivering 2.3 TFLOPS of processing power

voltage 18-32 VDC • Comprehensive input and output protection • Input power line filter • Extensive BIT and Fault Log • Temperature Monitor and Elapsed Time Recorder • Six output supplies with independent

current limiting on each

Aitech Systems Ltd. www.rugged.com/

has released a new family of chip-down NVIDIA® Quadro® P2000 (GP107) based XMC graphics/GPGPU cards for harsh environments. The MIL-STD-810G certified Condor NVP2000x cards bring the CUDA platform to small

• EIZO’s latest XMC cards feature H.265/H.264 hardware encode/decode capability, provide minimum 7-year lifecycle support, offer multiple customizable video outputs.

EIZO Rugged Solutions Inc., a provider of ruggedized graphics and video products,

Matrox® Imaging http://www.matrox.com

Two P233 power supplies can be connected in parallel with a load sharing option to provide 1,000 W of total output power. Or, for added system reliability and redundancy, the connected units can function as two parallel, redundant 500 W supplies with auto-failover.

Chatsworth, Calif. November 2017 – Aitech Defense Systems Inc. has expanded its line of power supply units (PSUs) with the P233, designed to meet the demands of highly integrated embedded systems. The 3U VITA 62-compliant PSU(link is external) offers an output capacity of up to 500 W as well as a wide voltage input range of 18 VDC to 32 VDC, and can be used in a range of

EIZO Releases Chip-Down NVIDIA Quadro P2000 (GP107) XMC Graphics/ GPGPU Cards for Rugged Airborne and Naval Applications

velopers to utilize FPGA design components—either the provided Xilinx examples or customized versions—without the burden of generating the peripheral logic. Custom- and ready-made Matrox FPGA design components combine easily within the graphical Xilinx Vivado IP Integrator tool.

Condor NXP2000

package XMCs to deliver 2.3 TFLOPS of processing power.

EIZO’s new XMC cards feature H.265/H.264 hardware encode/ decode capability and provide a minimum 7-year lifecycle support to customers. The boards can be factory configured to a power rating of choice between 25 and 50 Watts. While the current variants feature DisplayPort++, EIZO can also customize cards to support DVI, SDI, Composite, STANAG 3350, RS-170, RS-343, and VGA outputs.

EIZO www.eizo.com

COTS Journal | July 2018

25

July2018

COT’S PICKS Microsemi’s Highly Integrated Radiation-Tolerant LX7720 Motor Controller for Space Now Available for Production Prototyping.

Reinforcing Company’s Commitment to Space Solutions, New Device Addresses Challenge of Reducing Weight and Board Area on Satellites Microsemi Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microchip Technology Inc. announced the availability of production prototypes of the LX7720 the newest member of its Space Systems Manager (SSM) product family.

As the industry’s first highly integrated radiation-tolerant by design motor control integrated circuit (IC), the LX7720 significantly reduces weight and board space relative to conventional discrete motor control circuits, offering a unique solution for satellite manufacturers sensitive to area and weight challenges.

Microsemi’s SSM product family of special purpose mixed signal devices leverages the company’s more than 60 years of space heritage and provides its customers with innovative space system solutions solving application-specific challenges. As the second member of the SSM family, joining the previously announced LX7730 radiation-tolerant telemetry controller IC, the new LX7720 works with a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and complements Microsemi’s other components specifically designed for the demanding space market.

The LX7720 has already been adopted by customers to enable various motor control appli-

Metric System Corporation announces the release of its RaptorXR suite of VHF and UHF broadband full-duplex mesh networked radios.

RaptorXR provides a superior transport solution for deploying stand-alone links along with wide-area infrastructure networks in challenging urban and wilderness LOS and NLOS environments to support streaming video, VoIP,

cati on s in space robotics and human-rated space programs.

Additional target applications for the device include motor driver servo control, linear actuator servo control and driving stepper, brushless direct current (BLDC), and permanent-magnet synchronous (PMSM) motors. These motors can be found on satellite busses (solar panel deployment and driving reaction wheels), on spacecraft payload instruments (multi-axis pointing mechanisms for antennas and laser terminals; precise motion control of lenses, filters, and mirrors), and in robotics applications (pressure-sensitive motion control).

Key features of the LX7720 include: • Four half-bridge N-channel MOSFET drivers • Four floating differential current sensors • Pulse modulated resolver transformer driver • Three differential resolver sense inputs

large file transfer and IoT infrastructure.

Standard VHF and UHF TV White Space operating bands of 170 to 230 MHz and 450 to 700 MHz are supported along with optional support for the 135 to 170 civil band, 230 to 400 MHz military band and 700 to 900 MHz export band segments. Featuring operational RF bandwidth capabilities of 4 to 8 MHz, conductive output of 33 dBm, along with superior sensitivity and selectivity the RaptorXR supports full-duplex user

LX7720

• Six bi-level logic inputs • Fault detection • Radiation-tolerant by design: 100 krad total ionization dose (TID), 50 krad en hanced low dose radiation sensitivity (ELDRS) and single event immune • Power drivers via external field-effect transistors (FETs) • Loop control electronics for voltage or current control • Position read-back (resolver, potentiom- eter, limit switches, etc.)

• Highest integration solution

Microsemi Corporation www.microsemi.com

throughputs of 6 to 50 Mbps single-hop ranges of 40+ km (25 miles) are achievable with directional or sector antennas.

RaptorXR’s rugged, field repairable 1U shelf operates in a -20oC to 50oC (14oF to 122oF) 95% humidity environment accepting power from either a 100-240 VAC or 28 VDC source.

Metric System Corporation www.metricsystems.com

COTS Journal | July 2018

27

July 2018

COT’S PICKS

Curtiss-Wright Adds New NVIDIA® Tesla® Pascal™ 16 nm GPGPU Processor Modules to its Family of HPEC Processors for Demanding ISR/ EW Applications

sensor fusion or large swath video mapping, that require TFLOPS of accelerated processing. With their on-device support for NVIDIA High Performance Compute (HPC) mode, these HPEC engines can ingest the massive amounts of data generated by modern Radar, SIGINT, and EO/IR sensors. The VPX3-4924 modules, features a single Tesla P6 GPU

Tesla P6-based VPX3-4924 3U OpenVPX™ (single GPU) and VPX64944 6U OpenVPX™ (dual GPU) Modules enhance virtualization and data transfers in HPEC systems

These GPGPU modules enable system designers to fully leverage the benefits of virtualization via NVIDIA’s Virtual GPU (vGPU™) graphics virtualization platform, and provide virtual machines (VM) access to NVIDIA GPU technology. vGPU is supported by NVIDIA’s GRID™ 2.0 API, the industry’s most advanced technology for sharing virtual GPU hardware acceleration between multiple users, with support for up to 16 instances. Using the GRID API, virtual and physical devices present the system designer with identical features and an identical user experience, making the actual and the virtual GPU instance indistinguishable.

Curtiss Wright Defense Solutions division announced that it has expanded its family of open architecture high performance embedded computing (HPEC) processors designed for demanding ISR applications with the addition of two new NVIDIA® Tesla® Pascal™ (P6) 16 nm GPGPU-based OpenVPX modules.

Designed for use in compute intensive ISR and EW systems, the fully rugged VPX3-4924 and VPX6-4944 modules are VPX3-4924 ideal for use in applications, such as

Chassis Plans Launches M5U-22 COTS Rugged Military Grade 5U Rack Mounted HPC Computer System High Performance Computing (HPC) in a Ruggedized Platform for Data Intensive applications like Persistent Surveillance, Simulation, Telemetry, Image and Radar Processing, etc.

Chassis Plans announce the release of its first rugged High Performance Computer (HPC).

The new HPC M5U-22 is based on a ruggedized 5U enclosure that is designed to meet the environmental requirements for a wide range of ground, vehicle, shipboard and aircraft installations. Operating specs include 12,000 feet, 0 to 50 degrees C, 5-95% humidity – noncondensing and vibration/shock resistant. This system also offers a high-power redundant power supply and RAID options for additional hard drive redundancy.

The heart of this system is designed around a long-life system board using the new Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs. It also provides 4 3.5 drive bays, a slim slot fed optical drive, 2 USB 2.0 ports, up to 1TB of RAM, and can run Windows 28

COTS Journal | July 2018

and delivers 6.2 TFLOPS performance. For more demanding applications, the 6U form factor VPX64944 deploys dual Tesla P6s, doubling available compute power to 12.4 TFLOPS. These GPGPU modules extend Curtiss-Wright’s proven leadership as a supplier of the most advanced compute solutions for embedded ISR applications.

Curtiss Wright www.curtisswright.com

10, Windows 7 Pro as well as other 32 and 64 bit operating systems. The CP SysCool® thermal management system extends the life of the computing system, reduces power consumption, and lowers overall system noise levels.

The system has the capability to support up to 4x NVIDIA Tesla GPU’s in a single package. Chassis Plans’ rackmount computer systems are designed with a removable back plate that allows a 12V power cord to run from the computer’s power supply to a display or keyboard video monitor. This Exterior Power Jack is available for most Chassis Plans’ monitors. By running the display with the computer systems’ power supply, this Exterior Power Jack option can provide many benefits including fewer needed cables, less weight and cost, and elimination of additional equipment, such as a power brick.

Chassis Plans www.chassis-plans.com

A47_COTS_2_25x9_875.qxp_A45.qxd 1/30/18 1:46 P

July 2018

COT’S PICKS

Concurrent Technologies expands product capabilities with LynxSecure Separation Kernel Hypervisor

Concurrent Technologies, a leading supplier of processor solutions for demanding environments, has partnered with Lynx Software Technologies to provide solutions for applications

current Technologies’ rugged server TR C4x/msd and TR G4x/msd boards, that are available with 12-core Intel® Xeon® processor D-1500 and up to 64GBytes of DDR4 ECC memory. These boards, in conjunction with LynxSecure hypervisor technology, are suitable for high performance computing tasks that are common in ground and vehicle based military applications. By having sufficient compute and memory resources, each proces-

requiring a secure virtualized environment. The LynxSecure Separation Kernel Hypervisor enables simultaneous operation of general purpose and real-time operating systems whilst meeting the security needs of the US Department of Defense. It is particularly suitable for use on Con-

sor board can run several self-contained, secure guest operating systems including Windows®, Linux and real-time operating systems such as LynxOS and LynxOS-178.

EKF Elektronik GmbHSBF-CROSSOVER Multi I/O Card Quad USB 3.0 • Dual GbE • RS-232 • PE Mini Card Socket

throughput on all connectors concurrently.

Hence, the SBF-CROSSOVER is a multi-purpose solution, suitable e.g. for edge computing.

EKF introduces the SBF-CROSSOVER, a peripheral slot card for CompactPCI® Serial systems, equipped with four USB 3.0 controllers, and two Gigabit Ethernet NICs, all wired for front I/O. In addition, a PCI Express® Mini Card socket is provided on-board, which can be used e.g. for a fieldbus I/O module such as CAN-FD. Furthermore, a quad port UART is available for RS-232 or RS-485 communication.

The SBF-CROSSOVER can be installed into any PCI Express® enabled peripheral slot of a CompactPCI® Serial backplane. All on-board devices are PCI Express® based. The front panel USB and Ethernet jacks are wired to individual controllers each, thus achieving the full data

Concurrent Technologies www.ctc.com

EKF Elektronik GmbH www.ekf.de

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PICO ELECTRONICS, Inc. 143 Sparks Ave., Pelham, New York 10803 Call Toll Free 800-431-1064 • FAX 914-738-8225

E Mail: info@picoelectronics.com

COTS Journal | July 2018

29

July2018

COT’S PICKS Kontron introduces Single Board Computer VX3106 ideally suited for Long Life Embedded Systems in Transportation

The new 3U VPX SBC features Layerscape quad-A72 Arm Cores, providing a low power, natural cooling SBC for multiple application scenarios Kontron announced the VX3106. The 3U VPX SBC features an a 64-bit ARM® Cortex®-v8 A72 based processor with speeds up to 1.8GHz, main memory up to 16GB DDR4 and up to 64GB of eMMC. Its soldered memory, 1Gb FRAM technology for memory retention over power loss, low power consumption and tolerance of temperature ranges from -20°C to +65°C makes it well suited for applications in the transportation, avionics, and defense industries.

Robert Negre, VP of Business Development at Kontron: “The new VX3106 is compatible with the existing Kontron 3U VPX blade ecosystem, which is already being used worldwide. Kontron supports long term availability options for this platform: The new SBC can be used as an addition, upgrade, or replacement for our VX3240, VX3030, and VX3035 products in safety-critical railway infrastructures, avionics, or defense applications. It offers three times the performance, and thus is a good fit for long term, low power, general purpose computing use cases.

With a very competitive price tag, the VX3106 is here to stay, with product life and application domain extensions through CPU variants such as those offered

Pixus Offers VITA 67 Backplanes for RF over OpenVPX

by the NXP QoreIQ Layerscape family.”

Depending on configuration, the VX3106 design allows multiple application profiles expanding to high performance networking, command and control, and signal processing. The CPU Neon SIMD vector unit is able to accelerate signal processing algorithms and functions, speeding up applications such as audio and video processing, voice and facial recognition, AR/VR, and deep learning.

The VX3106 firwmare is based on Uboot technology with integrated PBIT. It supports Yocto Linux with a small 30 MB image size. Other Linux distributions for ARM achitecture can be supported using the VX3106 BSP files.

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COTS Journal | July 2018

VX3106 offers the option of fan-less operation. The memory devices are soldered to maximize shock and vibration resistance. In addition to soldered storage, VX3106 offers two sockets (one mPCIe USB/PCIe support , one M.2 SATA/PCIe support) on the top side.

It provides 1Gb FRAM to retain data event during power cuts, preserving application context and allowing applications to restart quickly. Unlike classical FLASH devices, it also supports infinite write cycles.

Kontron www.kontron.comm

The new 3U VPX SBC

Pixus offers OpenVPX backplanes in sizes up to 16 slots at a 1.0” pitch.

Pixus Technologies has developed a new line of 3U and 6U OpenVPX backplanes with provisions for RF cabling per VITA 67. The backplanes come in various sizes and slot configuration options.

The VPX307 and VPX607 series for 3U and 6U VITA 67 backplanes respectively, feature various VITA 67.x configuration options. The backplanes are offered populated with the RF housings/contacts or only with cutouts for later customer installation as needed. The first in the series is a 3U, 9-slot version per the BKP3CEN09-15.2.17 profile. Hybrid/development backplanes are also available.

The VX3106 board management controller features multiple watchdogs, power sequencing, and LED management. Board control and monitoring registers are available to the system via VPX SMB bus signals.

The VITA 67

Pixus Technologies www.pixustechnologies.com

COTS COTS

ADVERTISERS

Index

Company Page# Website Behlman Electronics ............................................

5

.............................................. www.behlman.com

Chassis Plans ......................................................

15 ....................................... www.chassisplans.com

Elma Electronics .................................................

21 .................................................... www.elma.com

Interface Concept .................................................. 20

.................................. www.interfaceconcept.com

Mercury Systems ..................................................

4

.............................................. www.tms.mrcy.com

MPL ......................................................................

IBC

......................................................... www.mpl.ch

North Alantic Industries .......................................

22 ...................................................... www.nail.com

OSS ......................................................................

13 ................................... www.onestopsystems.com

Pentek ................................................................

BC .................................................. www.pentek.com

PICO Electronics, Inc ...........................................

29 ..................................... www.picoelectronics.com

Red Rock Technologies, Inc ..................................

IBC .......................................... www.redrocktech.com

SkyScale ..............................................................

2 ............................................... www.skyscale.com

Supermicro ..........................................................

26 ......................................... www.supermicrot.com

Vicor Cororation.....................................................

9 ...................... www.vicorpower.com/defense-aero

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