header-company Curtiss Wright

>> Click the image for a larger versionCurtiss-Wright Announces New Rugged 3U VPX Single Board Computer

The new VPX3-127 SBC features Freescale’s Dual-Core MPC864OD Power Architecture® Platform Processor

Leesburg, VA –  August 18, 2008  - Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, a leading designer and manufacturer of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX and CompactPCI products, has announced the VPX3-127, a new Power™ Architecture-based 3U VPX (VITA 46) single board computer (SBC). The powerful, small form-factor VPX3-127 SBC is the latest addition to Curtiss-Wright’s extensive family of rugged VPX SBC and DSP engines, and brings the high-bandwidth, serial switched fabric support, and ESD protection benefits of the VPX board architecture to space and weight constrained 3U embedded applications.  When used with Curtiss-Wright’s VPX3-215 ExpressReach 3U IO expansion carrier card, the VPX3-127 provides a powerful card set for small system development.

“3U VPX SBCs enable system integrators to deploy rugged, compact system solutions in space and weight constrained environments, ” said Lynn Patterson, Vice President and General Manager of Curtiss-Wright’s Modular Solutions group. “The new VPX3-127 SBC is a powerful 3U processing solution ideal for harsh environment aerospace and defense applications.  This board’s support for high-speed serial switched interconnects, PCI Express and SRIO, along with its feature rich IO complement (GIE, USB, DIO, serial ports), provides outstanding performance-per-feature-per-Watt.”

"Curtiss Wright, as one of our leading customers in the rugged embedded military COTS market, recognizes the importance of low power platform processor solutions," said Glenn Beck, Marketing Manager with Freescale's Networking Systems Division. "The advanced MPC864OD is an ideal solution for embedded rugged products where power and performance are a must."

The VPX3-127 is Curtiss-Wright’s first 3U VPX SBC to feature Freescale’s MPC864OD Power Architecture system-on-chip (SOC) platform processor. This high performance dual core e600 Power Architecture processor operates at 1.0 GHz. The VPX3-127 combines this processor with high bandwidth serial fabrics and a complementary set of IO features together in a form factor ideal for space and weight constrained harsh environment defense and aerospace applications.

VPX3-127 Performance Features:

  • Single or Dual Core MPC864xD CPU @ 1.0 GHz
  • 512 MB up to 2 GB of DDR2 memory with ECC @500 MHz on dual memory controllers
  • 256 MB NOR Flash and 1 GB of NAND FLASH
  • 512 KB Non Volatile Memory (NVRAM)
  • One XMC/PMC site
  • Two x4 lane fabrics offering either 2 x4 lane PCI Express ports, or a single x4 lane PCI Express port and a single x4 lane SRIO port.
  • Two 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports
  • RS-232 and RS-422 Serial Channels
  • USB 2.0 Host port and Discreet Digital IO
  • VPX-REDI (VITA 48) version available: contact factory for more information.

For security purposes, the board also provides the SecureErase Utility to easily erase all non-volatile memory elements when required.

VPX3-215 3U Carrier Card
The optional VPX3-215 companion 3U carrier card, provides the following system expansion features:

  • High performance XMC/PMC site supporting x8 lane PCI Express port (VITA42.4) with differential pair IO routing
  • PMC site supports up to 100MHz PCI-X (5V tolerant)
  • PMC site supports up to 100MHz PCI-X (5V tolerant)
  • Two x4 lane PCI Express Switch ports on P1 provide access to the PMC/XMC site. These can be aggregated to function as single x8 lane port for higher bandwidth access to XMC

Software Support
Both the VPX3-127 SBC and the VPX3-215 ExpressReach card are built in conformance with Curtiss-Wright’s Continuum Software Architecture (CSA), an interoperability initiative under its COTS Continuum program that eases system upgrades and compatibility across product lines through the use of standardized APIs and abstraction of hardware layers. CSA-compliant boards significantly ease and speed software driver development efforts.

Operating environment support includes drivers for operating environments including WindRiver VxWorks/Tornado (6.x), Wind River Linux GPPLE, LynuxWorks LynxOS and Green Hills Software Integrity. The VPX3-127 also supports the Continuum Vector DSP library.

Ruggedization Levels
The VPX3-127 is designed for demanding, high-performance defense and aerospace applications and is offered in a range of rugged configurations including air-cooled (Level 0/100) and conduction-cooled (Level 100/200). Innovative cooling techniques are employed to handle high performance implementations.

Volume pricing for commercial and rugged versions of the VPX3-127 is available. For pricing and availability please contact the factory.

Sales inquiries: Please forward all Sales and reader service inquiries to Jerri-Lynne Charbonneau, Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, Tel: (613) 254-5112; Fax: (613) 599-7777; e-mail: sales@cwcembedded.com.

For editorial information regarding Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing products or services, contact John Wranovics, Director of Public Relations, Curtiss-Wright, Tel: (925) 640-6402; email. jwranovics@curtisswright.com.

About Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing is the industry’s most comprehensive and experienced single source for embedded solutions, ranging from Processing, Subsystems, Data Communication, DSP, and Video & Graphics to the most advanced board level components and fully integrated custom systems. The Embedded Computing group serves the defense, aerospace, commercial and industrial markets and is part of Curtiss-Wright Controls Inc.

About Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Curtiss-Wright Controls is the motion control segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW). With manufacturing facilities around the world, Curtiss-Wright Controls is a leading technology-based organization providing niche motion control products, subsystems and services internationally for the aerospace and defense markets. For more information, visit http://www.cwcontrols.com/.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: a reduction in anticipated orders; an economic downturn; changes in the competitive marketplace and/or customer requirements; an inability to perform customer contracts at anticipated cost levels; a change in government spending; and other factors that generally affect the business of aerospace, defense contracting, marine electronics and industrial companies. Please refer to the current SEC filings for Curtiss-Wright Corporation under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, for further information.

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