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Curtiss-Wright Embedded Computing white papers highlight products and technologies of interest to the defense and aerospace community. All documents require users to be registered on the site.
Data Protection with the QorIQ™ Platform Trust Architecture
As embedded systems grow in sophistication, systems designers and their customers are increasingly concerned with the importance of protecting the data residing in their systems, and by extension their investment in intellectual property. This paper will present an overview of the potential threats to an embedded system, and how the Trust Architecture can effectively defend against these threats.
Intel® x86-Based Digital Signal Processing - Using the Intel Architecture in High-Performance Military Embedded Signal Processing Applications
Historically, processors from the PowerPC® family, now known as Power Architecture® processors, have been the dominant choice for implementing Digital Signal Processing (DSP) in high-performance embedded military applications that take advantage of open system Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products. Today, however, beginning with Intel Core™ i7 dualcore processors, the low-power, high-performance advantages of the Intel architecture processor technology can be used for the first time to design DSP engines for the rugged deployed COTS signal processing space.
Enabling Interoperability in High-Performance Embedded Applications - An OpenVPX System Specification Primer
With the advent of high-speed serial fabrics, the VME Parallel Bus proved insufficient for the needs of higherperformance embedded systems. VPX, also known as VITA 46, is the follow-on to the VME Specification for the next generation of high-speed interconnects for harsh environments. While advancing the state of the technology,VPX provides backwards compatibility to traditional VMEbus through the use of specialized bridges.
Physical Layer Switch - Simultaneous Processing & Recording of High-speed Sensor Data
Deployed high-speed sensor systems pose different problems than in the lab. In deployed applications the data needs still to be sent to the DSP for processing in real-time. At the same time the high-speed sensor data needs to be recorded and archived for subsequent analysis and evaluation. How can high-speed streaming sensor data be simultaneously processed while also being recorded? The physical layer switch makes this possible.
The CHAMP-AV6 VPX-REDI Digital Signal Processing Card - Maximizing Performance with Minimal Porting Effort
The Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing CHAMP-AV6 is a latest-generation, VPX-REDI platform for Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications. Current users of the Curtiss-Wright Controls CHAMPAV4 VME-based card undoubtedly are – or will soon be – considering a move to the CHAMP-AV6. This decision is driven by the enormous performance upside of the board itself, coupled with the increasingly acknowledged advantages of the VPX format. This paper presents information from a benchmark prepared by Gedae Inc. which compares the relative performance of the CHAMP-AV4 and AV6 running a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) application. Also described is the effort required to port an application developed with the Gedae® environment from the CHAMP-AV4 to the AV6.
Trusted COTS
The armed forces of the United States and its allies throughout the world rely on critical military technology that is under constant threat: from reverse-engineering of systems lost on the battlefield, to the accidental introduction of counterfeit components on the factory floor. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing is answering the call for critical technology and data protection for our customers worldwide, with our Trusted COTS™ program of open-architecture products, dedicated personnel, and comprehensive processes and services.
Risk Management for Counterfeit Materials: The Role of the COTS Board Manufacturer
Numerous media reports and investigations, coupled with public statements by government and industry players, provide ample evidence to suggest that the proliferation of counterfeit parts and materials in the electronics industry is becoming increasingly widespread. Factors such as technology and globalization are helping to increase the sophistication and availability of counterfeit components, making the supply chain more vulnerable to infection.
Physical Layer Switch as Media Converter
The key attributes of a PLS, such as the Curtiss-Wright GLX4000, clearly point to its flexibility. Since it is a digital device, network connections and configuration can be done through software, via a Command Line Interface (CLI) or Graphical User Interface (GUI), remotely if necessary. The non-blocking, digital backplane permits any configuration, with any input connected to any output. Being network transparent means a PLS acts as a pass-through, uninvolved in the protocol. The fact that a PLS is protocol agnostic allows support for any serial digital protocol, standard and non-standard. The flexible nature of a PLS lends itself to many military and commercial applications. In the case of the GLX4000, one of its many advantages is the ability to act as a media converter.
DRS Application Note
This application note describes a notional Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) solution that can be integrated utilizing a high-performance digital receiver from DRS Signal Solutions and a high-performance Digital Signal Processing (DSP) engine from Curtiss-Wright. The combination of the DRS SI-9146 Dual Tuner and the Curtiss-Wright VPF1 VXS DSP engine presents a low-risk approach to the development of SIGINT and Electronic Warfare (EW) systems for deployment in air-cooled and rugged conduction-cooled environments. System Integrators can reduce their risk and achieve superior performance by basing their design on this proven combination of reliable, high-performance tuner and signal processing hardware that communicate over the high throughput VXS interconnect.
Intel
Curtiss-Wright is a leading provider of Intel® architecture-based embedded solutions for the aerospace and defense (A&D) market. A member of the Intel Embedded and Communications Alliance (Intel ECA), Curtiss-Wright’s x86-based rugged air- and conduction-cooled SBCs take full advantage of the benefits of Intel’s most advanced high performance and low-power processors. Intel supports the A&D market with processors and power management features specifically targeted to meet the stringent demands of system integrators designing solutions for harsh environments. Curtiss-Wright leverages Intel’s long life cycle embedded products roadmap to serve the unique program requirements of the rugged deployed market.
Pilatus PC-21
Curtiss-Wright has moved the traditional COTS value proposition to the next level of integration. This PCOTS strategy understands and treats all users of a particular subsystem to be members of a superset of users, enabling development costs to be shared, and thus lowered, across multiple programs. Even better, it enables life-cycle management costs to be shared, and thus lowered, across multiple programs, while the platform is continually vetted, matured and improved. Additionally, the PCOTS strategy simplifies the customer’s supply chain burden, because the resultant subsystem has a single part number to be tracked rather than a larger list of numbers, likely from a large variety of different suppliers, for the disparate components (i.e., the boards, cables, chassis, etc.) that comprise the product.
File System Considerations in a Multi-Core RTOS Environment
Multi-core processing is rapidly becoming a necessity in embedded computing with the convergence of two conflicting trends: Demand for high density storage and a requirement for ever smaller footprint. In order to address this demand for increased storage and smaller real estate, manufacturers are turning to MLC NAND in droves. One Top-3 silicon vendor recently projected that 90% of its NAND sales in 2007 will be MLC. Meanwhile, consumers refuse to pay the penalty in performance that often accompanies the complex error correction required for MLC’s multi-bit architecture. With multi-core configurations consisting of dual core CPUs that share all local board resources, embedded single board computers are able to offset this performance hit. Another advantage of this configuration is that an extra CPU is supplied without duplicating any of the peripheral hardware. These cores often share main memory, Flash memory, busses/interconnects, bridges, and endpoint devices. Since Flash memory banks are available with large storage capacity, using Flash to store a file system has become increasingly popular with embedded software to log large amounts of data or store complete sets of maps, etc. For software, the question becomes; How can you divide ownership and control access to devices and avoid the undesired effects of dual simultaneous access?
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