Single-board computers (SBCs), especially when designed according to Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) guidelines, are critical components for proper routing of RF/microwave signals in modern communications, electronic-warfare (EW), radar, and signal-intelligence (SIGINT) systems for all branches of the armed forces.
By following SOSA’s precise input/output (I/O) profile, the latest 3U VPX processor board from Acromag Inc. provides high-performance computing and a broad range of I/O interfaces for rugged embedded systems. The SBC features 100-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) on the data plane and 10 GbE on the control plane with an 11th-generation Tiger Lake-H Xeon-W central processing unit (CPU) from Intel Corp.
The basic model VPX7600 SOSA-aligned SBC (see image above) employs a model W-11865MRE eight-core CPU from Intel Corp. connected to 32-GB dual-channel DDR4 error-correcting-code (ECC) SDRAM memory and a 64-GB NVMe M.2 ball-grid-array (BGA) solid-state drive (SSD).
A PCIe Gen 4 × 8 interface to the Intel E810 100-GbE controller ports facilitates the SBC’s high data rates. And a 2.5GBASE-T/1GBASE-T Ethernet port provides time-sensitive-networking (TSN) support while a DisplayPort digital display interface enables 4,000-pixel horizontal video resolution. The NVMe SSD provides as much as 1 TB of M.2 data storage.
The backplane I/O includes 2.5 GbE, DisplayPort, USB 3.2, SATA III, RS-232, RS-422, and GPIO interfaces. Versions of the SBC are available with front-panel I/O configurations, conduction cooling, and air cooling.
According to Robert Greenfield, Acromag’s Director of Business Development, “This processor board packs a high-performance workstation-class CPU, 100 GbE, and other high-speed I/O interfaces on a 3U VPX card to support defense, aerospace, and scientific applications.”
Versions are available for Windows, Linux, and VxWorks operating systems. The VPX SBC is designed and manufactured in the U.S. and is suitable for military, aerospace, and scientific research systems. Aligned to SOSA standards, it's ideal for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) embedded computing systems and modular open system (MOSA) applications.