Abaco Systems announced the PMC523 16-port serial controller and the SPR518 PCI Express ® XMC carrier card. Both provide innovative upgrade paths to protect customers from obsolescence.  

The PMC523 is a flexible solution and a technology insertion which integrates multiple serial I/O channels onto single board computers (SBCs) with PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) sites. Its efficient design packages 16 serial channels onto a single PMC. Additionally, this serial controller utilises dual octal UARTs to increase overall performance through reduction of programmed I/O operations. This provides an evolutionary path for enhanced software and ultimately protects customers who have already designed systems utilizing the previous generation PMC423.
The PMC523 is a 16 port RS-422 serial controller with a PCI bus 2.3 target interface compliant up to a 33 MHz clock with a 32-bit bus. The ports are accessible via a front 68-pin high-density connector or rear I/O via P14. Flow control is either automatic RTS/CTS or DTR/DSR. Xon/Xoff software flow control is automatic as well.
 
The SPR518 provides an upgrade path for customers by offering a replacement for the existing SPR418A. This card is a short form factor PCI Express (PCIe®) carrier for XMC modules which allows for use with traditional PCs. The PCIe interface provides for unimpeded data transfers at the full rate supported by the mezzanine card and is enhanced by a PCIe Gen3 Redriver. This enhancement allows for safe operation of XMC modules on PCIe mainboards, where previously the SPR418A could only support Gen2.
  
More Information on the PMC523.
More information on the SPR518.

Abaco Systems announced the production release of five products designed to align to the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA™) technical standard demonstrating Abaco’s position as the market leader in 3U and 6U VPX boards and board sets.  The VP431, SWE440S, SBC6511, VP831 and IPN254 align to the SOSA standard and support DOD goals for technology insertion, cost reduction, and faster time to deployment.
Abaco is an active member of the Open Group steering group and was proud to be a part of creating the Technical Standard for SOSA Reference Architecture, Edition 1.0, announced in September. 
 
  The five production releases include:

• The VP431 is a 3U VPX board featuring the latest third generation Xilinx® RF System-on-Chip (RFSoC) containing data converters integrated directly into the Zynq® Ultrascale+™ MPSoC  with 40/100Gb Ethernet connections, an optional optical interface, and other general-purpose I/O. Supporting up to eight 14-bit ADCs sampling up to 5.0GSPS, eight 14-bit DACs sampling at up to 10.0GSPS, a user programmable FPGA fabric, and a multi-core Zynq ARM® processing subsystem.  
• The SWE440S is a fully managed 3U VPX Ethernet switch designed to meet the most demanding requirements for network switching in tactical applications. By offering configuration options for two SOSA profiles as well as VITA/OpenVPX 32U through to 8F configurations, it is one of the most capable and flexible switches on the market, and supports 1G, 10G and 40G Ethernet.  
• The SBC6511 single board computer features an innovative design that combines the Intel® Xeon® E 9th Generation CPU with the Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+™ FPGA with advanced security capabilities to yield maximum I/O handling, processing performance, and security in a rugged, single 6U VPX slot. It is also available in an OpenVPX variant.  
• The IPN254 is Abaco’s fourth generation 6U multiprocessor solution. By combining the latest NVIDIA® Turing™ GPU with the 9th generation Intel Xeon E CPU, the IPN254 enables maximum processing performance in a rugged, single VPX slot. It delivers the highest available bandwidth between its major components, making it an ideal solution for data-intensive applications in the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) domain. It is also available in an OpenVPX variant.  
• The VP831 is a 3U VPX FPGA carrier board featuring a dual FPGA design supporting RF and signal processing in a single slot. It includes a powerful Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ FPGA and Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, to deliver maximum performance and programmability along with critical security features. The VP831 can be combined with any of Abaco’s FPGA Mezzanine Cards (FMC) A/D and D/A modules for complete RF conversion and processing.

​More Information.
Technical Standard for SOSA™ Reference Architecture, Edition 1.0

Abaco Systems announced OpenWare V6.6, which delivers an innovative networking solution with additional features and security patches on the flexible networking management software. This release delivers on the promise to provide regular updates to OpenWare every six months and shows Abaco's commitment to taking security seriously by including the latest CVEs, while also providing customer focused new features and usability enhancements.
 
OpenWare V6.6 features Network Address Translation support on the SWE450A, which allows the end user to route between networks. This provides the customer with the ability to deploy the switch in more complex network architectures while avoiding the need for an additional hardware. Version 6.6 also offers ERPS Redundant Ring Support, which creates redundancy in a network built with multiple switches, so that if one switch fails the others can bypass the failed switch to keep the network alive. Security continues to be a priority with several under-the-hood updates and patches implemented for known CVEs.
 
Abaco continues to be a market leader in the rugged embedded switch market by releasing new versions of the in-house switch management software on a regular schedule. This feature development  enables customers to succeed by tailoring OpenWare to their needs. Customers are able to solve their networking challenges with increased speed and effectiveness, resulting in improved usability. It also allows inexperienced users to readily get up to speed with a configured OpenWare Switch that has been improved by increasing coverage of the features available. OpenWare V6.6 is available for a wide range of NETernity products, including 3U VPX products like the SWE440S and the RES3000 COTS system.

 More Information.

Abaco Systems announced the GRA115V, a rugged 3U VPX video capture, processing and output board featuring the latest NVIDIA Turing™ based Quadro RTX™ 3000 GPU. This board delivers the latest GPU technologies for the rugged defence, aerospace, and industrial market sectors providing continuity of the NVIDIA GPU/GPGPU roadmap with the highest performance GPUs on the market today.
The GRA115V reduces latencies between the GPU and the video ingress/egress with the ability to interface 3G-SDI cameras and displays. It is an update to Abaco’s portfolio of class-leading NVIDIA Turing GPU devices, delivering a complete portfolio of “off-the-shelf-availability” solutions for mission-ready systems of all sizes and processing requirements.
This board delivers high performance in a low SWaP 3U VPX form factor offered in air-cooled and conduction cooled formats. The GRA115V is ideal for both video capture, processing and graphics/display processing applications such as situational awareness, object tracking and classification, and GPGPU applications including radar and video surveillance and analysis. For high-end graphics output applications, the GRA115V has the potential to reduce slot count and cost with GPU performance and four 3G/HD-SDI inputs and four 3G/HD-SDI outputs as well as offering one Display Port 1.4 output to connect to the latest displays. Additionally, this board supports Abaco’s Axis ImageFlex to simplify and accelerate image processing software development.
Pete Thompson, VP of product management for Abaco Systems, Inc. said, “Our commitment to innovation means we continually to update our portfolio of GPU products to deliver exactly what our customers need to succeed. The GRA115V addresses customer needs for increased performance while lowering SWaP constraints, reducing latencies, and allowing for interfacing with cameras and displays. Addition of this board to our portfolio proves Abaco has a comprehensive Systems strategy and places us in an industry-leading competitive position.”

​Find more information here.

​Elma Electronic Inc. now offers the 3U VPX slimline CompacFrame, the first in a series of new development platforms designed to accelerate the design and testing of open architecture-based embedded systems.
Elma’s all-new slimline CompacFrame is the next-generation platform designed to accelerate development and testing of Plug-In Cards (PICs) aligned to the SOSA Technical Standard.
The platform features a card cage that is tilted upwards by 5° for easier access and accommodates up to four, 1-slot power and ground only VPX backplanes or up to 4 slots OpenVPX. It also enables testing of plug-in cards that are aligned to The Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture™ (SOSA) initiative.
 Designed for ease of use, the new development platform features an integrated carrying handle as well as front panel interfaces for voltage LEDs, monitoring and test points as well as a reset and power switch.
Various card guide installation options are available to accommodate different plug-in card cooling schemes, including VITA 48.1 convection, VITA 48.2 conduction and the newer VITA 48.8 air flow-through (AFT) method. The unit ships standard with a 300 W ATX fixed power supply.

Find the datasheet here.

NATvision is a complete environment for the development and deployment of sophisticated image and video processing applications. The environment consists of a broad range of hardware products combined with selected software technologies and engineering support from N.A.T.. Designed as a machine vision processing platform, NATvision offers higher performance and lower development costs than comparable solutions, with unlimited scalability and number of cameras. The NATvision technology uses today’s state-of-the-art FPGA resource boards, combining the performance and real-time advantages of FPGA based algorithms with software-based image processing.

NATvision systems are based on MicroTCA (MTCA), an open system standard for embedded applications, combining flexibility and scalability with high speed data rate capabilities. Compared to other system standards MTCA provides an unbeatable freedom of scalability and flexibility for vision applications ranging from single camera systems up to multiple camera systems combined with the processing power of FPGA and/ or CPU/GPU units.

NATvision targets any application requiring high speed video or image processing or realtime manipulation, such as Vision Inspection, Analysis & Merging, Video - Public Safety.

For more information go to www.natvision.com 
Find the NATvision Whitepaper here.

The SV2-MOVIE is a peripheral slot board for PICMG® CompactPCI® Serial systems and acts as carrier for an MXM 3.0/3.1 graphics module. The SV2-MOVIE is provided with four DisplayPort front panel connectors and can accommodate either a type A (82x70mm2) or type B MXM graphics module (82x105mm2).
MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) is an interconnect standard for GPUs created by MXM-SIG. MXM cards are mostly equipped with an AMD or NVIDIA GPU core. For best performance, the SV2-MOVIE should be operated in a CPCISerial fat pipe slot, which provides a PCIe x8 host interface. The SV2-MOVIE is equipped with a PCIe Gen3 redriver for optimum signal integrity.
For use with suitable MXM graphics modules, low profile passive heat spreaders are available, for either 4HP or 8HP front panel width. In addition, the CPCISerial rack must provide suitable forced airflow.
Examples of compatible MXM Modules:

• Aetina M3N1060-MN (NVIDIA GTX 1060 Pascal)
• Aetina M3N1070-MN (NVIDIA GTX 1070 Pascal, for CUDA operation only, no front I/O DisplayPort connectors available due to extended module dimensions)
• NVIDIA® QUADRO® P3000 (1280 CUDA cores, 3.9TFLOPS)
• NVIDIA® QUADRO® P5000 (2048 CUDA cores, 6.4TFLOPS)
  
• NVIDIA® QUADRO® RTX3000 (1920 CUDA cores, 5.3TFLOPS)
• NVIDIA® QUADRO® RTX5000 (3072 CUDA cores, 9.39TFLOPS)

Find more information here.

Elma Electronic Inc. now offers a core set of popular chassis and storage modules that are available for quick shipment in low quantities.  The company’s Express Products program focuses on delivering up to two units within two weeks of ordering, and four to six weeks for the remaining quantity needed.
A range of the company’s chassis products, for VPX, VME and CompactPCI architectures, as well storage modules are part of the existing program.  These units can be ordered, shipped and delivered with a quick turnaround to meet tightened design schedules and enable system engineers to begin development immediately, versus waiting on a full order delivery.  Each unit comes wired, assembled and tested.  The storage modules are available with either rotating or solid-state drives.  
 
Find the Express Lists here.
​

Abaco Systems announced the release of two boards, the SBC314C single board computer and RAR15XC avionics data bus communications XMC mezzanine board, for embedded flight-certifiable applications. Previously only available as part of the FORCE2C rugged line replaceable unit, the two are now each available as separate boards.
 
The SBC314C 3U VPX single board computer, based on the NXP® QorIQ® T2081 Multicore Communications Power Architecture™ processor, is engineered in accordance with DO-254 DAL-A and features an XMC mezzanine site. It is pin-compatible with the SBC314, providing a pathway to flight certification for existing customers. The SBC314C supports a diverse I/O set that includes Gigabit Ethernet, serial communication ports, USB 2.0, SATA and GPIO.
 The SBC314C is fully supported by Power-on Built-In Test (PBIT) and Bootloader, both engineered in accordance with DO-178C DAL-A, and supports ARINC 653 compliant operating systems including VxWorks® 653, Deos™, INTEGRITY®-178 tuMP™, and LynxOS-178® for integrators needing to build complex integrated modular avionics systems.
 
The RAR15XC XMC board delivers high-density MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429 data bus communications as well as avionics discrete I/O. The RAR15XC is pin-compatible with the RAR15X and provides operational capability for full integration into aircraft systems. It is engineered to meet the demands of the most safety-critical applications and provides high-level functionality to reduce the complexity of the application programming.
 
 “We’re excited to bring the SBC314C and RAR15XC to our customers as individual boards,” said Pete Thompson, VP of Product Management at Abaco. “While the FORCE2C continues to see great success in flight-certifiable applications, we have customers who have asked to make them available individually for integration into their own systems. We believe this is a natural progression as work to expand our flight-certifiable portfolio of boards, board sets and systems.”

Find more information on the SBC314C here.
​Find more information on the RAR15XC here.
​Find more information on the FORCE2C here.
Whitepaper: Considering the Make vs. Buy Decision for Flight-Certifiable Embedded Electronics.

​As The Open Group® Sensor Open Standards Architecture™, or SOSA™ initiative continues to move towards completion, Elma Electronic has added two 3U backplanes to its growing family of products aligned to Snapshot 3 of the SOSA Technical Standard. Available populated with or without VITA 67.3 connectors for timing and RF connectivity, the 6-slot and 8-slot backplanes provide the foundation for complex, high speed signal processing systems.
Ram Rajan, Sr. VP of Engineering for Elma Electronic Inc., noted, “When using these new backplanes, designers can develop systems aligned to SOSA for high-performance mission-critical applications requiring lower lifecycle costs and rapid technology insertion. We see them applied to a number of applications including mission, weapons and navigation control, threat detection, surveillance and target tracking and display as well as sensor-based systems and process and environmental monitoring.”
The backplanes incorporate the latest for precision network timing plus slot profiles for SBCs, switches, radial clocks and expansion. All data paths support high-speed signals. Either used as configured or customised to meet specific system needs, the SOSA aligned backplanes offer considerable design flexibility. The extensible, modular design enables a wide range of slot counts and connection configurations.

​Find more information here.