cots journal january 2013

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

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CONTENTS

COTS (kots), n. 1. Commercial off-the-shelf. Ter-minology popularized in 1994 within U.S. DoD by SECDEF Wm. Perrys 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 specifi-cations, 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 customers unique requirements.

Ant. When applied to the procurement of electronics for the U.S. Military, COTS is a pro-curement philosophy and does not imply commer-cial, 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.

The Journal of Military Electronics & ComputingThe Journal of Military Electronics & ComputingThe Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

Departments

Digital subscriptions available: cotsjournalonline.com

6 Publishers Notebook Bracing for Cuts: Sequestration or Not

8 The Inside Track

52 COTS Products

66 Editorial Reform Act Report Card

Coming in FebruarySee Page 64

TECHNOLOGY FOCUSVME SBCs for Tech Refresh

46 VME SBCs Secure Their Hold as Tech Refresh Kings Jeff Child

48 VME SBCs for Tech Refresh Roundup

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENTRackmount Blade Servers Meet Defense Needs

36 Rackmount Servers Bulk Up for Diverse Military Uses Jeff Child

40 ATCA Virtualization Meets Military Recording/Playback Needs Steve Looby, SANBlaze Technology

TECH RECONBusless Modules vs. Slot Card Computing

28 Busless Systems Evolve to Challenge Slot Card Approaches Clarence Peckham

SPECIAL FEATUREFive Most Compute-Intensive Military Applications

10 Computing Enables Different Military Systems in Varying Ways Jeff Child

16 GPU Technology Eases Challenge of UAV EO/IR Processing Design Marc Couture, Mercury Systems

20 UAV Systems Face Safety-Critical Challenges Himalya Bansal and Shan Bhattacharya, LDRA

24 Small UAV Systems Push Bandwidth and Latency Envelopes Lee Foss, Advanced Micro Peripherals

January 2013 Volume 15 Number 1

Five Most Compute-Intensive Military Applications10

On The Cover: Embedded computing on the Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) provides autonomy dependable enough for it to follow a solider without the use of location-disclosing beacons. The vehicle can also operate by remote control, tele-operation or by manual control. The SMSS fills an urgent need to unburden a soldiers load, which commonly exceeds 100 lbs.

(Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin)

COTS Journal | January 20134

PublisherPRESIDENT John Reardon, [email protected]

PUBLISHER Pete Yeatman, [email protected]

EditorialEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jeff Child, [email protected]

SENIOR EDITOR Clarence Peckham, [email protected]

MANAGING EDITOR/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Sandra Sillion, [email protected]

COPY EDITOR Rochelle Cohn

Art/Production ART DIRECTOR Kirsten Wyatt, [email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Michael Farina, [email protected]

LEAD WEB DEVELOPER Justin Herter, [email protected]

Advertising WESTERN REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Stacy Mannik, [email protected] (949) 226-2024

MIDWEST REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER Mark Dunaway, [email protected] (949) 226-2023

EASTERN REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Shandi Ricciotti, [email protected] (949) 573-7660

BILLING Cindy Muir, [email protected] (949) 226-2000

COTS Journal

HOME OFFICE

The RTC Group, 905 Calle Amanecer, Suite 250, San Clemente, CA 92673 Phone: (949) 226-2000 Fax: (949) 226-2050, www.rtcgroup.com

EDITORIAL OFFICE

Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief 20A Northwest Blvd., PMB#137, Nashua, NH 03063 Phone: (603) 429-8301

Published by THE RTC GROUPCopyright 2013, The RTC Group. 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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NOTEBOOKPublishers

Pete Yeatman, PublisherCOTS Journal

First off, let me wish everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year. The DoD budget is starting to wreak havoc on the ser-vices as we know them. Overall numbers are getting smaller throughout all branches. Recently, the Air Force appears to be the worst hit as the age of aircraft grows and the numbers shrink.

Right now, the Air Force has fewer planes than at any time since its founding in 1947. At that time there were some 12,300 planes in inventory. Today there are somewhere around 5,200less than half. And of those remaining, the average age is 25 years, with some an-tiques such as the B52 and KC-135 rounding an easy 50 years old. Meanwhile, some of the active planes such as the F-15 have suffered a rash of problems and incidents due to age-related structural prob-lems, and at least part of the fleet was grounded in 2007. And it doesnt look like things are going to get any better soon. Between 2008 and 2012 the Air Force retired 700 more aircraft than it acquired. This year, the Administrations budget calls for even more paring down of aircraft for 2013retiring 300 planes and purchasing only 54.

While the deterioration in the raw numbers is bad enough, even further damage to the existing infrastructure is at risk as deeper cuts are made. Over the past four years, seven aircraft production lines have been shuttered including those for the F-22 (our most advanced fighter/attack aircraft) after only 183 aircraft were delivered; the C-17 transport; and a helicopter and a bomber line. Should they be needed again, the cost of bring-ing them back up to speed, and the time to acquire and train a workforce, would set schedules back several years. Estimates for re-opening the F-22 line alone are in the area of $17 billion. Undoubtedly more closures are on the way.

While COTS Journal readers may not all be concerned with the larger picture of the military reductionsbeing primarily concerned with electronic and computer systems and subsys-temsit is of some value to take the larger (50,000 foot) view. There are $500 billion in sequestration cuts scheduled to begin Jan 2almost doubling the existing measures in the Budget Con-trol Act. The cuts are part of the $1.2 trillion automatic reduction agreed to after failed budget cut negotiation. According to a study by George Mason University, this will translate to a loss of some 2.3 million direct and indirect jobs in the defense industry.

Even if sequestration doesnt happen as predicted, there will be severe cuts. The head of the Boeing Defense and Space unit predicted that only about 50% of the cuts would be enacted. Others, such as Honeywell, for example, said it is planning on at least 80% of the cuts to be enacted and fully expects it could be

more. Even so, the Pentagon has indicated that additional cuts wont take effect until April.

A bloodbath of this magnitude has to have reverberations throughout all companies serving the military and prime con-tractors. In the past, reductions in the number of new aircraft have had little impact on the existing suppliers of embedded-computer modules. Thats because embedded boards are used primarily in service upgrades, payloads for pilotless aircraft (UAVs), DSP for signal analysis and intelligence, man-portable communication and computer function, and other specialized hardware and software. That said, as this broad brush sweeps away large programs, it will also devastate many smaller projects.

Then there will inevitably be other trickle-down effects and unanticipated consequences. Obviously, with fewer aircraft, there will be fewer upgrades. But, with a limited amount of dollars float-ing around, it wont necessarily be spread around evenly or in the same proportions as it has in the past. The political system allows for interested congressional members to lobby for special projects happening in their states. Thus we may see, for example, a bunch more F-35 aircraft and fewer upgrades to computer and electronic systems. And often times, the squeaky wheel gets the lubrication. All that means were likely to see a recalibration of priorities.

While I focused on the Air Force heavily in this editorial, using it as an example, similar cuts are going across the board. The Navy, for example, will be reducing its fleet to some 300 ships over the next few years. Because of the relatively long lead timesship construction is often scheduled out some 10 years or morethe Navys shipbuilding cycle will likely continue on track with reduction happening farther in the future.

Obviously the head count in all services will probably be lowered with the Army taking the worst beating. This means fewer wearable computers as well as other support equipment that has been a mainstay of the embedded-computer commu-nity. And so it goes. While the Pollyanna in me is on vacation this month, there is the obviousor not-so to someeffect of a general deterioration and a major impact on the countrys tech-nology development and manufacturing base.

A speech made last November by Honorable Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force, sums up the budget issues and challenges fac-ing todays Air Force. Read it at www.cotsjournalonline.com/donley.

Bracing for Cuts: Sequestration or Not

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Untitled-6 1 11/27/12 11:23 AM

8 COTS Journal | January 20138

INSIDE TRACKThe

first purchased 100 AN/PRC-155 Manpack radios from General Dynamics in July 2011. The two-channel Manpack radio provides line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight, high-bandwidth waveforms for on-the-move voice, sensor, data and position-location capabilities on soldiers or in vehicles.

General Dynamics C4 Systems Scottsdale, AZ. (480) 441-3033. [www.gdc4s.com].

Curtiss-Wright Controls to Supply Computer for PC-21 Trainer Aircraft

Curtiss-Wright Controls has announced that it has received a follow-on contract from Pilatus Aircraft Ltd to provide a fully in-tegrated open architecture-based mission computer subsystem for use in its PC-21 NextGen Trainer aircraft. Over the lifetime of this PC-21 program, the contract is valued over $11 million. Under the contract, Curtiss-Wright will provide Pilatus with its rugged MPMC-9350 processing subsys-tem. Shipments under the new contract began in October 2012, and are scheduled to continue through August 2014.

The Curtiss-Wright MPMC-9350 provides the PC-21 aircraft

Army Orders More General Dynamics Two-Channel Manpack Radios

The U.S. Army recently awarded General Dynamics C4 Systems an additional produc-tion order valued at approxi-mately $306 million for 3,726 Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) AN/PRC-155 Manpack radios. The two-channel PRC-155 radios (Figure 2), along with vehicle integra-tion kits and related acces-sories, are part of the Armys Capability Set 13 networking and communications gear deploying with brigade combat teams next year. General Dynamics began production of these radios in anticipation of this new production order and started deliveries to the Army in November.

The two-channel PRC-155 Manpack radio has also been certified by the National Secu-

rity Agency to communicate classified voice and data at the Top Secret level and below. The certification makes the radio the only secure, two-channel networking radio to communi-cate data across the entire force structure between battalion headquarters and soldiers on foot and in vehicles. The Army

Figure 2

The two-channel Manpack radio provides line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight, high-bandwidth waveforms for on-the-move voice, sensor, data and position-location capabilities on soldiers or in vehicles.

MEADS (Figure 1) is a mobile air defense system designed to replace Patriot systems in the United States and Germany.

Figure 1

Z Microsystems has partnered with MEADS International to provide its ZX series of rugged servers and workstations in support of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). Under development by MBDA in Germany and Italy, and Lockheed Martin in the United States, MEADS (Figure 1) is a mobile air defense system designed to replace Patriot systems in the United States and Germany, and Nike Hercules systems in Italy. Z Microsystems worked closely with MEADS Internationals participating companies to understand the specific application requirements, then executed design modifications for extreme duty use to allow its standard COTS ruggedized product to con-form to these even more demanding requirements. As part of this effort, Z Microsystems performed extensive vibration testing and delivered a fully tested and validated product to meet an aggressive time schedule.

The ZX series products are designed to meet MIL-STD-810G require-ments for shock, vibration, humidity and high/low temperature. Each is compact and lightweight, saving rack space while delivering a flexible and high-performance solution for mission-ready applications. Enhanced mili-tary options such as EMI filtered power supplies with Mil-Circular connec-tors and locking security panel are also available. The ZX series also com-plies with the European CE marking for safety and environmental standards.

Z Microsystems, San Diego, CA. (858) 831-7000. [www.zmicro.com].

Z Microsystems Servers Selected for MEADS

9INSIDE TRACK

January 2013 | COTS Journal 9

with a mission computer that provides processing for pilot and co-pilot multifunction display symbology and map-ping as well as radar simulation. The MPMC-9350 is a rugged integrated system solution that accommodates the highest power 3U VPX or CompactPCI cards in the embedded comput-ing market within a 5-slot forced air enclosure. The MPMC-9350 is designed to meet the harsh environments of many military computing applications. Circuit cards installed in the system enclosure are isolated from ex-ternal environmental conditions such as humidity, dust and sand.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions Ashburn, VA. (703) 779-7800. [www.cwcdefense.com].

BAE Systems Taps Saft for Additional Ground Combat Vehicle Battery Systems

BAE Systems has awarded Saft with $1.3 million in new funding for the continued devel-opment of a Lithium-ion (Li-ion) energy storage system for the U.S. Armys Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program. Saft, which is designing and building ultra-high-power cells for the vehicles hybrid electric drive

system, has already completed the demo battery system includ-ing hardware and software. The GCV is part of a growing list of military vehicle prototypes for which Saft has supplied ad-vanced energy storage solutions (ESS). The new funding for the GCV project is an addition to the initial 2010 contract.

The GCV is a nine-man Infantry Carrier that can protect against threats, move in urban and off-road terrain, and ac-

commodate emerging technolo-gies such as lightweight armor composites and electronics (Figure 3). Comprised of ultra-high-power, high-voltage VL 5U cells, the Li-ion ESS supports the GCVs electric drive system when the vehicle is not running on gasoline, such as during silent watch missions. The ESS system employs green technologies, which improves vehicle fuel con-sumption and improves weight savings. Safts proposed ESS re-

duces the program cost and pro-vides a highly reliable product by leveraging already developed subsystems and components from other qualified systems to use on the GCV program.

Saft America Cockeysville, MD. (410) 771-3200. [www.saftbatteries.com].

Figure 3

The GCV is a nine-man Infantry Carrier that can accommodate emerging technologies such as lightweight armor composites and electronics.

Military Market WatchStrong Growth Expected for MEMS in Military and Aerospace

The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) market for pressure sensors in the high-value military and aerospace segments is expected to enjoy brisk double-digit growth this year, with plenty of room left for future expansion in a broad range of lucrative applications. Revenue for pressure sensors in both military and civil aerospace applications will reach $35.7 million by year-end, up 20 percent from $29.7 million last year, according to an IHS iSuppli MEMS Market Brief from information and analytics pro-vider IHS (NYSE: IHS). By 2016, military- and aerospace-related MEMS takings will reach $45.5 million (Figure 4), equivalent to a healthy five-year compound annual growth rate of 9 percent.

According to Richard Dixon, Ph.D., principal analyst for MEMS and sensors at IHS, MEMS pressure sensor revenue from both sectors is relatively small and cannot match the scale generated by the much bigger MEMS automotive or consumer segments. But steady growth is assured for the next few years, especially because very few other devices can with-stand the sort of extreme operating environment in which the sensors are used. The military and aerospace segments are part of the so-called high-value MEMS space that also includes medical electronics. Here, average selling prices for sensors and actuators are much higher than in other comparable MEMS segments. Overall, the high-value MEMS industry will be worth some $283.6 million this year.

The MEMS military and aerospace segments are projected to thrive despite pressure from the ongo-ing global economic crisis and a constrained U.S. defense budgetboth of which have led many military and civil aerospace programs to scale back, slow down or even terminate programs. The reasons for op-timism are twofold. On the military front, the continued focus on long-range air and sea poweras well as on drones, surveillance and reconnaissance or smart weaponswill drive electronic content. The U.S. governments plan to transition to a smaller and smarter force with future reductions affects only troops and personnel on the whole, and not weaponry systems.

IHS iSuppli Market Research, El Segundo, CA. (310) 524-4007. [www.isuppli.com].

By 2016, military- and aerospace-related MEMS takings will reach $45.5 millionequivalent to a healthy five-year compound annual growth rate of 9 percent.

Figure 4

$50.0

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

$40.0

$30.0

$20.0

$10.0

$0.0

Worldwide High-Value MEMS Pressure Sensor Forcast for Military &Civil Aerospace (Millions of US Dollars)

SPECIAL FEATURE


Five Most Compute-Intensive Military Applications

Embedded computing has become the central building block for many of todays advanced military programs. Thats because more and more of system functional-ity is now implemented as software running on single board computers, rather than using hard wired electronic assemblies. Here we analyze five compute-intensive military applications and look at how the embedded computer form factors and technologies offered by todays suppliers are meeting the needs of those system designs.

As we researched the various programs and did an in-formal survey of suppliers and users, it became clear that there are actually quite a few compute-intensive military ap-plications to choose from. Also, there are many aspects to computing complexity. In some applications pure number crunching processing is the main goal, while in others its

Jeff ChildEditor-in-Chief

Packing in ever more electronics, military platform designs are squeezing as much functionality and capability as they can into smaller spaces. Five application areas exemplify the militarys most intensive use of todays embedded computing solutions.

Computing Enables Different Military Systems in Varying Ways



SPECIAL FEATURE

a matter of distributing control nodes throughout a military platform to meet its requirements. Ultimately, the list was sifted down to these five somewhat general areas:

SIGINT and Radar Systems for ISR

Military Ground Robotics

UAV Payload Systems

Training and Simulation Systems

Command and Control Systems

FPGA-Based VME and VPX Take Aim at ISR

Demand for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities has driven a huge ramp-up in data collection capacity. Implementing the capability to process that datain the form of radar captured video or imagespresents major system design challenges for developers of military platforms. To ease those hurdles, makers of VME and VPX are offer a vari-ety of solutions that address the particular needs of moving image-based data at high speed and processing it for the demanding real-time needs of the military.

Thanks to its unique ability to re-main backward compatible and facilitate technology refresh in military programs, VME enjoys a successful legacy in ISR ap-plications. A new board with the latest and greatest FPGAs or processors can easily be dropped into a slot that could be decades old. VPX meanwhile has gained momen-tum in numerous ISR applications. In gen-eral VPX is not necessarily a direct replace-ment for VME. But in the realm of ISR it tends to be, because VPX is better suited for data-intensive applications where high throughput is the priority.

FPGAs have become key enablers for waveform-intensive applications like sonar, radar, SIGINT and SDR. Faster FPGA-based DSP capabilities combined with an expand-ing array of IP cores and development tools for FPGAs are enabling new system archi-tectures. Today FPGAs are now complete systems on a chip. The high-end lines of the major FPGA vendors even have general-pur-

pose CPU cores on them. And the military is hungry to use FPGAs to fill processing roles. Devices like the Xilinx Virtex-6 and -7 and the Altera Stratix IV and V are examples that have redefined an FPGA as a complete processing engine in its own right. Where board-level solutions such as VME and VPX impact the ISR platforms most is as signal processing engines primarily using FPGAs. Using those FPGAs, board-level subsystems are able to quickly acquire and process mas-sive amounts of data in real time.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles Gain More Autonomous Capability

In combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, military robotsor un-manned ground vehicles (UGV) as theyre more often calledhave proven an in-credibly valuable life-saving resource. And while UGV technology has nowhere near matched the level of maturity that UAVs have, theyve come a long way over the past several years. The DoD has acquired and deployed thousands of UGVs and support equipment since operations in Iraq and Afghanistan began. The systems support a diverse range of operations in-

cluding maneuver, maneuver support and sustainment. Over 8,000 UGVs of various types have seen action in Iraq, and they have been deployed in more than 125,000 missions, including suspected object iden-tification and route clearance, to locate and defuse improvised explosive devices (IEDs). During these counter-IED mis-sions, Army, Navy and USMC explosive ordnance teams detected and defeated over 11,000 IEDs using UGVs.

So far the largest unmanned vehicle ever deployed with U.S. ground forces is the Lockheed Martin Squad Mission Sup-port System (Figure 1). It leverages robotic technologies for unmanned transport and logistical support for light, early entry and special operations forces. It solves capabil-ity gaps by lightening the soldiers load and serving as a power management resource. Combining perception with extraordinary mobility allows vehicles to follow the warf-ighter across most terrain, guaranteeing the payload the robotic system is carrying will be available whenever and wherever the warfighter needs it. Few other robotic systems allow for autonomy dependable enough for a vehicle to follow someone

Figure 1

Editor in Chief Jeff Child is briefed on the Lockheed Martin Squad Mission Support System. The system offers autonomy dependable enough for a vehicle to follow someone without the use of location-disclosing beacons. The vehicle can also operate by remote control, teleoperation or by manual control.


SPECIAL FEATURE

without the use of location-disclosing bea-cons. The vehicle can also operate by remote control, teleoperation or by manual control.

SMSS received a U.S. Army contract in 2011 to deploy vehicles to Afghanistan, the first experiment of its kind with de-ployed troops, to see how autonomous robots can benefit the warfighter. It pre-viously served in Army experiments as a self-sustaining, portable power solution, including soldier battery recharge and lo-gistics support for infantry.

By the end of 2011, the systems de-pendable autonomous technology will have garnered six safety releases by the U.S. Army to work in close proximity around soldiers. SMSS continues to log hundreds of hours with Army users as the system matures and is prepared for deployment: The long-term vision of this system can accommodate armed variants, while improving its recon-naissance, surveillance and target acquisi-tion capabilities within the concept of su-pervised autonomy. A squad-size manned or unmanned support vehicle is critical to todays asymmetrical and urban battlefields.

UAV Payloads Get ImprovementsWhile defense budgets shrink, the seg-

ment of Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) is seeing more investment than most oth-ers. All branches of the military are con-tinuing to invest heavily in UAV platform development. Technology upgrades of existing UAV platforms and payloads are happening more as decision makers move toward improving already deployed UAVs while limiting development of new ones. Those trends are all relevant for the em-bedded computing industry, as they roll out new integrated box-level systems with the proper size, weight and power (SWaP) for UAV requirements.

In the Large UAV segment, the design approach has been to employ multipro-cessing with arrays of big, power-hungry boards based on general-purpose proces-sors. In recent years, however, those are be-ing replaced with more integrated boards sporting FPGAs. Meanwhile stand-alone function-specific box-level systems are in some cases replacing traditional slot-card implementations. This trend toward con-solidation is impacting the radar, imaging processing and communications capabili-

ties of large UAVs by allowing more func-tionality in the same space.

Global Hawks future has had some turmoil in terms of budgeting. On the list of terminated programs is the RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 (GH30). The GH30 was scheduled to replace the U-2 aircraft in FY 2015, and was expected to provide significant cost savings over U-2. The DoD has determined that the GH30 would re-quire a much more substantial investment than originally planned in order to reach its maximum potential. Meanwhile, the FY 2013 budget requests funding for three NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) systems. Based on the Block 40 version of the RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV, the systems will enable the Alliance to perform persistent surveillance over wide areas. Using advanced radar sensors, the NATO AGS will continuously detect and track moving objects throughout observed areas, and provide radar imagery of areas and stationary objects.

The Predator and Reaper UAVsthe next level UAV size down from the Global Hawkare likewise packed with electronics. Platforms consist of an array

of sensors to include day/night Full Mo-tion Video, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sen-sor payload, avionics and data links. Last year General Atomics Aeronautical Sys-tems made the successful first flight of the Block 1-plus Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper, an upgrade to the original Block 1 Predator B that has been in production since 2003. The MQ-9 Block 1-plus is a capability enhance-ment over the Block 1 configuration, which has amassed more than 420,000 flight hours across all customers (Figure 2). Block 1-plus was designed for increased electrical power, secure communications, auto land, increased Gross Takeoff Weight (GTOW), weapons growth and streamlined payload integration capabilities. With the comple-tion of development, testing and expected Milestone C decision last fall, follow-on air-craft to the MQ-9 Block 1-plus configura-tion will be designated MQ-9 Block 5.

Training and Simulation Systems Come Full Circle

At one time it required a large multi-board chassis worth of electronics to drive a military training and simulation system.

Figure 2

The MQ-9 Block 1-UAV plus is a capability enhancement over the Block 1 configuration. Block 1-plus was designed for increased electrical power, secure communications, auto land, increased Gross Takeoff Weight (GTOW), weapons growth and streamlined payload integration capabilities.


SPECIAL FEATURE

The trend has come full circle to today where PCs and servers themselves have be-come the preferred platform for simulation and training software. Simultaneous with those trends, theres also the influence of gaming software technologies on military simulation system development. Today the PC gaming and game box market provides an outstanding view of what can be done in terms of simulator realism. As a result, many components and technologies that comprise those advanced consumer games are becom-ing available for defense industry military simulation software vendors to build upon.

According to market research firm ASDReports, the value of the global military simulation and virtual training market in 2012 reached $9.03 billon. De-velopments in emerging submarkets have acted to spur extensive growth within a diverse range of simulation and train-ing areas. These advances have led many major nations to purchase military simu-lation technology, viewing it as an essen-tial component in their military capabili-ties. The report further predicted that the

COTS phenomenon will lead to increased growth in the number of providers of military simulation products. The mili-tary simulation market has increasingly demanded greater realism in its simulated environments, which is expected to pro-vide opportunities for smaller firms to re-main competitive against companies with a major market presence. North America is expected to account for the largest share of the total global military simulators and virtual training programs market with a 62.3% share over the forecast period.

As severe cost cutting hits the DoD budget, training and simulation is no less immune than other segments of the mili-tary. One area, once on the rise, has now started to evaporate: embedded train-ing. Embedded training is where train-ing systems are made portable enough to be included in with fielded platforms or worn by the soldiers themselves. On the other hand, theres a myriad of ways that sophisticated training systemssuch as fire range simulatorsare helping to re-duce costs of a training warfighters. While

theres no substitute for live-fire training, the adopting of laser-based training ranges allows warfighters an order of magnitude more opportunity to practice without ex-pending ammo. Live-fire training facilities and field training have many other costs as well. And while, again, theres no notion of replacing live-fire training, the goal is to supplement it with increasingly sophisti-cated simulator programs.

Command Control Systems Embrace Display Advances

For military commanders to finally put their paper maps away and trust elec-tronic displays for tactical and strategic information was not an overnight transi-tion. But today theyve made the leap with the acknowledgment that display subsys-tems that blend real-time video and so-phisticated graphics are a vital mission requirement. In the past 12 months the trend has been toward not only support-ing larger, higher res display technologies, but also seamlessly linking multiple large displays for ever more sophisticated com-mand center capabilities.

Leveraging cutting-edge graphics chips developed for the demanding gam-ing market, military graphics subsystems are now able to offer complex video and graphics functionality in highly inte-grated board-level solutions. Command and control systems have embraced these capabilities and now rank among the most demanding users of these advanced graphics technologies.

Looking at the broader picture, the U.S. military is evolving its command and control into a grand scheme where every vehicle, every aircraft, every ship, every UAV and every soldier on the ground is able to quickly share data, voice and even video with almost any level of the DoDs operation. A variety of technology areas are part of the overall puzzle to make that happen, but where the network meets the users is at the displays and the display subsystems that drive them. Command centersboth facility-based and mobile-basedalong with UAV control stations are making use of advanced display sys-tems that do an unprecedented level of real-time situational awareness and com-mand control (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Command centersboth facility-based and mobile-based (shown)are making use of advanced display systems that do an unprecedented level of real-time situational awareness and command control.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) continue to chalk up im-pressive successes participating in numerous and varied missions around the world, there is significant pressure on UAV designers to deliver increasingly so-phisticated systems within a compressed development schedule. According to a recent survey sponsored by Mercury Sys-tems, this is a sentiment shared by repre-sentatives from major prime contractors when asked to name their biggest chal-lenges in developing electro-optical/in-frared (EO/IR) systems (Figure 1).

While working closely with prime contractors to deliver embedded EO/IR processing subsystems, Mercury faced the same program delivery challenges as indicated by our survey respondents. The primes asked for an embedded image-processing subsystem capable of meeting the stringent requirements as-sociated with two capabilities: Handling copious amounts of raw sensor data, and processing that data to produce action-able intelligence.

Part of the challenge was to provide a solution that would meet the current re-quirements of the application. The other part of the challenge was to deliver a solu-tion that could scale with increasing sen-

sor data and increased image-processing, all while fitting in a well-defined size, weight and power (SWaP) profile that for some reason either stays the same or de-creases over time. Increasing sensor data here refers to rises in resolution, frames-per-second and spectrum count.

Open Standards and Upgrade Paths

It is critical to use products based on industry-accepted open standards when planning for a scalable and upgradable path for the future while maintaining the ability to reuse intellectual property (IP)

Marc Couture, Director, Product ManagementMercury Systems

The complexities of developing a UAV-based EO/IR embedded processing solution are many. Leveraging modular GPU technology helps smooth the way.

GPU Technology Eases Challenge of UAV EO/IR Processing Design

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Figure 1

What are your biggest challenges in developing EO/IR systems? These survey results are based on responses from all major primes.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

developed to meet todays requirements. Leveraging the electronic components developed to support the critical mass of the consumer electronics industry, the de-fense industry greatly benefits from rapid advances in several aspects of computing

technology. This includes chip architec-ture, such as multicore processing and semiconductor process technology. Figure 2 shows the evolution of GPU technology over the past four years. The latest gen-eration going from a 40nm to a sub-30nm

process, for example, means more process-ing cores can be stuffed into a device with the same power envelope. Also leveraged are high-speed interconnects capable of transferring large amounts of data. The latest PCIe 3.0 doubles the bandwidth over the current PCIe 2.0, and plans for PCIe 4.0 were recently announced that doubles the bandwidth of PCIe 3.0.

As process technologies shrink and standards bodies push the technology envelope, we witness an almost auto-matic performance increase while stay-ing within the same power envelope. The push to 28nm process technology later this year is especially exciting as it prom-ises to nearly double the performance of the current 40nm process technology. In other words, 28nm will deliver a huge step up in terms of Gflops/watt.

Distributing the ProcessingIf a target application can be

architected such that high-bandwidth data can be distributed across multiple cores for processingsuch as the case with EO/IR applicationsthen GPUs can lend themselves well to such applica-tions. With the application architected correctly to distribute the high-band-width data load across multiple process-ing cores, GPUs can offer more than a 10x performance boost over the latest genera-tion CPUs while leveraging the familiar C/C++ development environment.

For its part, Mercury has developed technologies suited for next-generation EO/IR subsystems. Specifically, these technologies accelerate development while providing a scalable solution so subsystems can take advantage of the lat-est GPU technology. The first is the use of GPU Mobile PCI Express Modules (MXM). A MXM is essentially a GPU chip and high-speed memory mounted on a PCB that connects to a laptop moth-erboard through a PCIe bus.

An industry standard supported by both AMD and NVIDIA, these MXM modules provide a convenient way for laptop manufacturers such as Dell and HP to offer a range of laptops with dif-ferent price, performance, power and battery life targetwithout having to redesign the CPU motherboard for each variant. The manufacturers simply plug in the appropriate MXM onto a common

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Figure 2

GPGPU peak theoretical performance improvement relative to a GPU released in 2009 with all GPUs consuming similar power levels.

Figure 3

GPU MXM modules on a Mercury 6U OpenVPX carrier card allow for rapid upgrades as new, higher performance GPU technology becomes available.


SPECIAL FEATURE

CPU motherboard design. Borrowing from this innovation, Mercury has de-signed a 6U OpenVPX GPU carrier card that supports two MXM modules from either AMD or NVIDIA (Figure 3).

Off-the-Shelf ModuleSince the MXM modules are avail-

able from AMD and NVIDIA, embedded board vendors dont need to engineer these modules themselves. Therefore, when the latest GPU technology becomes available, Mercury is able to rapidly update the base carrier card by plugging in an MXM mod-ule. Moreover, the update can be accom-plished without having to endure a long design cycle. This translates into delivering the highest performance per watt solution to programs with a path to upgradeability within months, not years.

The second path to reducing de-velopment schedule and, hence, reduc-ing program risk, is through the use of a software platform that the embedded EO/IR subsystem can be built upon. Both NVIDIA and AMD provide a C/C++ software development platform, whether it is CUDA or OpenCL, so that applications can be written to exploit the power of GPUs. However, the APIs pro-vided through CUDA or OpenCL are es-

sentially building blocks, or primitives, which the imaging application is built upon. A lot of low-level details must be managed to build the application, such as the management of sensor data to/from the host and the parsing of this data to the different processing cores within a GPU.

GPUs and FPGAs TogetherIn cases where multiple GPUs are

combined with FPGAs and host CPU processing, traffic needs to be managed to ensure proper load balancing. Addi-tionally, higher-level libraries must be de-veloped using lower-level math libraries. These are the foundations of the applica-tion that need to be addressed even before the target EO/IR application can be built. Often times though valuable engineering resources get spent on the system setup. That takes time away from focusing on the unique IP that differentiates the solu-tion. Addressing that problem, Mercury makes an imaging toolkit. The toolkit is a library of image-processing functions optimized for GPUs built specifically for EO/IR applications. To be clear, these li-braries do not provide the complete EO/IR solution that is unique to the IP of each prime. Rather, this toolkit provides the low-level framework of data manage-

ment, load balancing and image-process-ing algorithms such as unpacking, warp-ing and resampling typically found in EO/IR applications.

Figure 4 illustrates a representative EO/IR processing subsystem that can be devel-oped using the imaging toolkit. The toolkit is tailored to meet the unique requirements for a given EO/IR subsystem while ensur-ing a scalable solution across multiple plat-forms that can later be upgraded to higher performance solutions in the future.

Through a combination of modular GPU hardware using industry standard MXMs, and an Imaging Toolkit designed specifically for EO/IR applications, Mer-cury accelerates the development of high-performance EO/IR subsystems, reducing development schedules and subsequently reducing program risk for prime con-tractors. In addition, the use of industry standard hardware and software allows todays solutions to scale and benefit from tomorrows technology advances, pro-tecting investments in IP development for reuse in future UAV platforms.

Mercury SystemsChelmsford, MA.(866) 627-6951.[www.mrcy.com].

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EO/IR Image Processing Subsystem

1K x 1K

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Figure 4

Typical processing chain for an EO/IR imaging subsystem supported by the Imaging Toolkit. The Imaging Toolkit is scalable and upgradeable to the latest GPU technology, reducing development time and protecting IP investment.



SPECIAL FEATURE

UAVs have a well-established role in military operations around the world for a variety of mission types, and evidence suggests that their use and the diversity of this use are likely to increase dramatically in the next few years. According to a recent U.S. News & World Report article, by 2015 there could be as many as 30,000 UAVs sharing the same airspace as the roughly 10 million commercial flights per year in the U.S. alone. This evolution in UAV use could present a significant challenge to the FAAs stated mission: to provide the saf-est, most efficient aerospace system in the world. Since there is no human pilot on board, when it comes to UAVs, the control software is chiefly responsible for main-taining their safety and security.

In addition, the next decade of de-velopment for UAVs will see significant changes in the man-machine interface, which will include two-way voice controls for autonomous systems, smarter and more advanced displays, tactile feedback from the UAV to the operator and much more sophisticated controls. UAV devel-opers will continue to focus on software for future product expansion and to add more functionality. A big part of the chal-lenge then boils down to software quality,

which must be balanced with time-to-market and development-cost reduction requirements.

Need for Safety and Security There have been a number of UAV

accidents, most commonly related to software or human errors. While air-plane pilots may be able to control a plane and land it safely in case of sys-tem failure, it is generally difficult to land a UAV safely when there is a tech-nical or software failure. In order to avoid such accidents, UAV developers must apply more focus on the safety and reliability aspects of the software-development process.

In addition to the safety and in-teroperability requirements is the in-creasing requirement for security that must be built into the code from the ground up. In recent months, a group of researchers at the Austin Radio Navi-gation Laboratories, led by Professor Todd Humphreys from the University of Texas, hacked a UAV in front of the U.S. Department of Homeland Secu-rity. The team spoofed a GPS receiver on board the drone using a technique that involves mimicking the actual sig-nals sent to the global positioning de-vice, and then eventually tricked their UAV target into following a new set of commands. As UAVs become more so-

Himalya Bansal, Technical Marketing AssistantShan Bhattacharya, Field Application EngineerLDRA

As UAV development continues to grow in volume and complexity, the importance of failure-free operation is front and center. By leveraging safety-critical standards and solutions, military system developers are more able to keep pace.

UAV Systems Face Safety-Critical Challenges

DO-178 Software Integrity Levels

Level Failure Condition Description

A Catastrophic Failure may cause a crash.

B Hazardous Failure has a large negative impact on safety or performance.

C Major Failure is significant, but has a lesser impact than a Hazardous failure.

D Minor Failure is noticeable, but has a lesser impact than a Major failure.

E No Effect Failure has no impact on safety & UAV operation.

Figure 1

DO-178 defines a range of software integrity levels (SILs), which must be examined and determined for each software component.

Untitled-5 1 1/7/13 3:50 PM


SPECIAL FEATURE

phisticated and their use more wide-spread, it is essential that they also be-come more secure.

Safety- and Security-Critical Standards

The software that controls and monitors UAVs both on the ground and in the air must be verified to en-sure device safety and reliability and should be developed to the same ex-acting standards as software for other aircraft types. UAVs fall under the DO-178B/C guidelines. DO-178 Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification imposes strict dynamic coverage analysis re-quirements. The standard provides de-tailed guidelines for the production of all software for airborne systems and equipment, whether it is safety-critical or not. DO-178 also defines software integrity levels (SILs), which start from Level E and progress upward to Level A (Figure 1). DO-178B translates these software levels into software-specific objectives that must be satisfied during the development process.

DO-178B recognizes that software safety and security must be addressed in a systematic way throughout the soft-ware development lifecycle, whether it is safety/mission-critical or not. It includes requirements traceability, software de-sign, coding, validation and verification processes used to ensure correctness, control and confidence in the software. A robust software-verification process allows developers to detect and report

errors that may have been introduced during the software development pro-cesses, including software requirements, software design, software coding and software integration. Depending on the application, security-critical standards may also need to be met, such as com-pliance to CERT-C as well as Homeland Securitys CWE.

Tools Meet Complex Development Needs

Requirements fulfillment and bug-free integration of collaborating sys-tems are of paramount importance to the multipart development teams that are common with complex safety-, mis-sion- and security-critical products. These teams require tools that auto-mate code analysis and software test-ing. With increasing market pressure related to UAV development, improve-ments in time-to-market and develop-ment costs are also important.

Development teams need a com-prehensive set of competencies, from static and dynamic analysis to require-ments traceability, unit testing and ver-ification that are tailored to compre-hensively address safety and security requirements. The LDRA tool suite, for instance, automates all stages of the development process, helping develop-ers verify their software from require-ments right through the model, code and tests, to verification. By focusing on the development process as well as accurate coding, LDRA helps develop-ers ensure a sound process while iden-

tifying and eliminating errors early, and dramatically reducing platform risk and cost of development.

Rigorous Software ChecksThere are a number of kinds of

rigorous checks that software develop-ment teams need to integrate into their process.

Requirements Traceability: Tools such as the LDRA tool suite link sys-tem requirements to software require-ments, from the software requirements to design requirements, and then to source code and the associated test cases. Tracing requirements proves that the final system does exactly what is specified by the initial requirements and confirms that there is no extra dead code and no missing features. It provides evidence that all system requirements have been fulfilled. Fig-ure 2 illustrates how a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) links the high-level requirement on the left, to the verification tasks and mapped source code on the right.

Static Analysis: UAV developers can streamline their development if the tools they choose can verify their code for compliance to standards. Once the programming and certification rules are selected, static analysis checks the code, highlighting all violations of the coding standard on a line-by-line basis, identi-fying the exact cause of the error. The static analysis engine also determines and reports complexity metrics, which identify ways that the team can reduce

Figure 2

DO-178 certification requires that developers be able to prove that requirements have been fulfilled. Tools such as the LDRA tool suite link high-level requirements to source code and verification tasks.


SPECIAL FEATURE

the inherent complexity and risk in the system (Figure 3).

Dynamic Analysis: Static analysis by itself is useful but not sufficient. Developers must prove that the code works not just in simulation, but on the target system. In this analysis, the executing code is tested at all levelssingle functions, a number of func-tions, a whole file or even several files and at a system level. During unit test-ing, any missing functions need to be stubbed and a harness created in or-der to run the tests. Manually creating stubs and harnesses, as well as down-loading and executing tests on the tar-get, can be tedious, but with the right unit-testing tool, all these tasks can be seamlessly automated.

Structural Coverage Analysis: The problem with testing is ensuring that it is sufficient. Structural coverage analy-sis uses code coverage metrics to assess the degree to which the source code of a system has been executed during re-quirements-based testing. Through the use of these practices, developers can ensure that code has been implemented to address every system requirement and that the implemented code has been tested to completeness.

Cost Part of the EquationEven though software companies

are allowed to manually perform static analysis, dynamic analysis and unit testing under the guidelines of DO-178B/C, tool suites that automate the workload and reduce the likelihood of unnecessary human error may be ap-plied to shorten the software-devel-opment lifecycle and reduce project costs. For example, IHI of Japan, who develops jet engines, reported that they achieved DO-178B Level A certi-fication 14 times quicker using LDRA tools versus a manual coverage analy-sis technique.

For most organizations that are developing safety- and security-criti-cal applications, the cost of NOT im-plementing an effective verification workf low can far outweigh the invest-ment in tools, process and training of their staff. With the availability of

strong static- and dynamic-analysis tools, automation of verification and the ability to trace requirements eas-ily throughout the software develop-ment workf low, organizations are able to significantly reduce their riskand more importantly, the time and money spent using traditional painstaking manual verification.

Creating solutions for safety-criti-cal systems increasingly requires certi-fying software to appropriate standards. Automated tools such as the LDRA tool suite streamline the process, simplify-ing requirements traceability, struc-tural coding coverage and adherence to coding standards while mitigating risk. Design teams can get their products to

market faster and more economically while guaranteeing that their custom-ers will be satisfied and that the product will deliver reliable performance over the long haul.

LDRAMonks Ferry, Wirral, UK.+0151 649 9300.[www.ldra.com].

Figure 3

During static analysis, complexity metrics assist in identifying areas that are inherently complex. This flow graph shows nodes that represent blocks of code and lines that represent the branch points between them. Such graphical representations are very useful for providing a quick overview of function complexity.



SPECIAL FEATURE

If there is any area of technology where compute density is critical, its the area of Small UAVs. One area where costs are being dramatically curbed is through the use of far smaller UAV machines, such as the Raven, Dragon Eye, Shadow and Killer Bee (Figure 1). They carry mounted cam-eras collecting data and visual images in real time, both night and day, and send this data down to operators on the ground. These remote eye in the sky platforms are helping to provide un-precedented situational awareness in-formation for an ever increasing range of real life applications.

However, these lightweight de-vices inevitably face some of the most rigorous Size, payload Weight (mass) and Power restrictionsthe so-called SWaP imperative. That means selecting the right embedded video electronics becomes a make or break decision, both in terms of operational capability and costs. Reducing costs and SWaP while delivering almost the same perfor-mance is the key to expanding the ap-plication areas in which UAVs become cost-effective. A key requirement for most UAVswhether they are ground, aerial or underwater platformsis the

Lee Foss, Founder and CEOAdvanced Micro Peripherals

As they strive to manage multiple cameras, multiple frequency sensitivities, high definition cameras and multiple data streams, UAV system developers are wrestling with compression rates and latency challenges for their lightweight embedded designs.

Small UAV Systems Push Bandwidth and Latency Envelopes

Figure 1

Small UAVs like the RQ-11 Raven provide unprecedented situational awareness information for a widening range of real-life applications. Here, an Army sergeant launches a Raven in the early morning hours.

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Untitled-9 1 1/4/13 12:23 PM


SPECIAL FEATURE

need for comprehensive and efficient handling of visual information. In terms of technology, this means mul-tiple cameras operating across a range of wavelength sensitivities, most com-monly daylight and infrared cameras. There is indeed already a trend toward high definition (HD), especially for aerial platforms.

Capturing Rich HD DataThese modern sensors increasingly

have higher spatial resolutions (HD) and wider dynamic range (depth) to provide the best quality images. Re-cording and communicating the rich visual data set from the sensors on the UAV is often constrained by the avail-able storage and communications link bandwidth. What this means in reality is a demand for high compression rates, ultra-low latency and the capability to use narrow bandwidths to deliver both multiple video streams as well as em-bedded meta-data such as GPS location, false horizon and attitude, air speed, al-titude and so forth.

One much sought-after capabil-ity is to be able to see night and day (infrared and visual wavelengths) and from multiple points of view so you can have two or three cameras point-ing in different directions. The more cameras the better. The problem is that UAVs have the payload issue, so theres a question of lightness and compactness because you dont have a lot of space.

Advanced Micro Peripherals for its part has leveraged its expertise in embed-ded video combined with experience of deploying thousands of industry proven PC/104 architecture solutions to provide rugged PC/104 video modules especially for that purpose. An example of these modules is the HDAV2000, which can concurrently handle up to four standard definition camerasusually visible and infraredand HD at up to 1080p with impressive video latency of under 40ms (Figure 2).

Constrained BandwidthOne of the issues is the problem of

highly constrained data transfer band-

Figure 2

The HDAV2000 is a rugged PC/104 video module that can handle up to four standard definition camerasusually visible and infraredand HD at up to 1080p with impressive video latency of under 40ms.

Figure 3

When manually controlling a UAV, operators want to see the scene changes reflected very quickly at the control station to get an immediate sense of what is going on. This is why its important to continue to press down on video latency to be as low as possible.


SPECIAL FEATURE

width in UAV applications. Theres tons of valuable data that a UAV has seen but that has to get recorded and sent down to the operations on the groundall making the best use of limited bandwidth connection. The answer is data compression. This all happens in the PC/104 modules, so there is real-time video compres-sion using H.264 standard. AMP of-fers a solution that provides the data as an IP stream on an Ethernet port, ready for UAVs onboard transmitter. For example, an SUAS DDL, which provides a small lightweight, wireless video link. It supports multiple com-pression rates. Thats important so that the UAV can be controlled using one bandwidth to send data to ground control while at the same time using higher resolution and bit rates for on-platform storage.

Another trend is the increasing demands of low latency. UAVs tend to operate in two modes. One is au-tonomous mode where they will auto-navigate to a location. Once there you can have manual control mode, and with that comes the need for a tighter visual control closed loop with shorter reaction times. Manual control can also be important for take-off, landing and emergency situ-ations. For good manual control, low latency is very important because as the operator manipulates the remote cameras on the UAV, he would want to see the scene changes ref lected very quickly at the control station to get an immediate sense of what is going on (Figure 3). This is why its important to continue to press down on video latencywhich now stands at below 40 milliseconds in the AMP solution. This not only applies to standard defi-nition daylight and infrared sources, but also to the HD channels of AMPs video modules.

Just about every UAV will have a camera system mounted to take and re-cord movies in real time and beam data to the remote control point. There are daytime and nighttime cameras and ide-ally you want both cameras in your UAV, extending the range and scope of visual

information. Increasingly, there is a trend toward HD and that is where lightweight and robust embedded video electronics have a key role to play in delivering mul-tiple streams of data in real time and with ultra-low latency.

Advanced Micro PeripheralsNew York, NY.(212) 951-7205.[www.ampltd.com].

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Busless Modules vs. Slot Card Computing

TECH RECON

As military system developers struggle to get the most out of todays embedded computing technologies, the decision to leverage a slot card bus-based approach versus a busless design is more critical than ever. A central question along those lines is what is driving an increasing number of smaller form factor (SFF) systems being used in defense applications instead of the traditional ATR-sized systems? The world of embedded defense applications is changing. Once dominated by cPCI and VME-based 3U and 6U systems with 3 to 21 slots, there is now a shift to smaller systems. In some cases these smaller sys-tem needs are being implemented by 3U CompactPCI, VME or VPX-based sys-tems, but in more and more instances small systems are being implemented us-ing a busless approach.

The busless approach can be defined as any implementation that does not use a traditional motherboard slot card con-figuration. Before the advent of VME or CompactPCI, the busless approach would have been a full custom system with a dif-ferent system for each applicationwith all of the inherent support and upgrade issues that a full custom system entails. A busless system can now be implemented

using open standards that define proces-sor-based mezzanines that can be used to develop the system. Some of the most popular ones are COM Express, Qseven, ETX and EPIC. With new standards be-ing developed as well, there are several choices for developing a busless system.

VICTORY Addresses Vehicle Systems

In a separate development that sup-ports the use of SFF systems, the military is implementing a new architecture based on using a vehicle intranetwork to sup-port communications between multiple systems in one vehicle. The Vehicular In-tegration for Command, Control, Com-munication, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) / Electronic Warfare (EW) Interoperabil-ity architecture (VICTORY) is an effort to develop and validate a set of open stan-dards for more efficient and cost-effective integration of C4ISR and related items of equipment on military vehicles.

Figure 1 shows a typical system im-plementation using the VICTORY archi-tecture to simplify the user interface and the system design. Once implemented, the new architecture provides a solution to the problem of adding C4ISR capabil-

ity and upgrading existing capabilities in vehicles without doing a total redesign. By using a highly networked and distributed architecture, such as VICTORY, smaller systems can be used that provide savings in size, weight and power (SWaP) as well as development and certification costs.

The concept of considering a defense application to be a connection of differ-ent systems removes the need to focus the design on the individual electronics in each system. The program team can fo-cus on the application requirements and only add new subsystems as required. It also will open up more aggressive bidding as more vendors will be able to develop systems that provide the sub-functions needed to implement the application. As an example, consider the need for a com-pute box that can provide both compute and graphics processors, operate at least 1 GHz, have 4 Gbytes of DRAM, 1 Gbit Ethernet interface, CAN bus, a 128 Gbyte Solid state drive and 28V power supply. This compute box can be used on mul-tiple applications and could be imple-mented as a 3U or 6U system, but it could also be implemented with a COM Express module and a base card and made to fit into an enclosure about the size of a Ru-biks cube. It would meet all of the SWaP

Clarence PeckhamSenior Editor

While traditional bus-oriented slot card systems remain a staple in the defense industry, the emergence of standard busless form factors is challenging that legacy. Coupled with the shift toward SFF solutions, the system design landscape is in a state of change.

Busless Systems Evolve to Challenge Slot Card Approaches

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TECH RECON

requirements and at the same time pro-vide the required performance.

Defense System ApplicationsWhy not use a standard 3U or 6U

slot card system? In a lot of cases it does make sense to use such a system. Figure 2 is a list of some of the typical applica-tions. The range of applications is from handheld devices to large systems used for extensive data and imaging applica-tions. Slot card based systems such as CompactPCI, PC/104, VME and ATCA as well as custom implementations have been used to implement solutions for all of these applications. In addition, envi-ronmental specifications have forced the utilization of cooling techniques such as conduction cooling, or in the most ex-treme cases, liquid cooling.

In some applications size is critical. A small unmanned vehicle is going to be focused on size and weight, so a small sys-

tem is required. In other applications, the complexity of the application will require more and more computing power and there will not be room for large boxes. A networked distributed approach with smaller subsystems distributed around the vehicle is required for weight and thermal requirements.

It is helpful to review some of the key defense system applications and typical system solutions that have been used. Slot card based systems have been implemented due to the advantage of quick integration and to the large number of commercially available card types, future upgradeabil-ity by changing cards and extensive use of open standards. Slot card based systems have minimized the use of custom systems in the defense applications.

Fabrics Drive Paradigm ShiftOver the past five years there has

been a paradigm shift in slot card systems,

which has opened up new opportunities for both large high-performance systems as well as SFF systems. This shift was caused by the switch from parallel bus-based systems such as VME, CompactPCI and PC/104 to serial fabric-based systems such as ATCA and VPX. Serial fabric-based systems, such as those designed around PCIe or Serial Rapid I/O, provide a system with a much higher data through-put using a smaller number of intercon-nections. Combine a serial fabric-based system with 1 Gbit Ethernet connectivity, and the use of large systems with proces-sor and I/O cards can be replaced with a networked environment consisting of pro-cessor modules connected via an Ethernet switch to as many I/O modules as required by the application.

Technology is also driving the use of smaller systems. Normally 3U or 6U size cards are used to provide the necessary functions and performance required for

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TECH RECON

each application as well as provide the thermal interface needed to maintain the system within the environmental speci-fications. With use of the latest semi-conductor technology such as the Nvidia Tegra, Freescale QorIQ, AMD G series and Intel processor families, all of which provide high levels of integration within the silicon, smaller and lower power sys-tems can be developed that will also have excellent performance.

The level of integration has reached the point where dual or quad processer, inte-grated 2D and 3D GPU and multiple levels of I/O and PCIe, and 2-4 Gbytes of high-performance memory can be implemented on a COM Express module or even a credit card sized NANO-ETXexpress module defined in the new COM Express COM.0 Rev.2.1 specification. These processor cards, when mated with a base card, can be used for different system applications.

Small Form Factor System Implementation

So how small is small? The size of a SFF system is dependent on the application. As an example, consider system implementa-tions that are smaller than the traditional ATR short chassis (124 mm x 318 mm x 270 mm). There are several open standards that can be used to implement a SFF system using a slot card architecture. The VME International Trade Association (VITA) standards group has been working on three different standards for SFF systems: VITA 73, VITA 74 and VITA75.

VITA 73 is a specification that is based on the VPX electrical specification and defines board size stack up and pin-outs. Designed to utilize GEN 2 PCIe as the interconnect method, VITA 73 pro-vides for an eight-slot system to fit into a 114 mm x 102 mm x 152 mm space. The VITA 74 specification provides SFF mod-ules and systems based on the VPX speci-fication. There are two modules defined in the VITA 74 specification: one is a 19 mm module (19 mm x 75 mm x 89 mm) and the second is a 12.5 mm module (12.5 mm x 75 mm x 89 mm).

The VITA 75 specification defines the parameters of a SFF system enclosure including size and connector configura-tion such that a system can be upgraded

Defense Applicationsand Different Open Standards Used

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Ground Station C4ISR Data/Image Processing Command Center Information Assurance

COM Express

PC/104

VMEcPCI

VPX

ATCA

Size, Weight and PerformanceFigure 2

Listed here is a spread of applications for defense and a typical system configuration used to implement the application.

Figure 3

This VITA 74 standards-based SFF conduction-cooled implementation contains up to four VITA 74 modules, two 19 mm and two 12.5 mm modules, as well as a storage module and 28-volt power supply. Also shown is the busless router/Ethernet switch implemented using an interchangeable NANO ETXexpress module and a common baseboard with I/O in a rugged enclosure.


TECH RECON

in the future with a form fit function re-placement that will use the same space and cabling. No attempt is being made by the VITA 75 team to define what is in the enclosure. The design and configura-tion of the internal electronics is left up the developers.

An example of a VITA 74 implemen-tation, modules and system, is illustrated in Figure 3. This system implemented by Themis implements two 19 mm and 12.5 mm VITA 74 modules as well as a 28V DC power supply and solid state disc. Utiliz-ing AMD, Intel or FPGA modules, the performance of the system is comparable to a physically much larger system. This is clearly a slot card system as each of the modules plugs into a backplane, but it is interesting to note that Themis elected to implement the processor modules utiliz-ing a Nano ETXexpress mezzanine card and a common base board.

Two Ways to ImplementWhere do busless systems come into

the picture? There are two ways to imple-ment a busless system. The first is a full custom approach. Typically the full cus-tom approach implements all of the re-quired system functions on one board. An example is the typical router used in a home or small business. Remove the cover on the router and there is only one board. For an application such as the home router, one that is manufactured in the thousands, this is a very cost-effective approach. But it does limit future up-grades to software only.

The second method of implement-ing a busless system is to use open stan-dards for small form factors and use a mezzanine/baseboard approach. Both COM Express and Qseven are examples of open standards that can be used to design a system. Both define the board size, mounting requirements, interface connector and signals on the interface connector. All of the busless systems are based on well-defined interface standards describing the interconnecting methods used to integrate systems. What busless systems do is eliminate the connectors and backplane requirements of a slot card based system.

A good example of a busless system

implemented using an open standard is shown in Figure 3. Themis has devel-oped a rugged Ethernet switch/router that is easy to reconfigure with different processing power and different I/O as re-quired. If a simple Ethernet switch and layer 3 routing is the only requirement, the onboard ARM processor is all that is required. As more functionality is re-quiredsuch as custom routing, gateway to MIL-STD-1553, CAN bus, firewall, or GPS timingan additional processor can be added via the NANO ETXexpress module. Unlike the typical home router previously discussed, this implementa-tion is software and hardware reconfigu-rable without the cost and physical over-head of a slot based system.

Serial Fabrics Take OverWhat the busless systems have in

common with the latest slot card systems is the use of serial fabrics as a method of interfacing between functions. In the case of slot card systems, the serial fabrics are implemented on the backplane. And for busless systems, the serial fabric is imple-mented on the board or, in the case of the mezzanine/baseboard approach, on the board interconnects.

In summary, there is a paradigm shift occurring in a lot of ground-based and avionics applications. The shift to a high content of different applications, such as C4ISR, has driven the need for intravehicle networks and the use of multiple subsystems instead of more cen-tralized systems. The acquisition envi-ronment has also changedthere is less money for development and deployment. These requirements have driven the need for more compact systems, systems that can be reused on different programs as well as systems that have a lower cost to develop and to deploy.

Although 3U, 6U and even 9U sys-tems will continue to be utilized, the newer standards such as COM Express will help grow the SFF systems being built. Compared to standards such as VME, which took about ten years to re-ally receive acceptance, standards such as COM Express are in their infancy and should continue to receive more accep-tance in the future.

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