ACADEMIA

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS), a business group of Curtiss-Wright Controls, enhances its rugged, high performance OpenVPX Intel processor-based single board computer (SBC) product line with the introduction of the new VPX3-1257, its first OpenVPX SBC designed with the new quad-core 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3612QE processor. The VPX3-1257 is the latest member of CWCDS's family of next generation multi-core Intel architecture-based SBCs, and builds on the success of the earlier VPX3-1256 that was based on the 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2715QE processor. The new Intel Core i7-3612QE processor delivers a significantly improved thermal profile, enabling greater cooling for the extended temperature ranges demanded by the most rugged Mil/Aero/Gov customer.

"CWCDS is proud to have built one of our industry's leading Intel Core i7 processor-based product families. This 3rd generation Intel Core processor allows us to extend that family of products by creating a 3U OpenVPX SBC with a thermal footprint never before obtained with earlier generation processors," said Lynn Bamford, senior vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions. "With Intel's commitment to long life-cycle supply, this advanced low-power processing engine will drive a new generation of higher performance and power efficient compute intensive applications."

"The 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor family, supporting a reduced power footprint, quad core options, and ECC are ideally suited for ruggedized applications in the aerospace and defense single board computer (SBC) market segment," said Matt Langman, director of product marketing, Intel Intelligent Systems Group. "By announcing longer term availability of this high-performing, integrated processor family, Intel is giving our customers options for development of innovative and dependable long-term solutions."

The VPX3-1257 is a full-featured 3U OpenVPX SBC, designed for harsh-environment, air and conduction-cooled aerospace and defense applications. Additionally, the VPX3-1257 is fully backwards compatible with the popular VPX3-1256 based on the Intel Core i7-2715QE processor (formerly known as "Sandy Bridge"). The new Intel Core i7-3612QE processor, with its reduced power at a similar clock speed, delivers the improved performance per watt required by size, weight, and power (SWaP) constrained applications. Designed with a comprehensive set of features, including on-board I/O, x8 PCIe Gen2 fabric, and XMC mezzanine module expansion, the VPX3-1257 satisfies the most demanding fielded applications from unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, tactical aircraft, and armored vehicles to rugged naval systems.

x16 PCIe Variant to Complement GPGPU Processing A variant SBC, the soon to be released VPX3-1267, will offer an x16 PCIe alternative to the VPX3-1257's x8 PCIe architecture. The unique VPX3-1267 will provide a high performance SBC complement to CWCDS' industry leading VPX3-491 GPU Application Accelerator, the first DSP engine based on the NVIDIA Fermi architecture with 240 CUDA cores. The VPX3-491 functions as a co-processor attached to a host Intel processor board and takes advantage of a high-speed PCIe Expansion Plane. The combination of 3rd generation Intel Core processors, gen2 PCI Express interconnects and 240 NVIDIA CUDA cores raises the performance bar for compact systems for demanding military digital signal processing (DSP) applications such as C4ISR, EO/IR, and SatCom.

Comprehensive I/O and Expansion Features The VPX3-1257 (and the upcoming VPX3-1267 x16 PCIe variant) is offered in a full range of air- and conduction-cooled configurations. Performance features include 8/16GB of high-bandwidth DDR3 SDRAM (1333 MHz), and a rich complement of high-speed I/O, including dual Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 ports, DVI, SATA and an XMC site supported with eight (8) lane of PCI Express (PCIe).

Extensive Software Support The VPX3-1257 is supported with an extensive suite of software including support for Windows WES7, Linux, and VxWorks operating environments.

The VPX3-1257 is the latest addition to CWCDS's broad family of Intel architecture-based high density SBCs. It complements CWCDS's wide range of Network Switches/Routers, Digital Signal Processors, Graphics and Communications and I/O products.