Embedded computing: Rugged 3U CompactPCI single-board computer

Radstone Technology in Towcester, England, is offering the rugged 3U CompactPCI PowerPact3 IMP2A single-board computer to deliver a powerful embedded computer in a small space typical of unmanned vehicles. The board features a Freescale 7448 PowerPC processor operating at 1.4 GHz, and two Gigabit Ethernet ports. CompactPCI is becoming a popular bus technology for unmanned vehicle applications, given its performance and power consumption/heat dissipation in small form factor systems by comparison with traditional military VMEbus-based architectures, company officials say. Available in five rugged air- or conduction-cooled versions, the IMP2A includes the Marvell Discovery 3 integrated system controller with high-bandwidth memory control and PCI bridging. The board also has communication peripherals such as two high-speed sync/async serial ports, software programmable as RS232/422 or 485. Also on the board are a PCI-X PCI Mezzanine Card site; as much as 512 megabytes of DDR SDRAM memory; and 128 megabytes of Flash memory. The IMP2A is available within the Radstone RT4 CompactPCI-based application-ready platform with three 3U CompactPCI slots in a 4.88-by-5.2-by-10-inch enclosure that weighs less than eight pounds. For more information contact Radstone online at www.radstone.com.