Abaco Systems Announces FORCE2 Open Reference Computing Environment for Cost-Effective Development of Certifiable Applications Compliant with the FACE™ Initiative
HUNTSVILLE, Ala.— MARCH 22 2016 Abaco Systems today announced the FORCE2 Open Reference Computing Environment designed to support the planned development of safety-critical, DO-254/DO-178 certifiable applications compliant with the FACE™ initiative.
The FORCE2 will be demonstrated at Quad-A (The Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit: Atlanta, GA – April 28-30).
A rugged, pre-integrated small form factor system for mission computing and avionics display, the FORCE2 comprises a high TRL (technology readiness level) SBC314 3U VPX single board computer and graphics card housed in a robust enclosure to deliver unprecedented levels of performance in demanding video and image applications.
The FORCE2 is highly differentiated from alternative solutions in that it will be supported by DO-254 artifacts suitable for use in systems requiring Design Assurance Level (DAL) A, the highest level of assurance.
“Certification is a huge cost incurred by in-house development of safety-critical systems which, allied to the high cost of system development, can make such solutions prohibitively expensive,” said Chris Lever, VP, Product Management at Abaco Systems. “Moreover, such in-house developments are typically high risk, with associated potential impact on cost and schedule over-run. The FORCE2 can substantially reduce those high costs, and also represents minimal risk in that it is pre-integrated and built using proven, high TRL hardware and software components. It is a compelling, highly viable alternative to the in-house development of certifiable solutions.”
The FACE (Future Airborne Capability Environment) approach is a government-industry software standard and business strategy for acquisition of affordable software systems that promotes innovation and rapid integration of portable capabilities across global defense programs. The Open Group FACE Consortium was formed in 2010 to define an open avionics environment for all military airborne platform types. Its aims are, among others, to leverage the interoperability and portability of open standards to ensure that more capabilities reach the warfighter faster and at lower cost, and to stimulate innovation and competition within the avionics industry.
The FORCE2 features either a 1.4GHz quad-core or a 1.8GHz 8-core NXP (formerly Freescale™) QoriQ™ Power Architecture processor with up to 4GBytes of memory. Advanced graphics capability is provided by an AMD Radeon™ E8860 GPU with 2GBytes of DDR5 memory. A range of avionics I/O is supported including ARINC-429 and MIL-STD-1553. DVI and VGA video outputs are featured.
The FORCE2’s software environment – operating system and I/O services - is aligned with the requirements of the FACE initiative, and includes support for VxWorks® 653 withOpenGLSC.
For more information:
Product Page: https://www.abaco.com/products/force2
Datasheet: https://www.abaco.com/download/force2-datasheet
About Abaco Systems
Abaco Systems is a global leader in open architecture computing and electronic systems for aerospace, defense and industrial applications. Spun out of General Electric in 2015, we deliver and support open modular solutions developed to upgrade and enhance the growing data, analytics, communications and sensor processing capabilities of our target applications. This, together with our 700+ professionals’ unwavering focus on our customers’ success, reduces program cost and risk, allows technology insertion with affordable readiness and enables platforms to successfully reach deployment sooner and with a lower total cost of ownership. With an active presence in a significant number of national asset platforms on land, sea and in the air, Abaco Systems is trusted where it matters most. www.abaco.com
For more information, contact:
Ian McMurray
Communications Manager
Abaco Systems
FACE is a trademark of The Open Group. Power Architecture is a trademark of Power.org. Radeon is a trademark of AMD Corporation. Freescale and QoriQ are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. VxWorks is a registered trademark of Wind River Systems. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
