Upgraded high-density flash memory board provides double storage space

Citation

(2008), "Upgraded high-density flash memory board provides double storage space", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 80 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2008.12780aad.005

Upgraded high-density flash memory board provides double storage space

Upgraded high-density flash memory board provides double storage space

Aitech Defense Systems, Inc, independent manufacturer of open architecture board and subsystem level products for harsh environment defense, aerospace and astronautics applications, has upgraded the memory capacity of its C212 high- capacity, non-volatile memory VMEbus board that uses NAND Flash memory supported by software drivers to provide full hard-disk emulation for up to 256 GB of cost-effective, solid-state mass storage in COTS applications. Coupled with the board's exceptionally low-power consumption of <5W, the board is said to be ideal for a variety of high-density data storage applications. These include detailed maps, large databases, radar or sonar images, software programmable radio ELINT data or other graphics.

The memory board design, optimised for high-speed write and erase performance to offer a low cost-per-bit for data storage, provides a fast data transfer rate of up to 20MB/s when operating in A32 block transfer mode on the VMEbus.

The optional Aitech Flash Memory Manager (FMM) software package for VxWorks automatically treats the Flash memory as the system's disk drive and provides real-time OS support. It features automatic wear levelling to ensure that write-erase cycles are uniformly balanced across the entire device, preventing any one block from excessive write-erase cycles and wearing out.

The new C212 also provides full file system read/write emulation, automatic block management, and interleaved access of up to 32 memory banks for high performance. The interleaving capability substantially increases data throughput for “write ahead” programming/erase operations.

A built-in software Error Correction Code (ECC) algorithm, also implemented under the Aitech FMM software control, is useful for applications where high-data integrity and reliability are required. Data throughput with ECC enabled is 16MB/s in write mode and 13MB/s in read mode.

The C212 uses no moving parts enabling its low-power requirements and significantly increased board reliability.

Available in commercial, rugged, and military grade configurations, the C212 Flash memory board is said to be designed to resist shock and vibration for trouble-free performance, even in high-stress military environments.

The board features a metal thermal frame for excellent rigidity and shock resistance, and combines thermal heat sinks to allow optimal heat transfer to the enclosure's sidewalls.

Available in forced air-cooled and standard ANSI/IEEE 1101.2 conduction-cooled mechanical formats, the C212 is a single slot 6U module that connects to, and takes all of its power from, a standard VMEbus backplane.

Details available from: Aitech Defense Systems, Inc., E-mail: sales@rugged.com