Compact Multi-I/O PMC

Citation

(2008), "Compact Multi-I/O PMC", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 80 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2008.12780dad.005

Compact Multi-I/O PMC

Article Type: Equipment and software From: Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal, Volume 80, Issue 4

Aitech Defense Systems Inc., an independent manufacturer of open architecture board and subsystem level products for harsh environment defense, aerospace and astronautics applications, now offers a compact, multi-I/O PMC that provides a variety of configuration options for the highest levels of flexibility in different I/O environments.

The low power, single-width M705 claims an unprecedented level of PMC density with up to five dual channel, dual-redundant MIL-STD-1553B channels, 16 ARINC-429 receive channels and eight ARINC-429 transmit channels, up to six RS-232/422/485 serial channels and eight opto-isolated digital discrete input channels, all of which reduce the number of I/O cards when developing subsystems. Additional board options include an ARINC 708 weather radar interface contained as VHDL within the large on-board FPGA.

The extensive number and types of channels available on the new PMC, coupled with its low-power consumption of typically less than 7.5 W and claiming exceptional shock and vibration resistance, make the M705 ideal for a diverse range of I/O applications. These include tactical avionics platforms such as F-18 or V-22 mission computers as well as mission data recorders.

The MIL-STD-1553 (STANAG 3838) channels support BC/RT/MT operation modes and offer 128 kB (64 K words) of dual-port RAM per channel. All ARINC-429 channels fully comply with the AEEC adoptions of the ARINC-429 specifications and provide both high- and low-speed operation, 100 kbps and 12.5 kbps, respectively. The six UART channels feature a global interrupt source register and two of the channels can provide full modem flow control lines (RTS, CTS, DTR and DSR). The discrete input channels serve as general purpose I/O ports that connect to the GPIO FPGA, but are primarily used to externally assign the RT address to the MIL-STD-1553 channels.

The M705 has a 32 bit/66 MHz PCI 2.2 interface that supports both +5 and 3.3 V PCI universal signalling levels. The conduction-cooled version per ANSI/VITA 20-2001 routes all signals to the rear P4 connector and the IEEE 1386-2001 air-cooled version can be equipped with connectors for front panel I/O signal routing.

The PMC is available in the widest temperature range of −55 to +85°C (−67 to +185°F) and with software in rugged and military levels of ruggedization. Software for the M705 includes a complete software driver package supporting all on-board resources and built-in test (BIT), initially through the WindRiver VxWorks 5.x and 6.x operating systems.

For further details, please contact: Aitech Defense Systems Inc., 888-Aitech-8 248 3248.