Posted by John Keller

CHATSWORTH, Calif., 11 March 2011. Aitech Defense Systems Inc. in Chatsworth, Calif., is introducing the C870 3U VPX single-board computer based on the Intel Core i7 processor extreme-data-throughput applications in high-definition avionics displays, mission and controls systems computers, network-centric communications, and condition-based maintenance.

The C870 CPU board has a Core i7 dual-core processor that runs at 2.53 GHz for high performance, 2 GHz for low-power, or at 1.33 GHz for ultra-low power. The embedded computing product has an Intel Gen 5.75 graphics controller.

The board has arrays of all-soldered volatile and non-volatile memory (no connectors) for shock and vibration, and provides as much as 4 gigabytes of DDR3 SDRAM with ECC operating at 1066 MHz, 4 megabytes of BIOS Flash, and 8 gigabytes of on-board SATA SSD for mass storage. I/O consists of four Gigabit Ethernet ports (two 1000Base T, two 1000Base BX/KX), two SATA II ports, four USB 2.0 ports, eight discrete I/O lines, two UART ports, HDMI/DVI, and CRT interfaces.

The BIOS includes POST/BIT, and options for boot device and boot sequence. Software support includes Windows Embedded and XP Professional, Linux, and VxWorks. Two temperature sensors, a real-time clock, an avionics watchdog timer, and a trusted program module are included.

A companion low-power, rugged PMC/XMC carrier board is available that plugs into an adjacent 3U backplane slot to add I/O, graphics, and SSD memory PMC/XMC cards. The CM870 supports four PCI Express x4 ports, per VITA 46.3 and 46.4, via its VPX backplane fabric interface.

The single-board computer and carrier card are single-slot modules and are available in air- and conduction-cooled versions per ANSI/VITA 46.0-2007 and ANSI/VITA 65.0-2010. For more information contact Aitech online at www.rugged.com.