Architecture

The key to EONIC’s performance is our ultra high-speed switch fabric, called EONIC systems are based upon the CompactPCI busstandard, enabling small formfactors. The PowerLINK™ protocol caters for ultra high-speed, yet passive Switch Fabric backplanes, increasing robustness and reducing power consumption. The Pool of Processors is created with TigerSHARC™, enabling a Multi-DSP environment with minimum overhead. For long FFTs we deploy PowerFFT™, an extremely powerful FFT engine which consumes less than 1W of power.
PowerLINK. This is an elegant, LVDS-based data pump mechanism with very little overhead. It caters for high-speed distribution of data (up to 1.8 GB/sec) throughout a system, through which real-time processing can be warranted.
EONIC integrates COTS boards and mezzanines in a system enclosure. The smaller 3U CompactPCI (cPCI) form factor is now widely supported with a range of backplanes and rugged chassis. A 3U card, being smaller, is naturally stiffer than a 6U card, with a higher natural frequency translating into less susceptibility to shock and vibration. The 3U cPCI connector has sufficient pins to support high-speed signal processing I/O, as well as a certain degree of inherent ruggedness.
Algorithms for both processing and data movement can be implemented in FPGAs, achieving significant savings in both board real estate and power requirements relative to PowerPC-based systems. The trade-off between FPGAs and PowerPCs varies greatly based on a number of application factors. However, a reasonable comparison with current technology would be to replace 8 PowerPCs with a single FPGA, going from two quad-processor 6U boards to a single 3U board.
Even more dramatic power and weight savings can be achieved by using an ASIC for specific, well-understood, and highly repetitive calculations. Signal processing applications for all types of sensor input make extensive use of the FFT, with over 90% of the processing devoted to some form of FFT calculation. EONIC’s PowerFFT™ ASIC is a powerful FFT engine with only a single watt of power consumption (and the horsepower akin to a dozen PowerPC processors when running large FFTs). Available since 2002, it has proven its unmatched value in a number of FFT-intense systems, such as ELINT Pulse Analysers.

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