Multi-processor board

Kontron has introduced the VM6250 6U VME multi-processor board with Freescale MPC8640/8641 single or dualcore processors and Altivec engine.

With its scalable processor performance, high-data throughput, low-power dissipation and easy extensibility via XMCs, PMCs and FMCs (FPGA mezzanine cards) according to the VITA 57 specification, the device offers extreme flexibility. It upgrades VME based air or conduction-cooled applications.

With a power consumption of 27 W (typical with Freescale MPC8640 1.00 GHz), the board enables a choice of Freescale MPC8640 single- or dualcore processors with 1.00 or 1.25 GHz and Freescale MPC8641 single- or dualcore processors with 1.33 GHz.

With a 64-bit MPX bus running up to 667 MHz, the board boosts memory bandwidth up to 4.3 Gbps, which is claimed to make it three times faster than boards based on legacy G4 PowerPC processors.

The 4-channel DMA controller and the integrated 128-bit AltiVec vector unit (which processes large data quantities while ensuring minimal cache pollution) provide the turbo.

High data throughput is possible through the high-speed backplane switch for PCI Express, gigabit ethernet and the double-edged source synchronous transfer VME 2eSST according to ANSI/VITA 1.5.

The board, in the rugged conduction cooled version (-45 to + 85 °C), is for applications in harsh environments where secure and reliable performance is a must.

The VM6250 features soldered DDR2 SDRAM with error correcting code and onboard USB flash support for software storage without rotating non-volatile memory.

Data security is additionally ensured by 128 KB NOVRAM for backup in case of power failure.

One of the two mezzanine extension slots for XMCs and PMCs additionally supports FMCs. An optional dual PMC carrier allows up to four PMCs. Users benefit from the FMC standard that allows a change to the I/O configuration of an FPGA design without having to redesign the core FPGA functionality. Thus a single FPGA design can be utilised in multiple applications by simply using a different FMC.

The board is supplied with the open source U-Boot firmware and supports VxWorks 6.6 and Fedora 9 Linux.