Products

Embedded Systems

Extender works with 32-bit CardBus, 16-bit PC Card bus.

Featuring low-noise, six-layer construction, the PCCextend 140 extender card supports both 32-bit CardBus and 16-bit PC Card development. Clearly marked test points give access to all 68 signal and power pins, and dual LEDs indicate the card's operating voltage. To simplify hot-insertion testing, a momentary-action switch simulates a card removal/ insertion cycle by interrupting the card-detection signals. The PCCextend 140 sells for $189. An optional adapter for Hewlett-Packard's logic analyzers costs $49. Sycard Technology, Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 749-0130.

PMC mates VMEbus SBC with FDDI network.

Three PMCs connect VMEbus SBCs to high-speed FDDI networks. The modules operate at 100 Mbps and offer either single or dual attachment to the FDDI ring. The PMC FDAS is a single-width PMC that provides dual-redundant (or dual-attach) connection to the FDDI backbone. The PMC FSAS is a single-width PMC with a single-attach interface. An alternative version, the PMC FSAT, implements the draft ANSI TP-PMD V2.0 standard for Category 5 unshielded twisted-pair wiring. The single-attach module costs about $1500. Radstone Technology Corp, Montvale, NJ. (201) 391-2700.

Optimizing compiler suites target PowerPC 401GF.

In support of IBM's Embedded PowerPC program and PowerPC 401GF low-power controller, the vendor's C, C++, and Fortran compiler suites draw on >50 optimization techniques and are tuned for embedded environments. Versions are available for PC, SPARCstation, R/S6000, PowerStack, and HP 9000/700 platforms and integrate with a variety of development environments, including SingleStep, pSOSystem, and VxWorks. The suites comprise a compiler, a program profiler, an assembler, a linker, an archiver, ANSI-compliant and floating-point libraries, a checker, and other utilities. Single-user licenses start at $1900. Diab Data Inc, Foster City, CA. (415) 571-1700.

Preprocessor interface works with PowerPC 604 chip.

Used to connect an HP logic analyzer to a PowerPC 604-based target system, the HP E2465A preprocessor provides a visual representation of the most important system-design data. In addition to configuration software, the unit comes with an inverse assembler and a JTAG connector. It also allows three analysis modes: timing, state-per-clock, and state-per-acknowledge. The preprocessor is compatible with the HP 1660C/CS, 1670A, and 16500B series of logic analyzers. The HP E2465A PowerPC 604 preprocessor costs $6500. Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA. (800) 452-4844, ext 1884.

Motherboard juggles dual 100-MHz Pentium processors.

The VMIPCI-7900 runs under two 100-MHz Pentium P54C processors, each offering a 16- kbyte cache, 32-bit architecture, and built-in math coprocessor. You can expand the board's 16 Mbytes of system memory to 256 Mbytes using single-in-line memory modules. Other onboard features include 512 kbytes of secondary cache, two PCI-bus slots, one shared EISA/ ISA bus slot, a Fast SCSI-2 disk interface, an external Fast SCSI-2 expansion bus for up to five external de-vices, and Ethernet support. Prices range from $6000 to $8500. VME Microsystems International Corp, Huntsville, AL. (205) 880-0444.

VXIbus controllers offer economy for embedded designs.

Lowering the entry cost of VXIbus configurations are two single-slot, embedded VXIbus controllers, both of which use a 100-MHz 486 processor. Starting at $4995, the two C-sized controllers have a PCI-local bus for direct connection to the VXIbus, as well as a primary connection to peripheral devices. The VXIpc-740/100 and VXIpc-745/100 come with a 3.5-in. floppy drive, a SuperVGA video, one serial port, PCMCIA, 16 Mbytes of DRAM, and an 800-Mbyte en-hanced-IDE hard drive. The VXIpc-745/100 adds integrated IEEE 488 and 10BaseT Ethernet support on the motherboard. National Instruments, Austin, TX. (512) 794-0100.

Object-oriented RTOS includes C++ classes.

The Brainstorm Object-Oriented Executive (BOX) comes in the form of an ANSI C++ class library, including classes for buffering and resource management. It also in-cludes a fast interrupt handler and dynamic mailboxes and queues. BOX is platform-independent and works with any processor for which an ANSI C++ compiler is available. Licensing fees start at $1995. Brainstorm Engineering Co, Palm Harbor, FL. (813) 938-1311.

SBus extender board fits SPARCstation computers.

The Model SBus XB2-P/R lets you extend active boards from the SBus interface of a SPARCstation computer for development and debugging. A passive multilayer design with a characteristic signal-line impedance of 75V ensures that the SBus signal interface maintains power and signal integrity. The board, which comes in versions that extend the active board either parallel or at a right angle to the SPARCstation, costs $195. Dawn VME Products Inc, Fremont, CA. (510) 657-4444.

Pentium single-board computer teams with compact, flat-panel display.

Intended for space-limited applications, the DisplayPac-MiniBrite single-board computer comprises a Pentium-based computer board and a 6.4-in., color, TFT LCD in a 9.8×6.5×3.7-in. metal frame. The panel provides a luminance rating of 120 nit, and the Ultra-HiBrite option delivers 450 nit. Resolution is 640×480 pixels with 4096 colors and a 5.2×3.8-in. viewing area. The single-board PC runs at clock speeds as high as 150 MHz and offers a PCI-bus interface, 64 Mbytes of DRAM, a 512-kbyte cache, two serial ports, and a parallel port. You can expand the system through either the PC/104 or ISA-bus interface. Prices start at $3880 (10). Computer Dynamics, Greenville, SC. (864) 627-8800.

Stand-alone, 48V-dc hubs benefit telephony networks.

A series of stand-alone Ethernet hubs for 48V- dc operation complements the dc-powered Model 7520-34H-D4 communications server. The 30xx-48V series provides either 12 or 24 RJ-45 ports, plus an optional bonus port and stackability for up to 20 units in a standard 19-in. rack. An optional SNMP agent is implemented by an embedded board that mounts inside the hub or as an agent box that connects into the stack. The 12- and 24-port hubs cost $1045 and $1695, respectively. Industrial Computer Source, San Diego, CA. (800) 523-2320.

VMEbus digital receivers sample at 70 MHz.

As a data-acquisition system or DSP front end, two VMEbus boards accept digitized data at sampling rates as high as 70 MHz. The Model 6508 delivers 16-bit input accuracy and a tuning resolution of 0.008 Hz plus a built-in sweep generator. The Model 6509 offers 12-bit resolution. You can configure each single-slot, 6U board with as many as eight channels of narrowband receivers to perform frequency down-conversion, lowpass filtering, and decimation of the sampled output. The 6508 and 6509 cost $11,995 each. Pentek Inc, Upper Saddle River, NJ. (201) 767-7100.

Drivers link PCI-based Windows PC to other buses.

Two software-support packages—the Model 973 for Windows 95 and the Model 983 for Windows NT—provide an API using Win 32 to access and control the vendor's 614 PCI-to-Multibus, 615 PCI-to-Q-bus, and 617 PCI-to-VME adap-ters. Together, they connect a Pentium PCI-bus computer to systems based on the VMEbus, Multibus, or Q Bus. Both packages comprise a loadable device driver and example programs of the read/write interface, interrupt handling, and memory-mapped interface. The software costs $600/license. Bit 3 Computer Corp, Minneapolis, MN. (612) 881-6955. Circle No. 401

PMC module links VMEbus SBC to MIL-STD-155-3B bus. Plugged into the PCI bus of the vendor's PowerPC-based VMEbus single-board computer, the PMC1553 provides a two-channel, dual-redundant interface to the MIL-STD-1553B bus, as well as an 8-bit, TTL-compatible, parallel I/O port. The PCI mezzanine card (PMC) comes in versions that are air- or conduction-cooled and provide various degrees of ruggedness. Driver libraries are available as object modules for Vx-Works. Prices start at $2500. Radstone Technology Corp, Montvale, NJ. (201) 391-2700.

Software imports COMTRADE data to DADiSP.

A module for the DADiSP graphical data-analysis, -display, and -processing program lets you import COMTRADE (IEEE Standard Common Format for Transient Data Exchange) files into DADiSP's spreadsheetlike environment. The COMTRADE format allows for the interchange of various kinds of fault, test, and simulation data. The DA-DiSP/COMTRADE menu-driven module targets electrical engineers at power- utility companies. The PC software costs $495. DSP Development Corp, Cambridge, MA. (617) 577-1133.

Image-processing software runs under Windows NT.

Itex image-processing libraries, which work with the vendor's PCI-bus frame grabber, bring ma-chine vision to Windows NT environments. Itex-IC, a driver-level library, provides direct interfaces to hardware and fundamental imaging operations. Itex-IPL is a 32-bit C library containing >300 image-processing and machine-vision functions, including convolutions, edge detection, blob analysis, skeletization, and analysis transforms. Itex-IC and Itex-IPL cost $495 each. Imaging Technology Inc, Bedford, MA. (617) 275-2700.

Enclosure accommodates various passive backplanes.

The Model 4820 system enclosure adapts to many computer-telephony, voice-processing, and process-control applications by offering a variety of passive-backplane configurations. The standard unit comes with an ISA-bus, 20-slot or PCI/ISA, dual-bus, 19-slot backplane. Options include segmented, power-se-quenced segmented, and power-sequenced split configurations. An extended XPCI 20-slot backplane offers nine ISA, one CPU, and 10 PCI-bus slots. Prices start at $1607 for a rack-mount system with an ISA 20-slot passive backplane and 275W power supply. I-Bus division of Maxwell Laboratories, San Diego, CA. (619) 974-8400.

Preprocessor links PowerPC 604 with logic analyzer.

The HP E2465A preprocessor interface connects an HP logic analyzer to a Motorola or an IBM PowerPC 604-based target system. Intended for use with the HP 1660C/CS, HP 1670A, and HP 16500B series of logic analyzers, the preprocessor comes with a JTAG connector, configuration software to set up the analyzer, and an inverse assembler that displays microprocessor operations in PowerPC 604 mnemonics. The HP E2465A costs $6500. Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA. (800) 452-4844.

Preprocessor watches interrupt-control flow on Pentium APIC bus.

The HP E2467A preprocessor for Intel's advanced programmable interrupt-control (APIC) bus provides the mechanical and electrical interface between an HP logic analyzer and the device under test. The preprocessor interface for the APIC bus supports systems based on the Pentium and Pentium Pro processors and allows triggering and inverse as-sembly on each part of an APIC message. It also detects and triggers on APIC-bus error conditions. The HP E2467A costs $2000. Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA. (800) 452-4844.

VMEbus SBCs build on 68K platform.

Tuned for fast data transfers in multiprocessing applications, the CPU-60 combines a 68060 processor running at 66 MHz with the vendor's FGA-002B ASIC, which provides a direct high-speed interface between the local processor bus and the VMEbus. The board comes with as much as 128 Mbytes of DRAM and SCSI-2 and Ethernet, floppy, and serial interfaces. Two other boards, the CPU-60Lite (50-MHz 68060) and the CPU-30Lite (25-MHz 68030), are lower cost embedded controllers for applications that do not require networking or mass-media capabilities. Prices start at $3650 for the CPU-60, $2950 for the CPU-60Lite, and $2690 for the CPU-30Lite. Force Computers Inc, San Jose, CA. (408) 369-6000.

Cross-development package aims at 32-bit embedded systems.

The RTTarget-32 cross-development system allows 32-bit programs developed for Windows 95 and NT to run without the operating system on an Intel 386, 486, or Pentium Pro. RTTarget-32 supplies boot code to start the target system from a floppy, hard, EPROM, or flash disk or directly from ROM. Thereafter, the application program either runs directly from ROM or loads from disk. RTTarget-32 provides a runtime library on the target and emulates part of the Win32 application program interface. A developer's license costs $1700; complete source code costs $1000. On Time Marketing, Setauket, NY. (516) 689-6654.

Visualization software launches end-user version.

Release 3.0 of AVS/Express applies 3-D visualization and imaging techniques to complex data in an object-oriented drag-and-drop environment, bringing this capability to end users for the first time. The software provides kits that contain numerous reusable components for data visualization, image processing, graphics display, database connectivity, and user-interface building. The end-user Visualization Edition starts at $6000 for Unix and $2995 for Windows 95 and NT. The developer edition costs $25,000 for the first Unix-based system and $18,000 for the first Windows-based system. Advanced Visual Systems Inc, Waltham, MA. (617) 890-4300.