The new module provides fast, serial differential interfaces such as PCI Express and SATA, although it consistently avoids old “legacy“ interfaces such as EIDE and PCI to ensure that future generations of CPUs and chipsets can also be used without problems. It provides 8x USB 2.0, 1x SATA, 1x SDIO, 1x PCIe, LPC bus, I²C bus as well as Gbit Ethernet and high-definition audio. The new module further offers up to 4 Gbytes onboard flash storage as an option for robust mass storage. The flexible SDIO interface means that SD cards can also be used as easy and robust mass storage. The conga-QA will be available from April 2009.

Congatec, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA.
(760) 635-2600. [www.congatec.us].

FPGA AMC Board Sports Optical Transceivers

The AMC form factor has steadily won its way into the minds of systems designers, and that’s given the military reason to consider it. A new AMC module from BittWare features four small form factor pluggable-plus (SFP/SFP+) transceivers that enable support of virtually any serial communication standard. The four SFP/SFP+ SerDes channels are connected directly to the onboard Altera Stratix II GX FPGA, which handles the higher level communications protocols. The SF/GXAM enables BittWare’s customers to meet their increased bandwidth needs while also maintaining a small board footprint and low power consumption.

The SF/GXAM is a full-size, single wide AdvancedMC that can be attached to AdvancedTCA carriers or other cards equipped with AMC bays, and also used in MicroTCA systems. The four-cage SFP/SFP+ connector on the front panel with each transceiver provides support for virtually any serial communication standard, including: Fibre Channel, Gbit Ethernet, SONET, CPRI and OBSAI. The four SerDes channels are connected directly to the Stratix II GX FPGA. In addition, the SF/GXAM provides BittWare’s Atlantis framework implemented in the FPGA, a front panel I/O interface, a control plane interface via BittWare’s FINe interface bridge, an IPMI system management interface, and a configurable 11x SerDes AMC interface supporting a variety of protocols. It also provides 10/100 Ethernet, Gbit Ethernet, two banks of DDR2 SDRAM, one bank of QDR2 SRAM and flash memory for booting the FPGA and FINe. The SF/GXAM is priced under $4,000 in OEM quantities.

BittWare, Concord, NH. (603) 226-0404. [www.bittware.com].

PXI Card Blends Boundary Scan and Dynamic Functional Test

System developers can now get more bang for their buck when it comes to test instrumentation gear. That’s because multiple functions are now available on a single board. Goepel Electronic has launched a new series of JTAG Digital I/O PXI modules named PXI 5396-x. The PXI 5396-x modules offer 96 individually configurable single-ended channels and support the structural JTAG/Boundary Scan test as well as dynamic I/O operation up to 100 MHz to execute functional tests.

PXI 5396-x are 1-slot 3U modules, which differ in onboard memory depth of 72 Mbytes (PXI 5396-X) and 144 Mbytes (PXI 5396-XM). All modules offer 96 single-ended channels configurable as input, output and tri-state, which allow simultaneous driving, measuring and real-time comparison. While the signals are processed to test bus operations completely synchronous in the JTAG mode, the dynamic I/O mode enables functional testing with freely programmable clock frequencies from 500 Hz to maximum 100 MHz. That’s why first structural Boundary Scan tests and afterward functional tests can be executed with the same instrument.

Goepel Electronic, Jena, Germany.
+49 03641 6896-739. [www.goepel.com].

Electronic Compass Resides on Tiny PCB

Electronic compass technology is a critical component in a variety of mobile systems. A new addition to their low-cost line of tilt-compensated OEM digital compasses for embedded applications that is ultra-small and highly accurate is being introduced by OceanServer Technology. The OS4000-T Nano Compass features 3-Axis magnetic sensors with 3-Axis accelerometers and provides nominal accuracy of 0.5 degrees, 0.1 degree resolution, ±180 degree roll, ±90 degree tilt and includes electronically gimbaled tilt compensation. Offered in a 0.6-inch square through-hole package, weighing only 1 gm, this ultra-small device is designed for mounting on a system board and talking via a TTL interface for a wide range of applications.