ploration your goal k directly age, the source. ology, d products
Tech Recon
OpenVPX Advantages and the VME Legacy
OpenVPX Re-Energizes Multi-Compute System Concepts Diverse computing elements can be connected together in various topologies under the OpenVPX Systems Specification, to create multiprocessing systems. A radar processing system example highlights the benefits of the architecture.
Pete Jha, Senior Software Engineer Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing
Architecture
A
Advantages · No additional slots required, saving
Disadvantages · Individual card failures coud affect
space, cost and power communication between other cards growing number of applications Distributed · For systems up to 16 cards, average · More complex to understand fabric usage require multiple processors for number of switch hops is lower · System specific topologies can be greater processing power or higher accommodated. reliability. In order to solve complex problems in harsh environments, a sys· Backplane can be more generic · Requires extra slot(s) with added cost, Centralized tem is generally composed of SBCs, DSP · Simpler topolgy to model, no sharing of power and lower MTBF d boards, FPGAs, memory boards, switches connections · Greater opportunity for single-point of failure that can cause system failure and so on. These computational entities can be connected together, in various topologies as defined by the OpenVPX SysFigure 1 tems Specification, to create lightly and tightly coupled nies providing solutions now multiprocessing systems. Listed here are some of the major advantages and disadvantages of centralized and Tightly coupled systems Whether share your a singuion into products, technologies and companies. goal is to researchdistributed the latest architectures. tion Engineer,lar or jump to a company's goal of Get Connected is to put you global address technical space page, withthedifferent you require for whatever type of technology, memory hierarchies participating on a and products you are searching for. common bus. Lightly coupled systems The primary characteristic differentia- do not require any additional slots. Adwww.cotsjournalonline.com/getconnected contain multiple address spaces inter- tor between these two architectures is ditionally, in systems with less than sixconnected via a high-speed communica- the requirement for switches; a switch is teen computing entities, the number of required for traffic routing within a cen- switch hops is lower than in centralized tion system. OpenVPX provides a framework tralized system. systems. However, in the event of any slot in which computational entities can be failure, communication across the fabric aggregated together to create larger sys- OpenVPX Architectures is at risk. The system-wide knowledge of tems. There are two dominant architecThere is no one architecture that is the fabric interconnection is more comtures addressed by the OpenVPX Speci- best suited for all computing applica- plex to ascertain. To fully qualify the fication: centralized and distributed. tions. Figure 1 compares some of the fabric interconnection, additional inmajor advantages and disadvantages of formation must be made available to the both of these dominant architectures. system software. Get Connected Distributed architectures are most prevCentralized architectures have a sigwith companies mentioned in this article. alent in systems where computational nificantly simpler topology and a more www.cotsjournalonline.com/getconnected density is desired. These architectures generic backplane design. The tradeoff in
End of Article
[ 42 ] COTS Journal March 2010 Get Connected with companies mentioned in this article. www.cotsjournalonline.com/getconnected