10 Mb/s enhanced bit rate MIL-STD-1553 PC/104 board

Citation

(2003), "10 Mb/s enhanced bit rate MIL-STD-1553 PC/104 board", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 75 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2003.12775ead.007

10 Mb/s enhanced bit rate MIL-STD-1553 PC/104 board

10 Mb/s enhanced bit rate MIL-STD-1553 PC/104 board

Keywords: Software, Technology, Aerospace

Data Device Corporation (DDC), a provider of high reliability data networking technology, has introduced a new MIL-STD-1553 PC/104 card built with an enhanced bit rate (EBR)of 10 Mb/s. The MIL-STD-1553 data bus is widely used in much of the Western world's defence equipment and traditionally operated at up to 1 Mb/s.

The EBR 1553, with its field-proven Enhanced Mini-ACE' 1553 core is a next generation 10 Mb/s version of MIL-STD-1553 compliant with the SAE Miniature Munitions/Store Interface or MMSI standard.

"The Enhanced Bit Rate 1553 specification is being developed to meet the need of munitions applications by enabling 1553 data rates of 10 Mb/s" said Mike Hegarty, Product Marketing manager with DDC's Data Networking Group. The BU-65580, which is currently shipping, provides one channel of EBR-1553 in an industrial temperature rated PC/104 form factor. According to Mr Hegarty, "a huge benefit to our customers is software compatibility, code written for our MIL-STD-1553 libraries and will run with our EBR-1553 libraries. This can decrease development costs, time to develop, as well as decrease risk."

The BU-65580 is based on DDC's field- tested ACE-core architecture, which has been implemented in a field programmable gate array. The EBR 1553 channel can be programmed for BC, RT, or RT/MT modes of operation. The BU-65580 is compatible with earlier generation ACE and Mini-ACE (Plus) series software libraries, as well as DDC's powerful dataMARSIdataSIMS software. Originally targeted as the Miniature Munitions/Store Interface, other applications for the BU-65580 include embedded avionics, flight computers, and avionics systems, as well as mission and weapons computers and radar systems (Plate 4).

Plate 4 The BU-6555580C1, a 10 Mb/s EBR MIL-STD-1553 PC/104 board

DDC also reports that it has expanded its Enhanced Mini-ACE series of products with the introduction of a 3.3 V fully integrated MIL-STD-1553 BC/RT/MT terminal. Referred to as the "Mini-ACE Mark3" series, this new design is said to require only a 3.3 V power supply and at the same time is thought to be the smallest 1553 terminal packaged in a Ceramic Quad Flat Package (CQFP).

"With the predominant trend to 3.3 V logic, the Mini-ACE Mark3 terminal eliminates the need for a 5 V power supply, providing a significant advantage for military and avionic systems," noted Mike Glass, Data Bus Technical Marketing Manager at DDC. "Designers can now take advantage of an all 3.3 V system, saving the cost, weight, and space of a 5 V power supply while also saving precious board real-estate with MiniACE Mark3's smaller package. Furthermore, the 3.3 V Mini-ACE Mark3 uses less power than the 5 V only Enhanced Mini-ACE" he added.

At 0.77 inch², the Mini-ACE Mark3 is said to use 23 per cent less board space than the present ceramic package designs and has a low profile of 0.13 inch height. Furthermore, the Mini-ACE Mark3 CQFP is described as a robust hermetic design ready to support applications at military or industrial temperature ranges, and is available with numerous environmental screening options.

Mini-ACE Mark3 1553 terminals are available in various configurations. Designers can choose from RT- only or full BC/RT/MT functionality, 4 K × 16 or 64 K &times 17-memory compliment, and either a PCI or generic processor backend interface. The Mini-ACE Mark3 can work with 8, 16, or 32 bit processors with little or no glue logic, while the PCI Mini-ACE Mark3 series provides a 32-bit, 33 MHz, 3.3 V signaling PCI Target interface. The PCI version claims a distinct improvement over multi-component implementations, because it uses less real estate and it simplifies the engineer's logic design by eliminating the need for a custom-programmed FPGA to connect to embedded PCI buses (Plate 5).

Plate 5 The Mini-ACE Mark3

Mini-ACE Mark3 devices are 100 per cent compatible with the architectural features found in DDC's Enhanced Mini-ACE and PCI Enhanced Mini-ACE products, including a highly autonomous intelligent BC, a choice of RT buffering modes, a selective message monitor; an autonomous built-in protocol and RAM self-test; and a choice of 10, 12, 16 or 20 MHz clock frequencies. Moreover, the devices are fully compatible with DDC's suite of drivers, library and GUI software. All Mini-ACE Mark3 products are compliant with the MIL-STD-1553A/B, STANAG 3838 and MIL-STD-1760.

Details available from: DDC (United Kingdom) Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 631 567 5600; Fax: +44 (9) 1635 32264; E-mail info@dde-web.com; Web site: www.ddc-web.com