White Papers

VME has been at the heart of rugged embedded computing for over 30 years. Alternative architectures have come along – but VME is still thriving. And: there are good reasons why VME will continue to thrive – as this white paper explains.

When the pressure is on to get programs fielded in the minimum time, developers use every trick available to shorten the time to application completion. Here, we describe one such trick: using intuitive graphics instead of impenetrable text.

Engineers using avionics data bus interfaces and data loaders are facing a growing problem: the demise of the PCMCIA and ExpressCard interfaces, and the inadequacy of USB as an alternative. There is, however, a way forward.

One of the aspects of defense programs that is different is their longevity. That has significant implications for the technology that’s at their heart. Here, we look at the options available to maximize a platform’s viability well into the future.

Radar and EW applications are demanding more performance but with lower SWaP. Haydn Nelson, Director of Product Management, RF and DSP, describes the available technologies.

Open architectures enable our industry to benefit from a broad range of hardware and software choices – this white paper describes, they also provide a high degree of certainty that choices made today will provide maximum program longevity.

In a rapidly changing technology environment, developers of advanced electronic warfare solutions face a sometimes bewildering array of choices. It’s not just about RF performance, though. Here, we describe some of the options and trade-offs.

As Avionics buses on military and commercial aircraft become more varied and complex, a bus analyzer has become an important tool for use during integration, validation, deployment, and maintenance of avionics systems. Today's aircraft may contain MIL-STD-1553, ARINC 429, CAN, or ARINC 664 (AFDX) buses as part of the overall system. Choosing an analyzer needs to be a part of the overall system integration and test plan from the earliest phase of the project. 

Manned and unmanned land, air, and sea platform local area network (LAN) security has been overlooked for many years. However, because of increasingly sinister, competent, and faster threats that are harder to detect, the time has come to revisit how we protect these critical platforms. Sensitive satellite and radio communications must be secured, both incoming and outgoing, with readily available, up-to-date, router firewall technology.

With new threats constantly emerging, how can advanced switch management software help defend networks against cyber attack? David Herbert, Lead Software Engineer, provides the answers.

Autonomous mobile platforms – whether automobiles or UAVs – need complex, sophisticated algorithms, and the computing power to deliver their output in near real-time. This white paper describes some of the approaches that have been taken.

The availability of appropriate hardware can be a gating factor in the development of high performance, SWaP-constrained applications. However, this white paper describes an approach that can deliver a compelling process.

Commercial supercomputing and server farms have much to offer high performance embedded computing (HPEC) applications not only in terms of hardware, but also in terms of software. The capabilities available to embedded developers are described in this paper.

Abaco’s flexible, secure, high performance switch management environment – and because we created it, we understand it in depth – and can modify it to suit unque customer needs. Here, we describe some of the problems we have solved.

The SBC347D 3U VPX single board computer can operate at full performance even at temperatures as high as 75°C. Here, Brian Hoden, Principle Mechanical Engineer, explains the cooling technology that makes this possible.