Open Source APIs Enable Abstraction of Heterogeneous Software to Bring Commercial HPC Architectures to Rugged, Deployed Defense and Aerospace Subsystems
ASHBURN, VA – March 13, 2012 – Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS), a business unit of Curtiss-Wright Controls, has announced that its HPEC (High Performance Embedded Computing) Center of Excellence has conducted the first successful demonstration of OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED™) software running on its CHAMP-AV8 series dual 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7 DSP module enabled with Gen2 Serial RapidIO (SRIO). Curtiss-Wright’s HPEC system can support over 3.7 Intel® AVX TFLOPS and 224 GB/sec of fabric connectivity in a standard 16-slot OpenVPX™ chassis. Curtiss-Wright’s HPEC system, which supports eight Intel® cores and bandwidth rated at 8 GB/sec to the data plane, is the industry’s highest performing HPEC system on a FLOPS/Watt basis. The demonstration was performed using COTS silicon and open source software, which further emphasizes the Curtiss-Wright HPEC system’s open architecture compared to alternative OpenVPX systems that require proprietary RapidIO IP and software stacks.
The demonstration represents a major achievement in the development of rugged COTS-based embedded HPEC systems for use in the most demanding Radar, SIGINT/EW, Imaging and other ISR applications. The OFED cross-platform, open-source API software was implemented on Curtiss-Wright’s rugged Intel® processor-based CHAMP-AV8 multiprocessor DSP board and VPX6-6902 Switch Card. The demonstration included OpenMPI, an open source implementation of the message passing interface, RapidIO RIONet, an Open-source component that transports Ethernet frames seamlessly over RapidIO Messages, and DAPL/UDAPL InfiniBand® fabric APIs. OFED support enables system integrators to run their application software coded for Ethernet and InfiniBand systems natively on CWCDS rugged, deployable hardware that transparently runs the Gen2 Serial RapidIO fabric.
“We are very proud to offer military COTS solutions providers the highest performing OFED middleware implementation running on open standard rugged OpenVPX HPEC hardware,” said Lynn Bamford, senior vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions. “The migration of commercial HPC system architectures and software promise to revolutionize the levels of processing performance that can be deployed to the warfighter, delivering previously unattainable amounts of actionable data and situational awareness derived from ever increasing amounts of signal and sensor inputs.”
OFED is an open source software component that abstracts fabrics and operating system RDMA from higher level software. OFED is governed by the OpenFabrics Alliance, with many contributors across the industry. OFED supports multiple fabrics such as Serial RapidIO, Ethernet, InfiniBand and multiple operating systems including Linux and Windows.
OFED Demonstration Features:
* Linux BSP: Fedora Linux version 15, 64-bit, SMP
* RIONET: Linux software component that transports Ethernet frames over a Serial RapidIO fabric.
* OFED – OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED™) fabric API
* OpenMPI – Open Source implementation of a Message Passing Interface (MPI)
* UDAPL/DAPL – Legacy InfiniBand fabric API’s supported by Mellanox
Curtiss-Wright OFED Demonstration Hardware Configuration:
* Hybricon™OpenVPX™ chassis: Profile: BKP6-CEN16-11.2.2.3
* CHAMP-AV8 series DSP engines: 6U OpenVPX cards featuring dual Intel Core® i7- quad-core processors and 64 Gbps (8 GB/sec) of full-duplex data plane fabric bandwidth
* VPX6-6902 Switch Card: 6U OpenVPX™ Centralized Serial RapidIO® (SRIO) and Ethernet Switch
Curtiss-Wright Continuum HPEC Subsystem Components
Continuum HPEC systems consist of a large number of distributed processors, IO, and software stacks connected by a low latency system fabric. HPEC capabilities are developed in CWCDS’ Ashburn, VA, HPEC Center of Excellence. With scalable architectures, dataflow modeling and configuration validation, Curtiss-Wright’s Continuum HPEC customers can source embedded HPC platforms that integrate Intel®-based multi-processor boards with AVX, GPGPU co-processors, Xilinx® Virtex® 6 FPGAs, SRIO and Ethernet switching with Open Standard software solutions including VxWorks®, and Linux with OpenMPI and OFED software interfaces. Supported products include Curtiss-Wright’s CHAMP-FX3 Virtex6 FPGA board, the CHAMP-AV8 dual 2nd Generation Core® i7-based multiprocessor board, the VPX6-1956 2nd Generation Core i7 SBC, the VPX6-6902 SRIO/Ethernet switch, and the VPX6-490 GPGPU module. Many OpenVPX™ enclosures are supported including a small 5-6 slot and 19” rack 16-slot air-cooled Chassis.
For price and availability information on CWCDS HPEC solutions, please contact the factory.
For more information on CWCDS HPEC products, please visit www.cwcembedded.com/hpec_software_platform.htm.
Sales & Editorial Contacts
For additional information on CWCDS and CHAMP-AV8, VPX6-6902, VPX6-1956, VPX6-490, CHAMP-FX3 or Hybricon® chassis, please visit: www.curtisswrightds.com.
For editorial information regarding Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions products or services, contact John Wranovics, public relations director, Curtiss-Wright Controls, Tel: (925) 640-6402; email. [email protected].
Sales inquiries: Please forward all Sales and reader service inquiries to Jerri-Lynne Charbonneau, Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions, Tel: (613) 254-5112; Fax: (613) 599-7777; e-mail: [email protected]. Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions, Tel: (978) 952-2017.
About Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions
Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS) is a long established technology leader in the development of rugged electronic modules and systems for defense applications. CWCDS serves as a technology and integration partner to its customers, providing a full range of advanced, highly engineered solutions from modular open systems approaches to fully custom optimized solutions. Our unmatched capabilities and product breadth span from industry standard based COTS modules to complete electronic subsystems. The company’s modules and systems are currently deployed in a wide range of demanding defense & aerospace applications including C4ISR systems, unmanned subsystems, mission computing, fire control, turret stabilization, and recording & storage solutions. Additionally, the company’s broad engineering capabilities combine systems, software, electrical, and mechanical design expertise with comprehensive program management and a broad range of life-cycle support services. For more information visit www.curtisswrightds.com.
About Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc.
Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Curtiss-Wright Controls is the Motion Control segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. With manufacturing facilities around the world, Curtiss-Wright Controls is a leading technology-based organization providing niche motion control products, subsystems and services internationally for the aerospace and defense markets. For more information, visit www.cwcontrols.com.
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