A20 – Rugged and Powerful for Harsh and Communication Intensive Applications
The A20 single-board computer is the latest 6U VMEbus board of MEN’s product range. This SBC was specially designed for industrial applications with the highest reliability in computing and graphics, and will be used in the world’s largest particle accelerator of the Swiss research organization CERN. Being open for any user requirements, the robust card supports a multitude of Intel processors – from the Core Duo or Core 2 Duo with 1.5 GHz down to single-core Celeron M versions.
Due to the Tundra TSI148 bridge controller the SBC supports fast and reliable data throughput using 2eSST. This protocol doubles the theoretical VMEbus transaction bandwidth to up to 320 MB/s.
The A20 is one of only a few 6U computers that provide space for 2 PMC or 2 XMC modules. Its fast 64-bit/66-MHz PMCs give the single-board computer particular communication strength. Users with a need for even more speed can make use of four of a total of six PCI Express lanes to connect XMC modules.
Standard I/O at the front of the A20 includes graphics via VGA, one Gigabit Ethernet, one USB 2.0 or optionally a COM interface on RJ45. The rear side gives access to the I/O functions of the PMC modules, and also to seven USB interfaces and one SATA port.
With a size of up to 4 GB, DDR2 RAM main memory is firmly soldered against shock and vibration. In addition, the board also offers a CompactFlash slot and a second SATA port. Management and supervision of the board functions complete the functionality of the A20. Since the card exclusively uses components of Intel’s Embedded Line, a minimum availability of 5 years is guaranteed.