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Industrial Reference Platform for INTEL® ATOM TM |  |
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Gleichmann Electronics Research announces a new Industrial Reference Platform. The heart of this platform is an Intel® Atom™ processor and an ALTERA® ARRIA® FPGA, connected together PCI Express to support customer specific interface and logic requirements. The system is based on the Gleichmann Hpe® platform, an expandable base board with a range of different interfaces in a durable enclosure – ideal also for software developers. The base board carries a MSC Qseven module with the CPU system, 2 child board connectors for custom logic implementations and a set of peripheral interfaces.
For system prototyping and hardware developers the enclosure can be easily opened to allow rapid access to the expansion ports.
The Industrial Reference Platform is a highly scalable and re-configurable (proof-of-concept) platform targeted at low-power, high-performance industrial automation applications: |
 (German only) |
Medium to high complexity PLCs requiring low power, high performance, and compact form factor
Human machine interfaces (HMIs) and Panel PCs
High performance slave systems
- PLC-based drive systems
- High-performance industrial systems like image processing
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First launched in the European market by MSC Vertriebs GmbH at Embedded World 2009, the
Industrial Reference Platform is initially available for customers in Europe, with global availability
through additional channels to follow later this year. |
The flexibility of the Industrial Reference Platform also makes this system a potential platform for military, automotive, and consumer applications
requiring the scalable processor performance of the Intel Atom™ and the re-programmability of Altera® Arria® series FPGAs.
Platform advantages
The Industrial Reference Platform provides several key advantages:
Proof of concept
Provides developers of PLC, HMIs, and industrial PCs with an automation reference design supporting industrial Ethernet and fieldbus
connectivity, a PLC run-time environment, and industrial I/Os
Enables you to implement any industrial Ethernet and fieldbus protocol standard (intellectual property) on the FPGA and related software drivers
and protocol stacks on one reference design
High performance, low power, compact dimensions
Compact Qseven CPU board with a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom™ Z530 processor
Low-power Intel Atom™ chipset (system controller hub) rated at 2 W
Low-power, high-performance Arria GX FPGA with integrated transceivers, communicating to the Intel Atom™ processor across PCI Express
Flexibility
Low-power Arria GX FPGAs provide full re-programmability in an environment of ever-changing standards
Platform leverages reuse of hardware and software/firmware investment and minimizes the need to re-pin PCBs
One platform can support multiple solutions
Industrial-specific I/O, display, and industrial Ethernet/fieldbus functions in one FPGA that can easily be migrated to new FPGA platforms
Code can scale with future generations of Intel processors
Solution replaces ASICs/ASSPs, MCUs, MPUs, and digital signal processors that would incur long development/porting cycles to upgrade
Long-term product availability
Mitigates risk associated with product obsolescence typical with ASICS and ASSPs, including MCU, MPU, and digital signal processing (DSP) products
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