Aitech Defense Systems Inc., the first and largest independent manufacturer of open architecture board and subsystem level products for harsh environment defense, aerospace and astronautics applications, has released the new high performance C108, the latest addition to Aitech's extensive C10x SBC series, for use in both new and legacy military embedded applications. As with all Aitech SBCs used in military embedded applications, including mission management computers, heads-up display controllers, radar and sonar processors and advanced IED autonomous vehicle protection subsystems, the C108 provides numerous I/O capabilities for exceptional flexibility.

For newer applications, the rugged 6U single-slot VME single board computer offers up to 1.4 GHz of processing power via the G4+ PowerPC MPC7448 processor, the highest performing Freescale PowerPC. For legacy applications, the board features pin-to-pin backplane and I/O compatibility with previous Aitech processor boards employing the PPC MPC74xx processor family allowing easy, cost-effective upgrades to newer technology.

"This exceptionally low power, high performance SBC reduces heat generation for increased reliability, while its pin compatibility reduces upgrade, O&M (operating and maintenance) and logistics expenses for our existing customers," said Doug Patterson, Aitech's vice president of Marketing. The C108 supports new and legacy systems via a host of diverse I/O interfaces, which include a Gigabit Ethernet port, two Fast Ethernet ports, two dual-redundant MIL-STD-1533B interfaces, two USB ports, eight serial ports and 16 discrete I/O channels.

Two PMC expansion slots enable standard, quick and easy increases to the board's functionality. For new programs, Aitech has added an onboard, optically-isolated CAN Bus 2.0B to interface with modern vehicle electronics and major functional subsystems without sacrificing one of the on-board PMC sites as well as to reduce modern subsystems costs.

The C108 features two independent PCI buses to maximize PCI bus utilization and to enable various configurations. The first bus can operate at 33/66 MHz, while the second operates only at 33 MHz to help separate fast and slow devices and enable each to operate at its maximum speed. Both buses support 64-bit operation and fully comply with PCI Rev. 2.2. In addition to the 1 GB of onboard, soldered, ECC-protected fast SDRAM, the C108 features other memory arrays such as 128 MB of Flash for user application storage, 32 MB of Boot Flash memory and up to 4 GB of high-density Flash for mass data storage.

128 kB NVRAM for user/application-specific parameter storage that does not require an external power supply during power down is also included.Other features of the high performance C108 include eight 32-bit timers that provide high-resolution timing as well as long interval counting and two integrated digital temperature sensors for thermal management and protection. Two watchdog timers allow the user to set a programmable time-out interval, which will reset the board providing an extra level of software and subsystem reliability.