Military Design Trends: Applications Migrating to Intel x86 Architecture

Military Design Trends: Applications Migrating to Intel x86 Architecture Today’s military and defense systems designers are seeing the inherent benefits of Intel® x86 Architecture for new designs as well as legacy applications that have started to migrate from other processor architecture technologies. This is due in part to Intel’s strong roadmap that takes into consideration the special technology requirements that are now demanded to support modern battlefield capabilities. Intel’s approach to processors meets or exceeds this market’s stringent requirements for low power, superior performance,...

Whitepaper As part of Intel’s embedded roadmap, its 45nm microarchitecture has had a decisive impact on the future of military systems and the growing migration to x86. Each time Intel achieves process advancements, the architecture gains efficiency and the power-to-performance ratio improves, giving more designers the incentive to convert to Intel Architecture from other processing technologies. This paper will examine the tenets that make Intel x86 Architecture, which is further enhanced by 45nm multicore technology, particularly well-suited to the unique requirements of military and defense...

Intel’s full line of development products help implement, debug and tune software for performance and correctness, as well as shorten the time-to-market cycle. Open source initiatives, such as Linux, and Intel’s ongoing support for development tools from major independent software vendors (ISVs) and operating system vendors (OSVs) are valuable considerations for designers planning to migrate to x86. All designs call for individual considerations, but in general, designers evaluate multiple software design areas including several hardware architectural differences, operating system, system initialization,...

Designing Competitively With x86 Designers are notably migrating to x86 in the 3U CompactPCI and 3U VPX platforms, shifting easily from 6U VME implementations. Many designers are taking the opportunity to upgrade the backplane in the migration process, gaining bandwidth and performance features by moving to CompactPCI and VPX. This represents a change in design thinking; although they cannot put as much on each card, designers have more room due to moving to a smaller form factor. Processors with faster clock rates and increased power-to-performance ratios means they can pack the same performance...

designers rely on the standards that describe the different levels – standard commercial grade, extended temperature grade, a rugged-air and rugged conduction cool grade, and the most rigorous grade has to withstand 40Gs of shock on three axis – to determine their design path. Rugged design may be incorporated at the board level, the system level or on the overall design, and may mean operation without any airflow from -40 to +85° Celsius. Making the Transition to Intel Architecture As a highly rugged example, the emerging VPX platform is ideal for data-intensive UAV applications where greater...

Kontron designs and manufactures embedded and communications standards-based, rugged COTS and custom solutions for OEMs, systems integrators, and application providers in a variety of markets. Kontron engineering and manufacturing facilities, located throughout Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, work together with streamlined global sales and support services to help customers reduce their time-to-market and gain a competitive advantage. Kontron’s diverse product portfolio includes: boards & mezzanines, Computer-on-Modules, HMIs & displays, systems & platforms, and rugged & custom capabilities....