Aitech Defense Systems Inc., a pioneer in true embedded and mission critical computing technologies for environmentally-demanding military, defense and aerospace and rugged industrial applications, now offers the C873, a rugged SBC based on Intel’s 4th generation, quad-core Core i7 Haswell processor operating at 2.4 GHz.

The single-slot SBC is one of the first to boards to integrate this exceptional computing performance into a rugged, 3U OpenVPX platform, offering up to 20% more processing over previous generations of SBCs.

The Core i7 processor includes Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 that enables temporary operation at higher frequencies for enhanced performance. It also features an integrated HD Graphics 4600 core for 2D/3D graphics and video processing and provides RGBHV and HDMI/DVI outputs. The C873 is coupled with a Lynx Point QM87 I/O Platform Controller Hub (PCH) that supports legacy and high-speed interfaces enabling system design flexibility.

To best utilize the exceptional performance of the Core i7, the high-performance C873 incorporates a variety of I/O interfaces as well as large memory arrays that complement the board’s high processing capabilities.

Standard I/O includes four GigE ports as well as five USB ports, two SATA ports and two serial I/O interfaces as well as eight general purpose discrete I/O lines. An industry-standard PMC/XMC expansion slot enables the integration of additional resources, including memory, I/O or multiple-monarch processor PMCs.

The C873 offers some of the highest memory capacities available on a 3U OpenVPX SBC to support specific application needs as well as mass storage requirements. Up to 16 GB of fast DDRL3 SDRAM with ECC protection as well as 64 GB of SATA Flash come standard. Two 16 MB Flash BIOS ensures reliable system boot, even if the primary device fails.

Capable of communicating with up to eight other PCIe OpenVPX modules without a backplane switch, the C873 is ideal for embedded systems that require a rugged solution coupled with high data and graphics processing requirements. If a switch is used, even more modules can be accommodated.

The board can be either air-cooled or conduction-cooled, which can also be provided as a VPX REDI-compliant SBC, depending on user requirements. Supporting seven OpenVPX slot profiles (defined by VITA 65), the new C873 can be incorporated in a variety of applications and environments.

An IPMI controller offers system-level monitoring of the C873’s health and status. Three onboard temperature sensors and an elapsed time recorder (ETR) further assist in monitoring board health. Both standard and avionics (windowed) watchdog timers as well as a real time clock are available on the SBC.