Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) is shipping a short-form XMC module based on Freescale's dual-core, PowerPC-based MPC8640D processor. Targeting military applications, and available with extreme temperature range support, the XPedite5102 ships with BSPs (board support packages) for Linux and other popular… embedded OSes, says the company.

(Click for larger view of the XPedite5102 module)

The XPedite5102 uses the XMC form factor maintained by VMEbus originator Vita as “Vita 42.” The XMC/Vita 42 standard aims to bring modern, high-speed serial interconnects to the PMC (PCI mezzanine card) expansion card format. A paper on XMC may be available from Mercury Computing, here.

The XPedite5102 is sold in five ruggedization levels, ranging up to a level-5 version that is said to withstand temperatures between -40 and 185 deg. F (-40 to 85 deg. C). The board uses Freescale's MPC8640D, touted as pin-compatible with Freescale's earlier dual-core PowerPC SoC, the MPC8641D, while offering 27 percent better performance and support for wider temperature ranges.

The XPedite5102 is available with up to 4GB of DDR2-533 SDRAM, along with up to 4GB of NAND and 256MB of NOR flash soldered onboard. Rear-panel I/O includes dual gigabit Ethernet, dual serial, and GPIO. Though not absolutely required by the XMC spec, the XPedite5102 does include PMC-style “P15” and “P16” expansion connectors, which respectively offer x8 and dual x4 PCI Express channels.

XPedite5102 architecture
(Click to enlarge)

Specifications listed for the XPedite5102 include:

• Processor — Freescale MPC 8640D (PowerPC dual e600 core) at 1.067GHz to 1.25GHz (2.3 MIPS/MHz); double-precision floating point unit; AltiVec vector processing unit; MMU
• Cache — 32KB L1 instruction/data; 1MB L2 per e600 core
• Memory — dual channels of up to 4GB DDR2-533 SDRAM; 16KB serial EEPROM
• Flash — up to 4GB NAND flash; up to 256MB NOR flash
• XMC:
  • x8 PCI Express (VITA 42.3) on P15
  • Dual x4 PCI Express on P16
  • IPMI support
  • GPIO on user data
• RTC — M41T00 I2C timekeeper; 60-hour clock retention
• Networking — 2 x gigabit Ethernet ports
• Other rear I/O — 4 x GPIO pins; 2 x RS-232/RS-485 serial ports
• Dimensions — 5.5 x 2.9 inches (139 x 74mm); XMC short-form factor; 10mm stacking height
• Ruggedization levels — 1 through 5
• Operating temperature — 32 to 131 deg. F (0 to 55 deg C) for ruggedization level 1; -40 to 185 deg. F (-40 to 85 deg. C) for level 5
• Power consumption — 30 W per board at 1GHz

The module ships with board support packages (BSPs) for Linux, VxWorks, QNX Neutrino, and Green Hills Integrity, says the company.

Stated Bret Farnum, VP of Sales for X-ES, “Multiple customers asked for a compact 8640D solution. We've seen customers double their XMC slot processor performance by using this module.”

Availability

The XPedite5102 is shipping today, starting at $7,000, dropping to a starting price of $5,900 in April, says X-ES. Discounts are available based on memory configuration, environmental requirements, and volume purchases, says the company. More information may be found in this PDF.

 
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