Tanis MacSween
Marketing Communications Manager
604-421-5422
Tanis_MacSween@SpectrumSignal.com
SPECTRUM SIGNAL PROCESSING INTRODUCES THE AIDA SHARC PMC MODULE FOR CONNECTING SBC¹S TO DSP SYSTEMS
Aida SHARC PMC Module Provides Connectivity to Single Board Computers with Industry Standard PMC Sites
Burnaby, B.C., Canada - Mar 8, 1999 - Spectrum Signal Processing Inc. (NASDAQ NMS: SSPIF / TSE: SSY), the industry leader in high-performance DSP systems, today announced the Aida SHARC PMC Module, based on Analog Devices¹ (NYSE:ADI) SHARC DSPs. Aida is powered by four 21060 SHARC processors, allowing very high-performance connectivity from a single board computer (SBC) to a DSP system. Spectrum utilizes the compact BGA low power 3V SHARC processor to deliver an incredible 480 MFLOPS in a single PMC slot.
Aida can be configured as a signal processing co-processor engine for industry standard SBC¹s such as the Motorola MVME2300 series. Intensive signal processing elements within the application are off-loaded to the DSP, while the RISC processor focuses on data processing, resulting in significant increases in system performance and data throughput.
Alternatively, Aida can provide communications to a SHARC system by utilizing the front panel link ports as a low latency, deterministic data communications gateway from the SBC. Traditionally, parallel processing developers relied on backplane communication and were faced with a relatively slow bandwidth between their run-time SBC and their multi-board SHARC system. With 332 MB/s total off-board communications, Aida allows link port connectivity to Spectrum's entire SHARC family, including the Morocco and Melbourne (VME platforms), the Estoril and Darlington (PCI platforms), and the Interlagos (ISA platform).
To ensure maximum PCI to DSP performance, Spectrum uses the Hurricane, a PCI-to-DSP bridge chip. The Hurricane ASIC was architected and developed in-house for use exclusively on Spectrum DSP products to increase I/O dataflow to and from the PCI interface, and to utilize space more efficiently.
"Many of Spectrum¹s parallel processing customers involved in radar, shipboard sonar, diagnostic imaging, vision systems, and radio surveillance applications will look to this module to provide scalable processing to their current SHARC networks," comments Graeme Harfman, Spectrum¹s SHARC Product Line Manager. "Single unit pricing starts at $6,050 US, Aida is available for order immediately."
Spectrum^s APEX software tools (APEX-Lite, APEX-Pro, and APEX-Debug) are a perfect complement to Aida's parallel processing architecture. APEX provides advanced software support for distributed application development, debugging, and optimization. APEX is also fully compatible with Analog Devices' VisualDSP development tools.
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