Abaco wins major order to equip next generation SOSA aligned multifunction processor for military aircraft

Abaco Systems announced that it has secured orders from a major US prime contractor that will see Abaco's innovative single board computer and avionics solutions deployed as part of a next generation SOSA aligned 3U VPX embedded computer system for advanced electronic warfare (EW), SIGINT and ISR applications destined for the military aircraft of the future.

Total lifetime value to Abaco of the win is expected to be $10 million.

At the heart of this advanced embedded system are two Abaco SOSA aligned rugged SBC3511 3U VPX single board computers. These will serve as the backend processor and subsystem mission computer for a complete, integrated 12-slot 3U VPX system. One of the SBC3511s will act as host to the Abaco RAR15X high density MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429 XMC front I/O module.

System production is anticipated to begin in 3Q21 with deliveries scheduled through the end of 2025.

"Abaco was chosen because we were able to offer numerous advantages and benefits that were important to the customer and that competing product could not provide," said John Muller, Chief Growth Officer at Abaco Systems. "Not only were we able to demonstrate SOSA alignment, we were also uniquely able to respond to the customer's demanding cybersecurity requirements, while the higher performance, larger onboard memory and superior local storage meant that challenging throughput targets could be met."

The SBC3511 3U OpenVPX rugged single board computer provides a unique combination of high performance, advanced security and leading edge thermal management. Its high performance derives from the new, highly integrated Intel® Xeon® E-2176M 6-core/12-thread processor (formerly known as Coffee Lake Refresh) operating at 2.8GHz with TurboBoost up to 4.5GHz, up to 64 GBytes of DDR4 RAM and the inclusion of up to 256 GBytes of nVME SSD. It also features a 40 Gigabit Ethernet data plane, delivering not only a high-speed interconnect but also alignment with the SOSA profile for maximum multi-vendor interoperability. The SBC3511 also includes a range of security features designed to assist with user-defined advanced security strategies.

The RAR15X dual protocol XMC is the highest density portable MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC 429 device available. It delivers up to four channels of 1553 and 18 channels of ARINC 429 for the highest density in an extremely portable device. Its on-board firmware, large data buffers, and a high-level API are integrated to provide total flexibility in monitoring and generating ARINC bus traffic. Simultaneous scheduled and burst mode (FIFO) messaging is supported on all ARINC 429 transmit channels. Each ARINC 429 receive channel provides simultaneous dedicated and buffered mode storage, along with label/SDI filtering.