Aitech Defense Systems Inc., the world's first and largest independent manufacturer of open architecture board and subsystem level products for harsh environment defense, aerospace and astronautics applications, now offers the most flexible, high performance 3D graphics and imaging functionality available in a single, low-power PMC.   

Based on the ATI M9 graphics processor, the new M590 Multi-standard Graphics and Video PMC uses dual independent graphics heads to simultaneously output information from two separate data streams to two different monitors, whether analog or digital.  An on-board FPGA separates video from imaging input streams for maximum design and application flexibility.  

Designed for harsh environments, the PCI-X Rev. 1.0b and PCI Rev. 2.3 compliant M590 supports advanced 2D/3D video displays and image capture/frame grabbing with overlay and underlay for high-resolution man-machine interfaces with resolutions of up to 1536 x 2048 at 30 to 200 Hz refresh rates and up to 32 bits per pixel (Truecolor+).   

The M590's combined graphics and video performance makes the PMC ideal for advanced sensor fusion, image/frame capture and recording; for tactical, Red Force/Blue Force tracking; and for avionics and tactical area moving map applications.  

Powered by an ATI M9 graphics processor with an on-chip 64 MB DDR frame buffer array as well as an integrated VGA core and dual RAMDAC units, the M590 performs high speed and high quality 2D line, 3D polygon and texture acceleration.  It also unifies 2D, 3D and video operations in multiple parallel pipelines, while enabling high-flexibility data handling and preventing overloads of internal and external data paths.  

A host of channel-independent analog and digital video input and output formats are provided, including DVI, LVDS single/double link, progressive RGBHV/RGsB, RS-343 and composite/S-video supporting RS-170, NTSC and PAL, as well as internal or external sync.  The M590 also supports either interlaced or advanced non-interlaced monitors.   

A selectable 1:1 aspect ratio format for analog video output supports legacy avionics-style color and monochrome display monitors.  For more advanced video display applications, the M590 also provides comprehensive video overlay and underlay functionality. The M9 processor generates the images, superimposes an input from one of the various video formats, and drives the result to a monitor.  A second overlay process can be implemented simultaneously on the second independent data stream, utilizing a different video input, with the resulting stream routed to the FPGA for display output.  

The PMC's software package supports all on-board capabilities, including standard VGA and Built In Test (BIT), and features ALT Software's OpenGL 2D/3D drivers for VxWorks and Integrity.  The M590 is available in commercial, rugged and military temperature ranges, and in either conduction-cooled (per ANSI/VITA 20-2001) or air-cooled (IEEE 1386-2001) versions.  

Pricing for an M590 starts at $3,440 in OEM quantities.  Delivery is from stock.