PowerPC Processors

As a Freescale™ Design Alliance partner MEN offers a range of 3U and 6U CompactPCI® and CompactPCI® PlusIO and VMEbus single-board computers as well as ESMexpress®, ESMini™ and ESM™ Computer-On-Modules on different performance levels.

The processors used on MEN boards include the PowerQUICC™ and the current QorIQ™ families (e.g., P4080). All of these processors feature additional communication interfaces like Ethernet, legacy I/O or fieldbuses for a large variety of applications from mobile control (transportation, avionics, commercial vehicles) to industrial automation and medical. In addition, processors like the PowerPC® 750 from IBM allow board designs for in-flight applications.

Their integrated functions and low power design have important benefits: some CPUs are already qualified for -40 to +85°C operating temperature or can be screened accordingly, while their small footprint saves space, and long-term availability can be extended to 10 years and more.

MEN boards come with specially designed heat sinks, or even as conduction cooled assemblies (CCA), and our systems guarantee optimized air flow. To prevent malfunction in vibrating and shaking environments, components (including memory) are often directly soldered.

In addition to typical PC functionality, all CPU boards feature industrial functions such as real-time clock or temperature and voltage control. Memory and mass storage configurations include standard SDRAM system memory, non-volatile SRAM or FRAM, IDE, SATA, NAND or SSD Flash, or onboard hard disks. Many cards also include mezzanine slots for flexible and individual extension by further I/O functions.

A number of boards are equipped with FPGAs for implementation of further application-specific functions.

Software support comprises Linux and several popular real-time operating systems.