Aitech rugged GPGPU system provides 1 teraflop to the sensor
NewsSeptember 28, 2016
CHATSWORTH, Calif. Officials at Aitech Defense Systems Inc., announced a new fanless, rugged GPGPU supercomputer that measures only 20 cubic inches, while providing 1 TeraFLOP of parallel processing. Dubbed the A176 Cyclone, it comes in a custom small form factor design and provides 60 GigaFLOPs/Watt in a low-power high performance embedded computer (HPEC).
"A year ago you would've needed a rackmount of server blades a year ago to equal this kind of performance," says Doug Patterson, Vice President, Military & Aerospace Business Sector at Aitech Defense Systems. "It essentially brings a teraflop of performance out to the sensor."
Applications for the Cyclone include: intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); image capture, processing, and stabilization; radar and sonar platforms; sensor management and processing; intelligent video analytics; unmanned aircraft and unmanned ground vehicle payloads; and persistent video surveillance, Patterson says. A new application it can be used for is neural networks on aircraft, by putting a bunch of these on an aircraft you can have an intelligent airframe, he adds.
The solution leverages the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture for the GPU subsystem and integrates 256 CUDA cores with 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The Quad-core ARM Cortex A57 CPU has an operating frequency to 1.9 GHz per core, with an overall maximum power consumption of 17 W (8-10 W typical).
“GPUs unburden the CPU from heavy computation, enabling better and faster processing of the overall system, a
principle taken from the graphics-intensive gaming industry," says Dan Mor, GPGPU product manager at Aitech.
The A176 Cyclone measures 4.3" x 4.3" x 1.18" and weighs less than 2.2 pounds. Its operating temperature is -40 degrees Celsius to +70 with vibration and shock to VITA 47 levels V2 and OS1, respectively. The system withstands rain, dust, salt fog, and bench handling to MIL-STD-810G and EMI/RFI levels to MIL-STD-461.
Aitech will launch a space version of the family in the future as well.
For more information please call 888-Aitech-8 (888-248-3248), visit http://rugged.com/a176-Cyclone-NVIDIA-Tegra-TX1-Jetson-GPGPU.
