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Quadrics On Board Systems (OBS) for SKY-X and Sky-Y
High Performance in Flight Technology
One of the most important emerging Quadrics's offer in which High Performance Computing is the competitive advantage is the OBS, an ultimate application system. OBS is an extraordinary High Performance Technology System particularly suitable where the amount of data is huge as in flight environment detections, unmanned system aircrafts, real time data visualisation, data transfer and analysis.
The On Board System (OBS) represents a very important expression of Quadrics High Performance Technology, leading the HPC market with its high-speed, low-latency interconnect used in the world's premier cluster-computing systems.
Quadrics OBS team has designed a custom CPU board (QsEm) for the Mission Computer to be installed on board of the Sky-X, the new UAV/UCAV technology demonstrator system by Alenia Aeronautica. The OBMC provides a high added value to the well-known Alenia Technology and Expertise ensuring productive on board operations and increasing data processing performance. Our technology allows Alenia to lead the avionic systems applications.
Quadrics Mission Computer enrichies and integrates Alenia Aeronautica's products offer, strengthening her competitiveness towards its customers and partners at a worldwide level. | |  OBMC enclosure with QsEm card |
The QsEm Single Board Computer for SKY-X
Equipped with two PowerPC CPUs and compliant with the standard MIL specifications, QsEm is capable of running a hard real-time DO-178B level A-certifiable operating system, supporting the ARINC 653 APplication EXecutive (APEX).
The system will be configured in a custom ruggedized ATR 3/8 short enclosure; three cPCI slots on the backplane will host the QsEm boards and cPCI carriers, and PMC cards will be deployed for mass storage and video I/O.
The Mission Computer will therefore capture and process the signals from the sensors installed on-board and will interact with the Flight Control Computer to perform advanced UAV/UCAV tasks such as mission management, multi-source imagery and data fusion.
| |  QsEm card |
Mission Computer specifications
| Features | Compact PCI bus | | | 2 PowerPC 7447A RISC CPUs | | | 2 PMC card sites | | | Conduction cooled design | | | Low power consumption electronics (<30W) | | | Rugged design for harsh environment applications | | | Full military temperature range (-55°C to+125°C) | | |  | | | Memory | 2 Flash memories 8Mx8bit for boot | | | 2 EEPROMs, 256x8bit I2C for board IDs | | | 2 SDRAMs 256MB for main memory | |
| |  Enclosure with QsEm card |
| I/O Channels | Large I/O capabilities embedded on board: | | | 1 dual redundant MIL-STD-1553B/176 | | | 2 TX and 2 RX ARINC429 | | | 8 RS422 + 1 RS232 | | | 10/100 Ethernet | | | 8 ADC, 8 DAC | | | 36 Digital I/O | | |  | | | Overall Dimensions | cPCI double Eurocard (6U: 233.3 x 160 mm) | | | Single cPCI slot | | | Chassis | | | ATR 3/8 Short | | | Conduction cooled | | | Patented high integrity frame design | | | 224 I/O wire connections on front panel | |
| |  ATR 3/8 ensclosure and QsEm card |
SKY-X
Alenia Aeronautica's technological demonstrator Sky-X has been the first complex UAV in Europe, in the over-1000 kg. category, to make its first flight. During the flight Alenia Aeronautica's technical team led engine and systems checks and collected data and images transmitted by the data-link.
The whole technological demonstrator Sky-X system has been developed by Alenia Aeronautica's engineering centres (structural project and wing & tail design and manufacturing is accomplished in Pomigliano d'Arco, Naples; complete system development and final assembly take place in Turin) with the support of several Italian companies such as Moreggia, Magnaghi Aeronautica, OMA, Oma Sud, Quadrics, Secondo Mona, Tema, Teseo and Vitrociset. The Ground Control Station, including the data-link system with the aircraft, has been completely designed and manufactured by Alenia Aeronautica at Caselle plants (Turin).
Alenia Aeronautica's Sky-X is about 7 metres long and has a wing span of almost 6 metres. It can carry a technological payload of 200 kg with a maximum take-off weight of 1200 kg. Designed for a max speed of 350 kcas, the Sky-X will cruise at 260 kcas and will be able to reach the altitude of 35000 ft, operating at high-load factor (5g).
For more information: http://www.alenia-aeronautica.it
| |  SKY-X |
SKY-Y
The new Sky-Y is the latest addition to the growing Alenia UAV programme.
The first feature of the Sky Yankee is it's size, about ten metres in span and length. This is because it is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) machine, with a 1200 kg maximum take-off weight. It's main innovations are the all-composite structure and the Dieseljet TDA 1.9L, direct-injection diesel engine driving a three-bladed pusher propeller. The main gear is fixed and the nose gear is retractable.
The Sky-Y - which has been defined as "operational demonstrator" because of its proximity to become a sellable product which might be available by 2011 - is designed to operate up to 14 hours at altitudes of over 25000 feet, in both civil and military scenarios.
Its payload will includes EO/IR sensor, hyperspectral cameras, SAR, with an advanced datalink capable of relaying the data gathered, processed and fused inflight. The payloads will be supplied by Galileo Avionica, a Finmeccanica company, while Quadrics will provide the high speed computational power required for data fusion. In the short term the aircraft will be used for systems testing the Molynx UAV, unveiled in October and now in the development phase.
For more information: http://www.alenia-aeronautica.it
| |  Sky-Y exhibited in the static area at Le Bourget (Paris, June 2007) |
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