EN50155-compliant 3U CompactPCI® processor blade delivers high reliability for railway services!

ADLINK Technology has announced availability of its new 3U CompactPCI® processor blade, the cPCI-3620, which runs on a low power, quad-core Intel® Atom™ System-on-Chip (SoC) carrying up to 4GB DDR3L-1333 ECC soldered memory and providing ample computing power with a thermal envelope of less than 10W. A fanless system compliant with EN50155, the cPCI-3620 features outstanding anti-vibration capabilities, excellent reliability and is well-suited for rolling stock applications, such as Automatic Train Control (ATC) for both wayside and onboard scenarios.

ATC system examples include Automatic Train Protection (ATP), Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) and Automatic Train Operation (ATO). ATO systems use an onboard controller to collect wayside signals and compute optimised speed curves and braking profiles to enable automated travel between stations with appropriate speed and smooth stops at the correct location in each station. To create an intelligent, automated control process, the ATO system requires adequate computing power, networking functionality, reliability, and remote monitoring and management capabilities.

The cPCI-3620 has been fully tested for the railway operating environment in order to support EN50155 compliance. Other features, such as a fanless design, extra-wide operating temperature range from -40 °C to +70 °C (-40 °C to +85 °C with airflow), EMC/EMI protection, hot-swappability, MIL-STD M12 connectors for GbE ports and DB-9 USB ports, further reinforce the product’s reliability and longevity and make it ideal for railway applications which are prone to shock, vibration and electromagnetic interference.

The cPCI-3620 Series is available in several SKUs to meet a wide range of application requirements. For instance, the cPCI-3620N is designed as a non-front-panel-I/O processor blade; it’s front panel LEDs display the status of rear LAN and SATA drive activity for operators, allowing them to inspect the system from the front without obstruction from cabling. Fewer cables also increase reliability and ease of management.

ADLINK cPCI-3620 supports an ADLINK-developed intelligent middleware called SEMA (Smart Embedded Management Agent), which allows system operators to monitor system health status and handle management tasks. It helps prevent system failure, enabling diagnosis and troubleshooting to minimise system downtime.

Compact, robust, green and intelligent, ADLINK’s cPCI-3620 is not only ideal for developing smart and safe railway systems, but is also suitable for other vertical markets, such as aerospace and industrial communications.