SCIENCE

Mercury Computer Systems has announced the Intel-based Ensemble HDS6600 High Density Server for rugged deployed ISR systems. The HDS6600 is an industry first that brings Intel enterprise server-class processing to deployed sensor-based systems. The HDS6600 supports 8-way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and is based on Intel's Xeon processor, enabling enterprise-class performance typically found in data centers to be forward deployed, in the air and other harsh environments. With the familiar Intel architecture, Linux operating system, and server-class performance, applications can more easily migrate from workstations and ground stations to tactical environments, facilitating a common code base between the lab and deployed environments. The HDS6600 is designed to the OpenVPX standard for ease of integration with traditional sensor hardware, supporting rapid deployment in harsh air- and conduction-cooled environments.

In addition to deployed server applications, the HDS6600 achieves new performance levels in traditional signal and image processing applications. With dual quad-core Intel Xeon enterprise server-class processors in a standard one inch OpenVPX slot, a ten-board system reaches over one Tera Floating Point Operations Per Second (TFLOPS) of peak performance, and an order of magnitude improvement in signal and image processing throughput performance compared to rugged Intel modules available today. To achieve the highest efficiency, an ISR subsystem must have performance balanced with both I/O and memory. The high performance communications among HDS6600 modules is facilitated by Mercury's Protocol Offload Engine Technology (POET), which encapsulates standards-based protocol management, such as Serial RapidIO and PCIe, with high speed real time switching capability. The large 12 GB of on-board SDRAM memory is well balanced for the 8 Intel Xeon cores, and represents a 4X increase over previous generation module memory size. For applications requiring even more memory, 24 GB offerings are planned.

For the ultimate size, weight, and power (SWaP) performance, such as is required by persistent ISR applications, the HDS6600 Intel rugged server can be combined with Mercury's latest GPGPU offerings. For example, two high-end GPGPU-based GSC6200 modules, each with two GPGPUs, can be directly connected to a HDS6600 through the OpenVPX expansion plane. This 3 slot slice achieves performance well into the TFLOPS range of processing, and can be replicated multiple times in a chassis to create unprecedented computational performance in an ISR subsystem.

"The new HDS6600 is not only a huge SWaP performance gain compared to previous signal and image processing solutions, but it enables an entire new class of Smart Processing to be added to deployed sensor electronics, such as exploitation algorithms, that were once reserved for the processing on the ground," stated Steve Patterson, Vice President of Defense Product Management at Mercury. "Some believed the HDS6600 was the module which 'could not be done', but we did it. Several distinct innovations were achieved: performance, memory, POET, and unique packaging and cooling. These innovations put the module in a class of its own for Intel-based SWaP optimization, and set a new benchmark for the high performance embedded computing industry," Patterson added.

The product is supported by an open development environment based on Linux and Eclipse, and includes the MultiCore Plus Software Development environment and OpenSAL libraries. Now, users can develop and migrate applications between Intel-based workstations and HDS6600-based deployed systems, promoting rapid software development and ensuring investment protection at the application level.