In the world of Embedded VMEbus systems for sensor processing applications, the FPDP has become the interconnect standard of choice for high-speed data. Introduced four years ago by ICS, FPDP is now supported by a large number of VMEbus board vendors. The supported functions range from high-speed data acquisition and FibreChannel interfaces to data recorder interfaces, DSP boards, PCI interfaces, and bulk memory boards. It is now possible to build a real-time embedded system using the FPDP as the system backbone for data. The advantages in terms of cost savings and rapid deployment are enormous. A flat cable costing ten dollars moves data at rates of up to 160 MBytes/s and replaces expensive real-time software. 

Many major Navy programs have also embraced FPDP because of the potential for cost savings and to meet their need for rapid deployment. Notable among them are the SQQ-89 sonar receive and transmit systems, NSSN sonar transmit system, NSSN Simulation/Stimulation system (Sim/Stim), and the 21HS sonar transmit and receive systems. The use of FPDP coupled with ICS VMEbus building block modules has saved the Navy millions of dolars in software development costs and cut years off the development time. 

SQQ-89 SONAR RECEIVE PROCESSING
The FPDP parts of 18 ICS-110A (32-channel) data acquisition boards are bussed, thereby allowing 576 channels of ADC data to be moved to the processing chassis over a single ribbon cable. The FPDP design also allows box-to-box interconnection.
21HS SONAR RECEIVE PROCESSING
The FPDP is used to conveniently move data from one functional cluster to another. Upgrading the system can be done by simply adding or removing boards without having to change any system software. 
NSSN TRANSMIT PROCESSING
The FPDP provides data and clock (sampling frequency) to a number of ICS-115 32-channel DAC boards from the inverse beamformer. Each ICS-115 DAC board selects its own set of 32-channel data for analog output from the multiplexed word-serial FPDP data stream.
RETURN TO FPDP HOME PAGE