Cockpit Display Computer

A rugged Computer-On-Module is the heart of all kinds of airborne video and control displays that are necessary for the information of the pilot, e.g. primary flight, multi-function and navigation displays, radar indicators, engine instrument and situational awareness displays, or the electronic flight bag.

The PowerPC®-based COM is designed according to DO-254 for safety level DAL-A. It is specified for a permanent operation temperature of -40 to +70°C (and one hour up to +85°C) as well as shock, vibration and humidity according to DO-160E. The module is based on the ESMexpress® standard (ANSI-VITA-59 i.p.), supporting conductive cooling with the electronics completely embedded in an aluminum frame and cover, thus making it also 100% EMC-proof.

The ESMexpress® uses a P4040 or P4080 QorIQ™ processor with 4 or 8 cores and produces only 8 Watts total (with 2 cores by 1.5 GHz in operation). Besides the standard interfaces from the PowerPC® - up to 8 Ethernet channels, USBs, UARTs, 4- and 8-lane PCI Express® and several discrete inputs and outputs -, all application-specific I/Os are implemented in the on-board FPGA. This FPGA is able to accommodate IP cores certified to DAL-A. The graphics application is implemented on the carrier boards built by the supplier of the cockpit displays. The FPGA content as well as the mechanical outfit and the interfaces of the carrier board flexibly vary with the dedicated function of the corresponding display units.