GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms Announces New ExpressCard Products For Avionics Testing

  • ExpressCard interface leverages higher performance of new generation laptops
  • Commercial and military applications
  • Range of available configurations
  • CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA April 14, 2008 Responding to the requirement for powerful, portable solutions for avionics testing applications, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms today announced three ExpressCard interfaces for testing critical aircraft systems. The R15-EC is a dual port MIL-STD-1553 ExpressCard Interface; the RAF-EC is a dual port ARINC 664 ExpressCard Interface; and the RAR-EC is a multichannel ARINC 429 ExpressCard interface. The three new cards, which are all RoHS compliant, will be demonstrated on GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms’ booth (#13) at AMC 2008 (April 14 – 17, Tulsa, Oklahoma). The ExpressCard interface has largely replaced the older PCMCIA interface for laptop computing, and gives users access to much higher performance than previously possible. Leveraging the higher bus speeds that are especially important in the commercial avionics market utilizing AFDX/ARINC 664, these interfaces enable bus traffic capture through the high performance of ExpressCard technology. “The testing of critical avionics systems is becoming increasingly demanding, especially in the area of AFDX in commercial avionics,” said Ben Daniel, Avionics Product Manager at GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. “These three new products provide the kind of high throughput, high portability, high reliability solutions our customers need.” The three ExpressCards are available in a range of configurations, including card only, card and appropriate analyzer, and a full turnkey portable analyzer system that includes the interface card, protocol analyzer and semi-rugged laptop. The R15-EC MIL-STD-1553 ExpressCard Interface provides one or two 1553 channels integrated with powerful API software that provides instant access to all 1553 databus functionality. Standard features include IRIG-B Receiver (AM or DC/TTL), Generator (DC/TTL), real-time bus playback (with ability to edit out RTs), aperiodic message insertion, error injection/detection, conditional BC branching, 45-bit timetags and “Oneshot” BC operation. The Bus Monitor mode provides 100% bus monitoring of a fully loaded 1553 bus. The RAF-EC ARINC 664 ExpressCard Interface is a high performance interface for monitoring, generating and analyzing full-bandwidth AFDX-ARINC 664 protocol traffic. GE Fanuc’s exclusive pipeline architecture maximizes packet throughput using parallel controllers and efficient DMA transfers, thereby avoiding the bottlenecks of CPU-based interface solutions. Configurable as either one dual-redundant AFDX/ARINC 664 interface or two independent ports, users have complete access to all frame and header data. Each incoming packet is tagged with a 20 nsec resolution, 64-bit time-tag. Real time traffic generation is highly accurate. An IRIG-B receiver/generator is included for synchronization to external IRIG-B time sources and for synchronizing multiple CNIC boards. In addition, I/O triggers, error detection/injection, BIT, and link/protocol statistics are provided. The GE Fanuc RAR-EC is an intelligent, high-density, ExpressCard interface that provides up to seven receive and four transmit fully independent ARINC 429 channels, along with up to four bi-directional avionics level I/O discretes. Features include programmable data rates and parity, error detection, multiple buffering modes, timetagging and automatic transmit slew rate adjustment. Configuration options include selection of channel count, a mix of ARINC 429 and ARINC 573/717, and a Dataloader configuration. All three products benefit from GE Fanuc’s comprehensive software support to significantly reduce development and integration time. About GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric (NYSE: GE) and FANUC LTD of Japan, is a high-performance technology company and a global provider of hardware, software, services, expertise and experience in automation and embedded computing, with products employed in virtually every industry, including manufacturing automation, defense, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and aerospace. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a worldwide company head-quartered in Charlottesville, VA, and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions. For more information, visit www.gefanuc.com ### Note to editors: High res image can be found at http://www.gefanucembedded.com/files/images/imglibrary/364highres.jpg Contact: Ian McMurray, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms +44 (0) 1327 322821 ian.mcmurray@gefanuc.com All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.