Opal-RT Simulators Now Shipping with Intel Core i7 Processors Onboard

New processing technology provides significant performance boost to Real-Time Simulation applications

Opal-RT Technologies Inc. (www.Opal-RT.com) the leading developer of open, PC-based Real-Time Simulators for electrical, mechanical and power electronic systems, today announced that the company’s entire line of Real-Time Digital Simulators are now shipping equipped with the new generation of Core™  i7 multi-core CPUs from INTEL®.

The INTEL Core i7 processor family represents the next step in processor energy efficiency, performance, and dynamic scalability. Designed from the ground up to take advantage of hafnium-based Intel® 45nm hi-k metal gate silicon technology, Intel Core i7 processors are the first to introduce Intel QuickPath technology. Intel QuickPath technology is a point-to-point connection—there is no single bus that all the processors must use and contend with to reach memory and I/O. This improves scalability and eliminates the competition between processors for bus bandwidth. In addition, Intel Core i7 processors feature Intel Hyper-Threading technology, an integrated memory controller and Intel Turbo Boost technology.

Now shipping on Opal-RT’s eMEGAsim Real-Time Power Grid Simulator, and eDRIVEsim and eFLYsim Real-Time Simulators, INTEL® Core™ i7 processors enable engineers to conduct simulations with time steps as much as 20% faster.

“Opal-RT has always been committed to providing engineers with open, price-competitive simulators for the study and simulation of systems both big and small,” said Mr. Jean Belanger, CEO and Co-Founder of Opal-RT Technologies. “With the integration of Intel’s Core i7 processor technology on our entire simulator product line, our users can now be assured that the Opal-RT simulator they are using provides them with the highest level of performance and flexibility available on the market today.”

In a recent Opal-RT study, the simulation performance of the eMEGAsim simulator, equipped with a Core i7 CPU, was compared to a comparable eMEGAsim system equipped with an INTEL Quad Core2 CPU. During the simulation of a bipolar HVDC link, the i7 equipped simulator demonstrated the ability to use time steps 20% faster than the previous version of the eMEGAsim simulator.

The benchmark study was performed using the RT-LAB 10 Real-Time Simulation Platform, which is currently in the beta testing stage and is scheduled for general availability later in the first quarter of 2010. In addition to fully exploiting the capabilities of the Core i7’s processing capabilities, RT-LAB 10 will include a number of enhancements such as full support for the Red Hat Linux Real-Time Operating System (RTOS), a dramatically improved graphical user interface and expanded support for FPGA-based I/O. Customers currently using previous versions of RT-LAB will also be able to take advantage of a soon-to-be-announced software upgrade program that will enable them to take full advantage of the enhanced capabilities of RT-LAB 10.

About Opal-RT Technologies Inc.
Founded in 1997, Opal-RT is the leading developer of open Real-Time Digital Simulators and hardware-in-the-loop testing systems for electrical, power electronic and electro-mechanical systems. Opal-RT's unique approach integrates parallel, distributed computing with commercial-off-the-shelf technologies. Opal-RT's customers perform Rapid Control Prototyping, System Integration, and Hardware-in-the-Loop testing of electric drives, electronic controllers and power distribution networks used in manufacturing, electric train networks, and by electrical utilities. Companies using Opal-RT Simulators include ABB, BHEL, Denso, GE, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, GM and Toyota.
 

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Opal-RT Contact:
Kirsty Whitefield
Marketing Communications Team Lead
Opal-RT Technologies Inc.
Telephone: +1-514-935-2323, x236
kirsty.whitefield@opal-rt.com