Opal-RT Technologies Introduces SignalWire

Next-generation serial data link provides the flexibility of IEEE 1394 with three times the performance

Opal-RT Technologies Inc. (www.opal-rt.com), the world leader in distributed real-time simulation on PC-based platforms, today introduced SignalWire - an FPGA-driven real-time data transfer technology that meets the performance demands of engineering simulation applications, particularly those that require sub 10 microsecond timesteps over a distributed network of real-time processors.

A standard feature of the Opal-RT FPGA product family (See press release "Opal-RT Technologies Launches New Family of FPGA I/O Products" dated Monday March 8, 2004), SignalWire is an enhanced inter-processor communication technology that has been developed for high-performance real-time applications using RT-LAB Engineering Simulators.

The introduction of SignalWire represents a next logical step for Opal-RT. The company has been a leader in the development of PC-based real-time simulation technologies that utilize IEEE 1394 since launching RT-LAB in 1997.

"As data transfer demands grow, the use of off-the-shelf real-time links for RT-LAB target clusters is becoming less and less feasible," said Paul Goossens, Vice President of Marketing at Opal-RT Technologies. "As part of our FPGA product strategy, Opal-RT has developed SignalWire, providing RT-LAB users with a high speed technology that is complementary to IEEE 1394 but with increased performance."

While IEEE 1394 interprocessor communications provides very rapid data transfer from one processor to another, it was not designed for the type of data transfer required for distributed real-time simulation. One disadvantage is the latency overhead of approximately 2 microseconds, which becomes highly significant in simulations that require cycle times below 50 microseconds.

SignalWire overcomes the latency issues of IEEE 1394 and provides a three-fold increase in data transmission speed - up to 1.25 Gbits/s full duplex.

By using SignalWire, simulation update frequencies can be increased from 20 kHz to 100 kHz and beyond. This is particularly important for next generation multi-ECU Hardware in the Loop (HIL) systems as well as for high-performance HIL simulators need to simulate electric hybrid vehicles.

SignalWire is tightly integrated with the Opal-RT's RT-LAB platform through the company's family of FPGA IO products. This fits with the company's objective of developing a wide range of remote, intelligent data I/O modules that operate separate from the main CPU but communicate at high speed with it. This removes the traditional limitation on the number of I/O devices installed on a PCI bus and alleviates problems with remote sensors in electrically noisy environments by carrying out the conversion locally before sending the data over the SignalWire link to Target PCs.

Pricing & Availability

Opal-RT FPGA products are now available directly from Opal-RT Technologies and the company's worldwide network of distributors. Special pricing is available where systems are to be used in academic research projects.