Press Release

Opal-RT Launches OP5000: FPGA-based I/O Products for RT-LAB Engineering Simulators
New product line combines advanced FPGA technologies with signal conditioning to maximize real-time simulation performance

MONTREAL July 7, 2004 - Opal-RT Technologies Inc. OP5000, the world leader in distributed real-time simulation on PC-based platforms, today introduced the OP5000 range of I/O and signal conditioning hardware, optimized for Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation applications. Specifically designed for use with Opal-RT's flagship RT-LAB Engineering Simulator, the OP5000 series includes I/O interfaces based on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technologies, and are available for either PCI or PC/104 installation.

Based on the Virtex II processor from Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX), the world's leading supplier of programmable logic solutions, FPGA I/O interfaces are at the heart of the OP5000 series. They are designed to address I/O performance and channel density limitations in many HIL applications, particularly where timesteps of less than 10 microseconds are required, including modeling of electric drives and other switched power electronic circuits. In addition, the OP5000series includes modules that offer advanced analog signal conversion, with 16 simultaneous sample/hold channels with16-bit conversion at up to 1 MHz per channel.

"Combining FPGA technologies and signal conditioning into a single product line provides the engineer with outstanding performance and flexibility particularly for HIL applications that require real-time simulation of dynamic systems at very high update frequencies," said Paul Goossens, Vice President of Marketing at Opal-RT Technologies Inc. "Also, the OP5000 modular signal conditioning components bring further value to our customers by easing the integration of the simulator into their test systems."

The OP5000 Series Product Lineup
Opal-RT's OP5000 series of products includes:

• OP5100 FPGA Reconfigurable Processing and I/O Boards that perform signal I/O, and interface with the target PC cluster. They are internal (PCI and PC/104 formats available) or external to the PC, communicating through its programmable digital I/O or through the SignalWire interface.
  
• OP5200 Signal Conditioning and I/O (SCIO) Carriers are integrated 4U and 6U modules that interface between the OP5100 devices and HIL system. They incorporate signal-conditioning circuitry for voltage matching and signal isolation, through custom circuits or a range of standardized function modules
  
• OP5300 Signal Conditioning and Conversion Modules are mounted in the OP5000 carriers and provide application-specific functionality in the HIL setup, including signal conditioning and analog signal conversion (DAC/ADC).

In addition to the OP5000 product series' increased performance, channel density, and potential for cost savings, the products are also programmable, enabling the engineer to use standard FPGA software tools to configure the product to behave according to the specific requirements of the project.

OP5000 series products can use distributed processing for I/O scheduling and management, using direct memory transfer between the FPGA and PC processor memory, relieving the main processors from IO-intensive tasks. The main processors can then be dedicated to mathematical computation, which decreases the computational time at each timestep, increasing overall system efficiency.

Programmability
OP5000 FPGA devices can be programmed exactly as required by the user, not just the board manufacturer. Integration with Simulink and Xilinx System Generator allows the transfer of Simulink submodels to the OP5000 FPGA processor for distributed processing.

In addition, standard and user-developed functions can be stored on the on-board Flash memory for instant start-up. OP5000 products are programmable on the fly via a PCI interface or the new SignalWire communications link, and drivers are available for QNX and RedHawk Linux for custom applications. PC/104 products are designed to target embedded applications, while OP5000 PCI products, which have twice the I/O capacity of their PC/104 counterparts, target desktop and industrial PC applications.

Performance
OP5000 series products provide update rates of 100 MHz, and time-stamped capture and generation of digital events for high precision switching of items such as PWM I/O. I/O scheduling is performed on the OP5000 board, not on the Target PC, so the PC processor can be dedicated to running the model, increasing overall simulator performance.

Channel Density
OP5000 products provide up to 144 Digital I/Os are available on a single device, with up to 32 simultaneous 16-bit ADC and DAC channels per external I/O interface. The modular structure of the OP5000 series allows hundreds of analog and digital I/O channels to be incorporated through a single PCI slot. Greater channel density and fully integrated signal conditioning dramatically reduce the cost-per-channel for many HIL applications

SignalWire: Ultra-low-latency Inter-Processor Communication
The OP5000 series includes support for SignalWire - a next generation network topology that Opal-RT has developed as an alternative to IEEE 1394 for high-performance applications. SignalWire is an inter-processor communication technology that is optimized for real-time simulation applications. With a latency overhead of 200 ns, it provides the computational performance needed for applications that run at cycle times of below 10 µs. Each OP5000 device is equipped with at least one full-duplex SignalWire port enabling high-speed data communication between each other and with the target PC cluster in the RT-LAB Engineering Simulator.

Pricing & Availability
OP5000 series products are now available directly from Opal-RT Technologies and the company's worldwide network of distributors. Special pricing is available where products are to be used in academic research projects.

About Opal-RT Technologies Inc.
Opal-RT provides software, hardware, and related solutions for real-time simulation applications, with the aim of enabling real-time parallel processing through flexible and affordable technologies.
The company offers a full range of engineering simulation products - from enabling technologies to turnkey engineering simulators - and consulting services that include systems integration, software development, simulation and modeling, problem-solving, and training. Opal-RT's core expertise is in distributed hard-real-time simulation, with experienced engineers designing real-time simulators for automotive, electrical power, aerospace, robotics, and other industries where fidelity and fault tolerance requirements push rapid prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop testing to their limits. Opal-RT's unique approach integrates parallel, distributed computing with commercial-off-the-shelf technologies. The resulting RT-LAB product range enables customers to develop simulations quickly, easily, affordably, and competitively. For more information about Opal-RT's range of Engineering Simulators and Distributed Processing Tools, see www.opal-rt.com.

About RT-LAB
RT-LAB is the real-time technology that revolutionizes the way model-based design is performed within the engineering organization. Through its openness, RT-LAB has the flexibility to be applied to any simulation and control problem, and scalability to provide a low-risk entry point for any application, allowing the developer to add computation power where and when needed-whether to dramatically speed up simulations or for real-time hardware-in-the-loop applications.

Contact

Kirsty Whitefield
Tel: 1-877-935-2323, x235
Email: kirsty.whitefield@opal-rt.com

RT-LAB and SignalWire are registered trademarks of Opal-RT Technologies Inc.
QNX is a registered trademark of QNX Software Systems
RedHawk is a registered trademark of Concurrent Computer Corp.
2004 Opal-RT Technologies Inc. All rights reserved.