Sarsen Technology - Embedded Systems for Military, Defence and Aerospace

Sarsen Technology is an industry-leading distributor of embedded hardware and software technology solutions. We specialise in single board computing, FPGA, digital signal processing, data acquisition, video signal processing and high-speed data recording COTS technology.

Our clients are Europe's leaders in the military, defence and aerospace markets. The military airborne applications we support include fast-jet radar, UAV control computers, laser systems, electro-optics, electronic warfare, software defined radio, guidance systems, thermal imaging systems, defence aids and ISTAR systems.

Rugged ATR chassis systems and embedded computing systems

We support a wide range of high quality, high reliability products on board formats including AMC, ATCA, COM-Express, CompactPCI, EBX, ETX, Mini-ITX, PCI, PMC, PICMG 1.3, PC/104, VME, VPX, VXS and XMC. Sarsen also supplies and supports complete integrated rugged ATR chassis systems and industrial 19in rackmount embedded computing systems.

Sarsen Technology is a franchised distributor for BittWare, Conduant, Danville Signal Processing, Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES), General Standards, Tech Source, Trenton Systems, Trenton Technology, United Electronic Industries (UEI) and VersaLogic.

VPX technology for embedded computing applications

Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) is an industry and technology leader with regard to VPX and OpenVPX. X-ES has been actively involved in the development of the VPX and OpenVPX standardisation efforts. X-ES was one of the first companies to develop VPX products and has been shipping VPX products since 2006.

X-ES provides a comprehensive line of 3U and 6U VPX products, including Intel-based and PowerPC-based single board computers (SBCs), carriers, switches, and I/O cards for embedded computing applications. The X-ES VPX product range includes:

• Third-generation Intel Core i7 single board computers
• Freescale PowerPC single board computers
• PCI Express (PCIe) switches
• VITA 62-compliant 3U VPX power supplies
• Removable SATA solid state drive (SSD) carrier boards
• Sub-½ ATR, natural convection-cooled or conduction-cooled chassis
• VPX backplanes
• Rear transition modules
• Carrier boards

Because the environmental and SWaP constraints associated with rugged, deployed solutions complicate the design and integration of these systems, X-ES provides additional system-level components such as backplanes, power modules, development platforms, and deployable systems.

In addition, X-ES designs and manufactures a range of rugged XMC boards for demanding airborne applications including Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA solutions.

Altera Stratix FPGA COTS hardware

Defence and aerospace system manufacturers need solutions that can withstand harsh environmental conditions such as heat or cold, humidity, altitude, shock and vibration.

Many of their solutions must be able to fit into space-constrained platforms. They also depend on fast time to market, low risk, flexibility to make changes, and long product life-cycle - as well as the ability to process complex, compute-intensive algorithms. For mission-critical systems, leading defence contractors count on BittWare.

BittWare offers a variety of products specifically designed for its military customers, such as conduction-cooled, ruggedised, and COTS compliant solutions to help them deliver reliable tools that can withstand the extreme conditions of the airborne military market.

VPX was developed by the VME community and retains VME's existing 3U and 6U form factors, while also maintaining some compatibility with legacy VMEbus, so that 'old' VME enclosures can be used with a new or split backplane. These boards are designed for rugged and conduction-cooled environments, but can be air-cooled as well. The boards are often used with existing PMC and/or XMC mezzanines.

The BittWare COTS boards designed for airborne applications include:

• Rugged Altera Stratix® V GX/GS 6U VPX board with two VITA-57 FMC I/O Sites
• Rugged Altera Stratix® IV GX 3U VPX board
• Altera Stratix® IV GX XMC with four SFP transceivers
• Rugged Hybrid Signal Processing 6U VME/VXS (VITA 41) board
• Rugged Altera Stratix® IV GX 3U VPX board with four anemone 104 FPGA Co-processors