Dolphin eXpressWare for VPX
Through our proud partnership with Curtiss Wright, Dolphin's PCIe® eXpressWare brings exceptional performance to OpenVPX systems.
If you are building an OpenVPX system and need a high-speed & ultra-low-latency interconnect, you can use our Dolphin eXpressWare software in combination with Curtiss-Wright hardware to create your PCIe® solution!
Our software environment supports communication over PCIe® cables and backplanes using Curtiss-Wright hardware, ensuring interoperability across different operating systems. We also offer APIs to streamline and enhance your development process.
Using eXpressWare, you can:
- Enable VPX SBCs to distribute and share data using PIO or DMA operations
- IP over PCIe for rapid application deployment
- Share IO Devices between SBCs
- Send interrupts signal to remote SBCs
- Use PCIe Multicast to send data to multiple devices or SBCs.
- Concurrent access to shared NVMe
Supported systems
We currently support the following Curtiss-Wright hardware and solutions in both 2-node back to back and VPX PCIe switch configurations up to 8-node:
- Single board computers:
- VPX3-1258: Intel 4th Gen Core i7 “Haswell”
- VPX3-1259: Intel 5th Gen Core i7 “Broadwell”
- VPX3-1260: Intel 8th Gen Xeon "Coffee Lake”
- VPX3-1220: Intel 7th Gen Xeon "Kaby Lake"
- VPX3-482: (Champ XD1): Intel Xeon D DSP Engine
- XMC-121: Intel 6th Gen Xeon "Kaby Lake"
- PCIe® switches:
- VPX3-663, PCIe 3.0 and 10G Ethernet Hybrid Switch
Other single board computers can be added based on projects and requirements.
eXpressWare Licensing Scheme
To run eXpressWare on any supported Curtiss-Wright SBC, you need to purchase a license for each system. The license must be installed onto the SBC as a part of the eXpressWare installation process. The license is perpetual and can be re-installed on a new system if e.g. the hardware need to be replaced. The same license can be used independent of the topology - back to back NTB or with the VPX3-663 switch.
External Communication
Using Dolphin's PXH820 XMC card with a Curtiss-Wright SBC having an XMC slot or a VPX XMC carrier board, enables eXpressWare communication to other VPX Chassis having a similar PH820 installed or to any other Server or SBC having a PXH830 installed.
By using Dolphin's PXH822 XMC card, standard IO Expansion systems can be connected to the VXP system. In both cases, up to 100 meter fiber optics is supported.
COTS hardware development
Our unique eXpressWare PCIe networking software gives developers the power to build on COTS server platforms and standard Dolphin PCIe adapter cards and PCIe switches and deploy seamlessly to rugged VPX systems—without rewriting code or sacrificing performance. Please contact Dolphin for more information on how to develop on COTS hardware.
Request a quote
Please contact your sales representative for more information or request a quote for a license (MCH013LIC) for eXpressWare for Curtiss-Wright SBCs.
Supported topologies
The following topologies are currently supported by eXpressWare
Two node back to back
SoC's having a compliant Broadcom PCIe switch can be supported by enabling the NTB function. eXpressWare will initialize the PCIe switch on demand to set up the required system to system communication.
Multi node PCIe switch
The Curtiss-Wright VPX3-663 PCIe 3.0 and 10G Ethernet Hybrid Switch can be used to connect up to 8 SoC's in a single VPX chassis. A mix of SBCs and IO devices is also supported, please contact Dolphin to review your connectivity requirements.
For further reading, we suggest reading the following whitepapers: “Using PCIe Fabrics with VPX single board computers”, and “Simplifying Sensor Data Processing With Advanced GPGPU Technology and COTS Building Blocks”.