Curtiss-Wright / DY-4 SPMC-230-0001 Starlink Switched Fabric Data Interconnect PMC

The Curtiss-Wright/DY-4 SPMC-230-0001 is a PCI Mezzanine Card (PMC) that implements a Starlink Switched Fabric Data Interconnect based on StarFabric technology from Stargen Inc. It enables deterministic communication across multiple processing nodes by presenting bridged PCI devices through non-transparent PCI to PCI bridges. The module delivers 400 MB/s sustained bandwidth with 800 MB/s switching cross-sectional bandwidth across a 64-bit, 66 MHz PCI interface.

Technical Specifications

Interconnect Architecture: StarFabric Switched Fabric Data Interconnect

Data Bandwidth: 400 MB/s sustained total bandwidth

Switching Bandwidth: 800 MB/s cross-sectional bandwidth

PCI Interface: 64-bit, 66 MHz

StarFabric Ports: 2 PCI-to-StarFabric bridge ports; 6-port StarFabric switch

Physical Layer: LVDS

Thermal Options: Air-cooled and conduction-cooled versions available

Software: VxWorks drivers included

Key Features

Quality of Service (QoS) provisions for real-time determinism

High availability support with redundant connections and automatic re-routing upon connection failure

Memory visibility across nodes - memory attached to one processing node appears in PCI address space of other nodes

Four StarFabric port configuration options: two front-panel RJ-45 ports, two via Pn4 backplane connectors

Rear-panel transition module available for VME systems

Low power operation

System Architecture

Scales from a few boards to many nodes without redesign

Packet routing through up to seven switches for large node counts

Supports point-to-point, mesh, and redundant topologies

Non-transparent bridging presents remote memory as local PCI address space

Typical Applications

Signal processing systems requiring high-throughput inter-node communication

Military and aerospace embedded systems

Multi-node processing arrays with stringent data-sharing requirements