• comprehensive concept
• multicomputer system for intesive computational tasks
• multicomputer system for fast data acquisition and online data processing
• image processing VMEbus boards

	OS-9 Real-Time Software	Linux Software	Automation-Technics	VMEbus-Components	Secure-Networks

Due to its many advantages, electronic data processing is used in almost every area today (e.g. in industrial control and automation and in measurment data processing). The wide variety of applications and the spectrum of vendor offerings leave prospective computer users with almost impossible decisions - and the following questions:

• Which computer system is best for the application?
• Is it possible to upgrade and extend the system?
• Is any data exchange possible between different application specific computer systems?

  and last but not least:

• What system integration support does the manufacturer offer?

The answers to these questions, together with the ultimate goal of a comprehensive and optimal customer support, specify the basis for the development of the SimTech product spectrum. This, and the convenience of "One Stop Shopping" is reflected in the SimTech Product Line.

Our products range from board level units (simple I/O boards) to the highest performance CPU´s. On the system level, we cover the area from single processor workstations to complex multiprocessor systems. Thus, SimTech computer systems are present in all application areas:

• CAD workstations for garment industrie,
• data processing systems for oil exploration and car industrie,
• applications in state-of-the-art high technology research.

The fundamentals for this are international standards:

• Bus system VMEbus
• Operating systems: OS-9, UNIX, Windos, etc
• Networking: Ethernet, ARCNET, FIELBUS, TCP/IP

These standards provide a guarantee to the user: unlimited extensibility of the system.

The VMEbus is a strictly standardized 32(64) bit high performance bus system. The outstanding features of this bus system are:

• High data transfer rates,
• the support of multiprocessor systems,
• and the flexible structure for different applications.

SimTech supports realtime systems by multiuser/multitasking operating system OS-9. Because of its modular structure, its similarity to UNIX, and the extensive available software, this real-time operating system achieved wide acceptance in industrial applications.

SimTech will suit any application by providing a wide variety of CPU boards. For example, the p4x360 unit, a single board computer with an MC68020 microprocessor, makes the realization of low cost control systems possible. If high processing power and large mass storage are important the use of the P4x-family is recommended.

The processing power can be increased even further by parallel processing (multiprocessor operation) which is supported by the SimTech "Multicomputer OS-9" software. If higher demands on processing speed and storage capacities can expected in the future, the SimTech Multicomputer System hardware can be dynamically adapted to users needs by adding more CPU units. There is no additional cost for new software development or even a new computer system.

Fast data acquisition and processing takes a special place at SimTech. The measurement device concept that has been developed by SimTech has a multiprocessor architecture and specially defined sub-bus structures. Outstanding features of the system are: capability for online data processing and asynchronous data acquisition on an almost unlimited number of channels and a total sampling rate of 100 million samples/second.

Unlike realtime systems, UNIX and Windows (3.11, 95, NT) are the main operating systems for the SimTech workstations. Unlike standard workstations, the sstems offered by SimTech provide an additional VMEbus interface. This provides the capability to integrate it into existing real-time systems, combining the advantages of UNIX,Windows and realtime systems. While the UNIX operating system SunOS provides an easy-to-use development environment, the OS-9 operating system presses any critical tasks in real-time.

A wide variety of different I/O boards and the use of the M-Modules belong the large product spectrum of SimTech computer systems. In addition to boards with serial, parallel, IEC interfaces, etc, SimTech offers high resolution graphical output devices and, of course, networking interface units. All SimTech I/O boards are fully supported by powerful device driver software.

Futhermore, SimTech provides knowledgable consultation and excellent service. This extends to the complete devlopment and realization of customer specific systems.

An experrienced user of data processing systems is often confronted with the fact that the limit of processing power has been reached. The only way to solve this problem is the installation of a completely new system. This cause not only higher system installation costs, but also unnecessary expense to rewrite programs to work on the new system. This procedure is usually accompanied with costly investments in time and manpower.

The SimTech Multicomputer System offres the unique advantage of growing with user´s demands. The Single Computer System provides a cost effective introduction into the SimTech Multicomputer System. If processing power and storage capacity must be increased in the future, the SimTech Multicomputer System may be dynamically adapted to the demands ba simply adding additional data processing units. No changes in the existing software are necessary.

The SimTech Multicomputer Concept offers processing power that can be compared to medium and large computer systems. This is achieved by parallel operation of an almost unlimited number of VMEbus data processing units. The result is an improvement of performance that is almost linear to the number of Central Processing Units in use.

The block diagram shows a Multicomputer System example which consists of one or more Central Processing Units with local I/O M-Modules and the Single Board Computer P4x-040.

The P4x-040 unit controls mass storage devices with virtually no delay under the SimTech Multicomputer OS-9 operating system. It also schedules the requested tasks on the central processing units.

Process communication and process control take place on a local defined RAM-eara of each CPU over the VMEbus. The master CPU controls the scheduling of the access rigths in the shared VMEbus. All the microprocessor units from SimTech may be used in the SimTech Multicomputer System.

Due to the complexity of many different mesurement, digital data processing has become an integral part of a modern measuring systems. A variety of problems in this area could not be solved without the use of digital data procesing and control systems. Applications that use sampling rates in the MHz range and online data processing can be found quite often. The SimTech Multicomputer Measurement System has been designed exactly for zhese applications.

Global Structure

The base configuration of a Multicomputer Measurment System has consists of just two (or more) processor boards. A multiprocessor architecture is fundamental to the parallel processing of all tasks. This guarantees continous data acquisition and online processing.

The Multicomputer Measurement System consists of the following blocks:

• a standard computer system
• one or more fully configurable measurment instrumets.

Every block consitst of a processing unit that is specially optimized for its application. The application specific submodules (e.g. graphical output devices or A/D converters) are attached to its procesing unit via the VMEbus or via specially designed subbus structures. Data exchange and synchronization between the standard computer system and the measurement units is solely done via the VMEbus.

Standard Computer System

The P4X or VMEbus PC/AT unit provides the fundamentals for the common computer system. Within the measurement system the duties of this unit are:

• system control and user guide
• administration of mass storage
• administration of peripheral units (serial I/O, parallel I/O, graphics, networking, etc.)
• final data processing stage and data representation

In addition to this, the P4x or VMEbus PC/AT, with the OS-9 operating system or Windows, provides a complete, easy-to-use support for the development of measurement applications.

The Measurement Unit

The central part of a measurement unit is the P4x in combination of the P4xM. ( M-Module Mezanine extention for the P4x-familie). This combination has been designed specially for fast data acquisition and data processing.

Modularity

Besides an extraordinary high overall power the Multicomputer Measurement System has a high modularity, provided by the VMEbus and M-Module concept. The high data throughput of the VMEbus and its efficent interrupt structure are the basis for the use of multiple measurement unit in a system- all utilizing the P4x-family board. To configure a measurement unit, a wide variety of M-Modules are available for analog and digital data acquisition:

• Binary Output M-Modules
• Binary Input M-Modules
• Analog Output and Input M-Modules
• Motion Control M-Modules
• Networking and Fieldbus M-Modules
• Communication M-Modules
• Special-Purpose M-Modules

As its design is kept simple, the data transfer protocol of the M-Module allows fast and efficient development of custumer specific systems.

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