BittWare Launches Early Access Program for 3U VPX Cards

BittWare, a Molex company, has announced an early access program for its new 3U VPX cards. The cards feature next-generation AMD Ryzen Embedded processors, AMD Versal RF Series, and AMD Versal Adaptive SoCs. The program is designed to help customers begin developing and integrating embedded systems using this new technology. The new 3U VPX cards are intended for mission-critical aerospace and defense applications, including avionics, radar, and signal processing, with a focus on improving performance and optimizing size, weight, and power (SWaP).

Craig Petrie, vice president at BittWare, stated, “We are excited to elevate the performance of embedded systems in the aerospace and defense industry with our new 3U VPX cards, combined with the latest AMD x86 embedded processor and RF and adaptive computing technologies.” Petrie added that the collaboration with AMD will provide customers with more complete, interoperable solutions to meet the demands for compact, rugged designs and reliable performance.

The new cards leverage next-generation AMD Ryzen Embedded processors and AMD Versal RF Series devices, as well as AMD Versal Series Gen 2 adaptive SoCs. This combination is designed to improve data acquisition and multi-sensor processing. The cards are expected to be useful for multi-channel, real-time data processing for radar, sensor fusion, electronic warfare, signals intelligence (SIGINT), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and image processing.

Minal Sawant, senior director of the Aerospace and Defense Vertical Market at AMD, commented, “Our ongoing collaboration with BittWare showcases how delivering integrated system-level solutions that combine AMD compute innovation with BittWare’s expertise in deployable x86 card-level solutions, helps to accelerate the adoption of AMD Versal adaptive SoCs and Ryzen Embedded x86 CPUs in defense applications.” Sawant noted that Ryzen Embedded processors are ideal for second-stage computing in advanced defense systems, with their programmable x86 cores, integrated GPUs, and ML-capable NPUs. The rapid availability of SOSA-aligned cards helps defense customers accelerate new designs for use in future radar, radio, sensor processing, and mission computing systems.

The new 3U VPX cards are part of BittWare’s COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) product line and adhere to SOSA (Sensor Open Systems Architecture) and VITA 48 standards, which define mechanical requirements for ruggedized electronic modules. The program allows select customers to access NDA-only information from both BittWare and AMD.