Kontron’s newly announced VM6103 provides industries with technology that has a high degree of performance along with very low power dissipation.

The VME6103 is a new 6U VME SBC based on the NXP Layerscape scalable multi-core 64-bit ARMT processor. The release is in line with Kontron’s strategy of ensuring customer upgrades to existing applications with the latest technology.

This low power dissipation blade computer features more than 4600DMIPS while drawing less than 10W. The Kontron VM6103 is ideal for use in size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) constrained systems and general-purpose missions, ranging from industrial to extreme rugged transportation and defence applications.

Kontron director of sales Alain Spors said: “The new VM6103 confirms our commitment to support our customers’ applications over the long term. The VM6103 represents a cost-effective, low risk and highly performing choice for pin-to-pin replacement for the next decade of legacy Kontron PowerPC products, but also all PowerPC 6U VME SBCs.”

Low power scalable 64-bit ARM VME CPU

The VM6103 is available with either a 2-core 1GHz or a 4-core 1.6GHz 64-bit ARM A53 Layerscape processor, on-board soldered DDR4 (with ECC), as well as up to 64GB on-board soldered Flash optionally.

The VM6103 provides a host of standard I/O including Dual Gigabit Ethernet, serial lines, SATA, up to three USB channels and general-purpose I/Os.

Additional Interface via standard expansion slots

The modular extension with I/O expansion slots of the VM6103 allows configuring tailored systems from open standard components, reducing integration time and cost. It features two PMC, one XMC, one Mini-PCI-Express and one M.2 slot.

Kontron SEC-Line computer security for the protection of embedded applications

Kontron answers increasing security requirements for safety-critical applications with a hardware-enforced root of trust, as well as software-only techniques such as Secure Boot.

Designed for harsh environments with over a decade availability

The VM6103 withstands shock and vibrations as all components on the board are soldered, which is a prerequisite for reliable operation and a longer product life. The low power dissipation of the VM6103 allows reliable long-term operation without forced air cooling.

The VM6103 is scheduled to be available in either air cooling or conduction cooling versions supporting a temperature range of -40°C to 85°C. With a guaranteed standard life of ten years from product start, the VM6103 facilitates lifecycle management by making the overall system available for at least this period of time.

Masashi INATOMI, JEPICO Corporation in Japan: “We are very proud of being the first customer to test the new VM6103 with WindRiver VxWorks 7 O.S. The VM6103 features outstanding versatility and a combination of low power dissipation with high-performance computing, which opens the door to its use in new transportation applications as well as technology insertion in legacy VME systems.”