Motorola MVME5500 Single Board Computers

The MVME5500 is the flagship of our VME product line, delivering higher levels of performance in a single VMEbus slot.

Higher levels of performance in a single VMEbus slot:

1GHz MPC7457 PowerPC® processor

512 KB on-chip L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache

AltiVec coprocessor for high-performance computing applications

Two banks of soldered flash (32MB and 8MB)

Dual independent 64-bit PCI bus and PMC sites with bus speeds up to 66 MHz

Gigabit Ethernet interface and an additional 10/100BaseTX Ethernet interface

64-bit PCI expansion mezzanine connector for up to four additional PMCs

I/O compatible with MVME51xx series

Processor PMC (PrPMC) support

SMART Embedded Computing's MVME5500 features the MPC7457 processor running at 1 GHz with memory, dual independent local buses and I/O subsystems.

The powerful Marvell system controller supports a 133 MHz host bus and a 133 MHz SDRAM memory bus, a perfect match for the high-speed processor.

To match system I/O with superior processor performance, the MVME5500 offers dual 64-bit, 33/66 MHz PCI buses.

Each PCI bus has a PMC site that supports cards running at 33 or 66 MHz.

The Universe II VME interface and PMCspan connector are isolated from the PMC site on the dedicated 33 MHz PCI bus segment, so both PMC sites can operate at 66 MHz.

The MVME5500 also offers a Gigabit Ethernet interface, a 10/100BaseTX Ethernet interface and two serial ports.

All of this adds up to a well-balanced, high-performance subsystem that delivers unrivalled performance.

The MVME5500 series is designed to meet the needs of OEMs, including those in the defence, aerospace, industrial automation and transportation sectors.

Customers who need to maintain backward compatibility with their existing VMEbus infrastructure while updating the technology for their applications can upgrade to the MVME5500 Series and take advantage of its enhanced performance features.

Backward compatibility

The MVME5500 continues the direction SMART EC has taken since the MVME5100 series, which is to provide a migration path from SMART EC's embedded controllers and single board computers (SBCs) to a single platform.

This migration path enables OEMs to support different I/O requirements using the same base platform, simplifying part number maintenance, expertise requirements and resource sharing.

The MVME5500 series provides customers with a migration path from the MVME2300. MVME2400. MVME2600. MVME2700 and MVME5100 boards.

They can take advantage of features such as the MPC7455 processor, Gigabit Ethernet and dual independent 33/66 MHz PMC stations.

Transition Module

The MVME761 Transition Module provides industry-standard connector access to IEEE 1284 parallel, 10BaseT or 100BaseT ports via RJ-45 connectors.

The MVME761 Transition Module provides industry standard connector access to IEEE 1284 parallel, 10BaseT or 100BaseT ports via RJ-45 connectors, asynchronous serial ports configured as EIA-574 DTEs via two DB-9 connectors, and synchronous/synchronous serial ports via two HD-26 connectors.

These serial ports are labelled Serial 3 and Serial 4 on the MVME761 panel.

These serial ports are labelled as Serial 3 and Serial 4 on the MVME761 panel and can be individually configured as EIA-232. DCE or DTE by the user by installing a SMART EC Serial Interface Module (SIM).

The P2 adapter board provides the interface signals for the MVME761 transition module.

There are two separate P2 adapter boards: one for 3-row backplanes and one for 5-row backplanes.

The 3-row P2 adapter board provides connectivity for 8-bit SCSI. The 5-row P2 adapter board supports 16-bit SCSI and PMC I/O.

Software Support

Firmware Monitoring

Firmware must satisfy the traditional functions of power-on self-test (POST), initialisation, low-level setup and debugging, and operating system boot.

The innovative SMART EC firmware (called MOTLoad) that resides on the MVME5500 exceeds these requirements.

The innovative firmware that resides on the MVME5500. known as MOTLoad, goes beyond these requirements with extended functionality such as interrupt-driven I/O, more comprehensive power-up tests and extensive diagnostics with new scripting capabilities.

Of course, MOTLoad also provides a debugger interface similar to the tried and tested ‘bug’ interface on SMART EC's previous VMEbus boards.