Originally Published EMDM January/February 2003
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Electronic ComponentsFirst-Ever 64-Bit PCI Focuses on Improving Medical Imaging
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| PFU Systems' Blazor makes 64-bit PCI performance mainstream in the embedded industry by combining a 64-bit interconnect with high performance and inherent high availability in an ultracompact, standard off-the-shelf macrocomponent. |
A novel, 64-bit peripheral component interconnect (PCI) system-on-module (SOM) architecture is altering the computer-board market. The new technology provides OEMs the means to improve high-speed, high-resolution medical diagnostic and imaging devices.
Introduced by PFU Systems Inc. (Santa Clara, CA, USA), a Fujitsu company, the Blazor architecture eliminates the high-data-rate-throughput bottlenecks experienced in near-real-time and non-real-time medical imaging applications, including 3-D cardiac ultrasound rendering, digital radiology, MRI, and PET/CT hybrid systems with multislice/multiscan capabilities, respectively. "The new technology meets medical imaging challenges by offering a reduced footprint for greater ease of deployment; by accommodating high-resolution, high-frame-rate modalities; and by providing reliable, fail-over, low-power dissipation," says Jon Barnard, marketing communications manager at PFU Systems.
Blazor allows OEMs to accelerate their 64-bit PCI designs without having to relinquish control of application-specific board functionality, says Eric Gulliksen, an industry analyst at Venture Development Corp. of Natick, MA, USA. "The system-on-module approach offers OEMs a viable and interesting alternative for flexibility, cost reduction, and speeding of time to market," he says.
Blazor integrates a complete 64-bit PCI-based high-availability embedded host subsystem, including a cpu, a chip set, DRAM expansion, 64-bit PCI busses, hardware monitoring, and RAS BIOS, in a single SOM. It supports Pentium III or later Intel processors with up to 1 Mbyte of L2 cache in single or dual processor configurations and dual 64-bit/66-MHz PCI or PCI-X busses.
The first two products using the Blazor architecture will be formally introduced this month, says Barnard, and will be available immediately.
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