The Cell Broadband Engine (BE) processor is a breakthrough technology capable of massive floating-point processing for compute-intensive applications. Originally designed for the home entertainment market, the Cell BE processor’s architecture of nine heterogeneous on-chip cores is ideal for the type of distributed, real-time processing that will power tomorrows digital battlefield. At 200 GFLOPS, the processing capacity of a single Cell BE processor rivals that of 12 to 20 PowerPC or 45 Intel Pentium 4 processors. Recently, Mercury Computer Systems announced the PowerBlock 200, a Cell-based compute appliance ready for deployment in the harshest environments and well suited to military applications such as the sophisticated sensor systems referenced in Future Combat Systems. The PowerBlock 200 allows innovators to bring the power of the revolutionary Cell BE processor into next-generation military ground vehicles throughout the digital battlefield. The seminar will provide an overview of the PowerBlock 200, including its processing capabilities, I/O configuration, and ATR chassis infrastructure. Developers and early innovators, who are considering the Cell BE processor for rugged applications, can benefit from this seminar.

Presented by: Mercury Computer Systems