The Vario Platform is a standalone, IP-enabled, High Performance Embedded Computer (HPEC) geared towards computationally intensive, low-power processing of wideband sensor data. In addition to IP and USB sensor interfaces, it has a high-speed (>10 Gbps) interface for real-time processing of optical, Radio Frequency (RF), electromagnetic, and other wideband devices.
A mix of processor types allows sensor algorithms to be efficiently implemented on appropriate processing resources, including a dual core CPU, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). A Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) supports power-efficient, customizable, real-time data processing and generation over the wideband interface.
The Vario platform is targeted to Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) constrained portable, handheld, or airborne applications. Compared to System On Chip (SoC) FPGA platforms, Vario has substantially more computational power from a more diverse set of processing resources. It is also capable of a smaller form-factor and consumes less power than VPX/VME class systems.
The Vario platform was developed as a modular hardware and software framework with a vision towards supporting the Veo 3D Vision imaging system as well as future Radar, Electronic Warfare (EW), spectral analysis, wireless communications, and other real-time embedded sensor applications.