2005 SAE: Reconfigurable I/O Bring Automotive HIL Systems to a New Age

DETROIT, April 11 -- Opal-RT Technologies Inc. (http://www.opal-rt.com/ ), the world leader in distributed real-time simulation on PC-based platforms, today introduced the new support for InfiniBand(TM), a switched fabric based computer interconnection positioned to become the next generation inter-computer communication systems.

InfiniBand(TM) is an open standard supported by high-speed switch vendors and computer servers and clusters makers such as IBM, Dell, HP and Sun Microsystems. InfiniBand(TM) systems offer 2.5 to 10 Gbps full-duplex communication bandwidth per computing nodes that can scale up to an aggregated non-blocking bandwidth of 240 Gbps when 24 nodes are interconnected through economical 24-port single-chip switches. This extremely high-speed and flexible communication system takes advantage of PCI-X and the new PCI Express technologies to minimize the communication latency between the main processor memory and the communication fabric.

The integration of InfiniBand(TM) PCI Express technologies with RT-LAB extra high-performance (XHP) scheduler, dual-, quad- and eight-CPU real-time computers, and Opal-RT's reconfigurable FPGA I/O OP5000 series, pushes the performance level of PC-based hardware-in-the-loop simulators to an unprecedented level. Using devices capable of 4x the base rate of 2.5Gbps, or 10 Gbps, RT-LAB's InfiniBand(TM) interface facilitates communication between real-time simulators at up to 300 Mbytes per second.

The introduction of InfiniBand(TM) support represents a next logical step for Opal-RT. The company has been a leader in the development of PC-based real-time simulation technologies that utilize IEEE 1394 since launching RT- LAB in 1997. This newly achieved throughput is over 5 times faster than IEEE 1394b FireWire, and reaches an effective communication throughput comparable to a shared-memory interface.

"The performance and flexibility combined with the affordability of these commercial technologies is bringing HIL systems to a new age," said Jean Belanger, President and CTO of Opal-RT Technologies Inc. "It has confirmed our strategy put in place in 1997 to focus our development on the use of commercial-off-the-shelf technologies. We expect to see wide use of the InfiniBand(TM) interconnect in automotive HIL applications especially in vehicle system level simulation and detailed motor and power electronics simulation," added Belanger.

The first pilot system, a 16-processor RT-LAB HIL simulator based on InfiniBand(TM) PCI-X and PCI Express was successfully commissioned in February 2005 for complex electromechanical simulations. The InfiniBand(TM) technology will be offered to all Opal-RT customers in May 2005. This capability will facilitate the implementation of complex conventional and hybrid vehicle simulations.

About Opal-RT Technologies Inc.

Opal-RT provides software, hardware, and related solutions for real-time simulation applications, with the aim of enabling real-time parallel processing through flexible and affordable technologies. The company offers a full range of engineering simulation products -- from enabling technologies to turnkey engineering simulators -- and consulting services that include systems integration, software development, simulation and modeling, problem-solving, and training. Opal-RT's core expertise is in distributed hard-real-time simulation, with experienced engineers designing real-time simulators for automotive, electrical power, aerospace, robotics, and other industries where fidelity and fault tolerance requirements push rapid prototyping and hardware- in-the-loop testing to their limits. Opal-RT's unique approach integrates parallel, distributed computing with commercial-off-the-shelf technologies. The resulting RT-LAB product range enables customers to develop simulations quickly, easily, affordably, and competitively. For more information about Opal-RT's range of Engineering Simulators and Distributed Processing Tools, see http://www.opal-rt.com/ .

About RT-LAB

RT-LAB is the real-time technology that revolutionizes the way model-based design is performed within the engineering organization. Through its openness, RT-LAB has the flexibility to be applied to any simulation and control problem, and scalability to provide a low-risk entry point for any application, allowing the developer to add computation power where and when needed -- whether to dramatically speed up simulations or for real-time hardware-in-the-loop applications.

  RT-LAB and OP5000 are registered trademarks of Opal-RT Technologies Inc.
  InfiniBand and PCI Express are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation
  FireWire is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
  (C)2005 Opal-RT Technologies Inc. All rights reserved.