Reconfigurable data processing system

• US 20080007928A1
• Filed: 07/07/2006
• Published: 01/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Exelis Incorporated (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fitzgerald, Dennis, Salama, Yassir, Salama, Assem
• Granted Patent: US 8,004,855 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 361/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/7835 on more than one IC chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/7842 on one IC chip (single chip microcontrollers)
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/029 having a programmable lay-out, i.e. adapted for choosing between a few possibilities
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/141 One or more single auxiliary printed circuits mounted on a main printed circuit, e.g. modules, adapters H05K1/142 and H05K1/147 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10212 Programmable component
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10689 Leaded Integrated Circuit [IC] package, e.g. dual-in-line [DIL]
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/222 Completing of printed circuits by adding non-printed jumper connections printed jumper connections H05K3/4685

Abstract

A reconfigurable processing system is provided that comprises a plurality of programmable processing modules arranged on a circuit board. Each of the programmable processing modules is capable of being populated by a programmable integrated circuit of a variety of processing capabilities. Conductive traces on the circuit board connect to the programmable processing modules and the conductive traces are arranged on the circuit board so as to accommodate use of the programmable integrated circuits of varying processing capabilities in the programmable processing modules without the need to alter conductive trace footprints on the circuit board for the programmable processing modules. At least one interface circuit arranged on the circuit board to interface signals to and from the circuit board.

Claims

1. A reconfigurable processing system, comprising:

a. a circuit board;

b. a plurality of programmable processing modules arranged on the circuit board, each of the programmable processing modules capable of being populated by a programmable integrated circuit of a variety of processing capabilities;

c. at least one interface circuit arranged on the circuit board to interface signals to and from the circuit board; and

d. conductive traces on the circuit board that connect to the programmable processing modules, wherein the conductive traces are arranged on the circuit board so as to accommodate use of the programmable integrated circuits of varying processing capacities in the programmable processing modules without the need to alter conductive trace footprints on the circuit board for the programmable processing modules.

2. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 1, wherein the programmable integrated circuit in the plurality of programmable processing modules is a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

3. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 2, wherein the conductive trace footprints on the circuit board for the programming processing modules are capable of accommodating FPGAs of varying capacities.

4. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 1, wherein each programmable processing module comprises at least one field programmable gate array (FPGA), at least two random access memory devices, and at least two FLASH memory devices, and wherein the FPGA, random access memory devices and FLASH memory devices are arranged symmetrically around a virtual line dividing the programmable processing module.

5. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 4, wherein the FPGA in at least one programmable processing module is programmed with two wafer scale signal processors (WSSPs).

6. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 1, and further comprising a switch module mounted on said circuit board, wherein the conductive traces on the circuit board connect said switch module to each of the programmable processing modules and to said at least one external interface circuit.

7. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 6, wherein said switch module comprises a field programmable gate array (FGPA) device and a memory device, wherein the memory device in the switch module serves as a global memory for one or more of the programmable processing modules.

8. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 7, wherein the switch module comprises a socket for receiving the memory device.

9. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 6, wherein the switch module is positioned in a central position of the circuit board, and the programmable processing modules are positioned on the circuit board around the switch module.

10. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 6, wherein the switch module comprises at least one connector to connect to a programming device for programming the programmable integrated circuit on respective ones of the plurality programmable processing modules.

11. The reconfigurable processing system of claim 1, wherein the programmable integrated circuit in each programmable processing module is a field programmable gate array (FPGA) of the same or different capacity.

12. An onboard vehicle control system, comprising:

a. a vehicle management subsystem that manages navigation and movement of the vehicle;

b. one or more special application subsystems that monitor activity around said unmanned and collect data pertaining to said activity;

c. a communications transceiver subsystem that communicates data and controls to and from a remotely located system; and

d. a reconfigurable processing subsystem that processes data produced by one or more of the special application subsystems and vehicle management subsystem, wherein the reconfigurable processing subsystem comprises a plurality of programmable processing modules arranged on the circuit board, each of the programmable processing modules capable of being populated by a programmable integrated circuit of a variety of processing capabilities;

at least one interface circuit arranged on the circuit board to interface signals to and from the circuit board; and

conductive traces on the circuit board that connect to the programmable processing modules, wherein the conductive traces are arranged on the circuit board so as to accommodate use of the programmable integrated circuits of varying processing capacities in the programmable processing modules without the need to alter conductive trace footprints on the circuit board for the programmable processing modules.

13. The control system of claim 12, wherein the programmable integrated circuit in the plurality of programmable processing modules is a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and wherein the conductive trace footprints on the circuit board for the programming processing modules are capable of accommodating FPGAs of varying capacities.

14. The control system of claim 13, wherein each programmable processing module comprises at least one field programmable gate array (FPGA), at least two random access memory devices, and at least two FLASH memory devices, and wherein the FPGA, random access memory devices and FLASH memory devices are arranged symmetrically around a virtual line dividing the programmable processing module.

15. The control system of claim 14, wherein the FPGA in at least one programmable processing module is programmed with two wafer scale signal processors (WSSPs).

16. The control system of claim 12, and further comprising a switch module mounted on said circuit board, wherein the conductive traces on the circuit board connect said switch module to each of the programmable processing modules and to said at least one external interface circuit.

17. The control system of claim 16, wherein said switch module comprises a field programmable gate array (FGPA) device and a memory device, wherein the memory device in the switch module serves as a global memory for one or more of the programmable processing modules.

18. The control system of claim 12, wherein the switch module is positioned in a central position of the circuit board, and the programmable processing modules are positioned on the circuit board around the switch module.

19. The control system of claim 12, wherein the vehicle is an unmanned aerial vehicle and wherein the vehicle management subsystem is a vehicle flight management subsystem that controls movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

20. The control system of claim 12, wherein the reconfigurable processing subsystem is programmed with one or more processing algorithms that analyzes the data produced by the one or more special application subsystems and supplies information to the communications transceiver subsystem for transmission to a remotely located system only when a situation of relevance is detected based on the analysis of the data.

21. The control system of claim 12, wherein the reconfigurable processing subsystem is programmed to analyze data produced by the one or more special application subsystems to detect a target and in response to detecting the target said reconfigurable processing subsystem, without externally supplied controls, alters a navigation plan of the vehicle in order to control the vehicle to approach the target for further investigation.

22. A reconfigurable processing system, comprising:

a. a circuit board;

b. a plurality of programmable processing modules arranged on the circuit board, each of the programmable processing modules capable of being populated by a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device of a variety of capacities;

c. conductive traces on the circuit board that connect to the programmable processing modules, wherein the conductive traces are arranged on the circuit board so as to accommodate use of the FPGA of varied capacities in the programmable processing modules without the need to alter conductive trace footprints on the circuit board for the programmable processing modules;

d. a switch module and at least one external interface circuit mounted on the circuit board, wherein the conductive traces on the circuit board connect said switch module to each of the programmable processing modules and to said at least one external interface circuit, wherein the switch module is positioned in a central position of the circuit board, and the programmable processing modules are positioned on the circuit board around the switch module.