SHARCPAC-DSP8 Vecima SHARCPAC Module

The Spectrum Signal Processing / Alex Computer Systems SHARCPAC-DSP8 SHARCPAC Module with its eight 120 MFLOP ADSP-2106x SHARC DSP processors on a single 3.1" x 4.5" SHARCPAC module is the ultimate SHARC-system enhancement module. The SHARCPAC-DSP8 is intended for use on parallel SHARC where the data and code can be partitioned to fit in the internal memory of each SHARC and processor density is of the highest priority. The modular format of the SHARCPAC-DSP8 allows it to be used for system expansion on any system form-factor. Sixteen of the 8 SHARC processor's six highspeed link ports are brought out to the SHARCPAC connectors for integration with SHARC processors on the motherboard, or other SHARCPAC module sites, in a manner consistent with a distributed memory architecture. The SHARCPAC-DSP8 also brings flag, IRQ, and JTAG signals to the SHARCPAC connectors to further facilitate system integration. The module is designed to be link booted.

The internal link port topology of the SHARCPAC-DSP8 is that of two 4-SHARC layers. Within each layer each processor has a direct link connection to every other, as well as a single connection the processor just opposite in the other layer. Arranging the link ports in this way allows users to integrate multiple SHARCPAC-DSP8s and multiple SHARCPAC motherboards to create a convenient mesh-like system topology. Systems of this kind can be scaled to any size while still retaining their homogeneous network structure and thus provide an excellent platform for scaleable data-parallel applications like image processing. The SHARCPAC-DSP8 can also be integrated into other SHARCPAC based systems to add pure processing power.