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During the course of the development program, a requirement for an increase in processor performance beyond the capabilities of Prometheus’ 100MHz 486 processor was identified. After a lengthy search around the world, the customer was unable to find a suitable off-the-shelf solution that provided the needed combination of increased processing power, limited heat dissipation, compact size, extended temperature capability, data acquisition, and backwards compatibility, without requiring a major redesign of their enclosure, software, and custom hardware, tasks that would have driven the program costs to an unacceptable level.
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Fortunately, Diamond Systems was about to release the new Hercules low-power VIA Edenbased CPU board, making all the key elements of a suitable solution available. Diamond Systems combined the new Hercules processor circuit and the existing Prometheus data acquisition circuit on a custom-sized board slightly larger than PC/104, measuring about 4.2’ x 4.5” and named the product Athena. The use of the exact same data acquisition circuit as on Prometheus provided the required software compatibility with the existing product. In addition, the PC/ 104 bus connectors, mounting holes, and all I/O connectors were maintained in the exact same locations as on Prometheus, thereby maintaining compatibility with the existing custom add-on board and cabling.
Finally, the low-power VIA Eden processor limited the increase in power
dissipation from a low 5 watts on Prometheus to a respectable 10 watts in the new board, a level that required a heat sink but was manageable in the time frame and budget allowed. The entire project, from initial specification to bring-up of prototypes with the customer’s application software, was completed in only four months.
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The Athena board was designed to allow for additional features of video, audio, and 2 additional USB ports as an upgrade for future programs. These features are included in the processor chipset, making their implementation a relatively easy task.
Diamond Systems now offers the upgraded and modified version of the Hercules CPU as a standard product named Athena. The size of Athena and its connector compatibility with Prometheus allow it to fit in Diamond Sytems’ Pandora enclosure using the cable-free panel I/O assembly system. Customers are now able to obtain a complete industrial PC with extended temperature capability, combining Pentium-III class performance with integrated Ethernet, video, audio, and data acquisition, in a package measuring only 5.5” x 5.75” x 1.7”.
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