Yesterday’s Technology
The traditional PC architecture, with the CPU at the heart of the system

There is more to the SwitchBack™ than meets the eye. It is fully rugged, ultra-mobile and runs all your favorite applications—but that is only half the story. The true power of the SwitchBack lies in its patent-pending, reconfigurable architecture.

The architecture of a traditional PC places the CPU and chipset in control of the entire system: peripheral devices, input and output, power, storage and display. These ASICs and the CPU are hard-wired with very limited reconfigurability. The standard PC architecture is a fixed system and does not easily allow changes to its base capability.

The SwitchBack is different. It is truly a "reconfigurable computer." Within its unique architecture, the CPU and chipset are other peripherals. In short, the CPU is not in control of the SwitchBack. Therefore, the performance of the SwitchBack is not defined in terms of megahertz or megabytes.

Tomorrow’s Technology
The patent-pending SwitchBack Architecture - The FPGA is at the heart of the system

The Xilinx Virtex 5 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is the heart of the SwitchBack. Inside its complex fabric, almost any type of circuit or process can be defined and implemented. This extremely powerful semiconductor device can be programmed as a re-definable circuit board, a virtual CPU, a memory storage device, or a combination of all three! And it can be reconfigured in the field, over and over again. New computing processes can be added on the fly, and because they are securely hard-encoded, reliability is ensured.

With SwitchBack, you can turn your software processes into hard-encoded state-machines, freeing up valuable CPU resources. In a standard configuration, most of the FPGA's fabric and resources are available for customization and can be reconfigured to effectively operate a variety of applications. Virtual hardware can be added to the system with a simple download, without redesigning the electronics. No other PC in the world provides this capability in an ultra rugged, mobile form factor.

Any number of processes can be delegated to the FPGA. These processes run in parallel with the CPU for true multi-tasking.

True Multi-Tasking with the FPGA

Though they run a variety of applications simultaneously, modern operating systems do not truly multi-task. They give the appearance of multi-tasking by rapidly executing a few instructions from each application. However, it becomes evident that the CPU is a "single-instruction-execution" engine when one application crashes or hangs up the entire system. The SwitchBack FPGA can share duties with the CPU in a truly independent fashion. In fact, even processes internal to the FPGA can be written to operate completely autonomously from each other. That is true multi-tasking!

Parallel Processing

In traditional PC architecture, each CPU clock cycle is used to monitor, maintain and execute a variety of instructions. With SwitchBack, you can use its FGPA to free up vital CPU resources by handing over many of the computer's lower-level functions to the FPGA for parallel processing. Why rely on a single thread or even two threads from a multi-core processor? With SwitchBack, the gate count of its internal FPGA and the complexity of your thread are the only factors determining the maximum thread count possible. The FPGA interfaces with the CPU through a high-speed PCI Express connection allowing a large data transfer path for complex operations.

Data Conversion with the FPGA

SwitchBack's onboard FPGA has many unique resources such as hard-coded DSP slices for fully independent signal processing. This allows users to:

• Convert video streams real-time or store files seamlessly
• Process complex algorithms quickly and efficiently
• Process multiple mathematical calculations simultaneously

Failsafe Control

Do you trust operating systems and software applications with your mission critical data and hardware? The unique design of SwitchBack allows sensitive equipment control to be handled by combinatorial logic, not by software that is subject to system crashes. In fact, if SwitchBack's processor completely halts, the unit will continue to operate mission critical functions and display data on the screen.

The Intel® Chopper relies on the SwitchBack for failsafe controls including engine ignition, engine monitoring, gear selection and kick-stand control.

The Supacat tactical vehicle uses a dash-mounted SwitchBack and on-board cameras to gather logistical and diagnostic data.

While combining the functionality of a standard PC with its uniquely reconfigurable architecture, the SwitchBack can be designed to match specific needs, such as:

• Hardware emulation
• Visual recognition
• Real-time video format conversion
• Custom logic interfaces
• Software radios
• Speech translation
• Medical imaging
• Intrusion protection
• Network security
• Cryptography

The Future of Rugged Mobile Computing

SwitchBack's revolutionary architecture is the future of rugged mobile computing. It is:

• Customizable — can be programmed with virtually any application
• Flexible — can be reconfigured when needed - in the field, on the fly
• Reliable — the FPGA architecture keeps the system running, protecting mission critical applications and equipment

Contact us to learn more about how you can implement SwitchBack enabled product development or read the specifications for the SwitchBack MDK.