Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ctrsol!srcsip!herds!sbrandt
From: sbrandt@herds.SRC.Honeywell.COM (Scott Brandt)
Newsgroups: comp.realtime
Subject: Re: VME 680X0 Boards
Message-ID: <41653@srcsip.UUCP>
Date: 6 Dec 89 06:23:24 GMT
References: <4667@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>
Sender: news@src.honeywell.COM
Reply-To: sbrandt@src.honeywell.com (Scott Brandt)
Organization: Honeywell Systems & Research Center
Lines: 42

In article <4667@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> news@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (USENET News System) writes:
>I am trying to set up a VME based system for a real-time robot control
>application. I had previously posted a request for VME info. Now I have
>found several large companies out there and would like to hear about any
>experiences you net folk may have with them. The companies are below:

>5. MOTOROLA

I have been using Motorola MVME-133xt and MVME-147 boards running vxWorks
for the past two years, with a very high degree of satisfaction.  The boards
work fine and the support (when needed) has been very good.  We accidentally
burned out 8 boards the day before a demo and got replacements for them
within 3 days.

>6. HEURIKON:

My only experience with these guys has been to discover that their benchmarks
cannot be trusted.  

>We have several special requirements such as I/O capability directly off
>the processor using daughter boards with parallel and serial I/O which
>reduces the list of available candidates.
>
>Has anyone been using boards from these companies, how are their tech
>support, the boards etc. Also, for people integrating imageprocessing
>with VME, are there any image processing boards which down load data not
>just through the VME but also through an external channel so that the
>image data does not bog down the single bus?

I work in the Signal and Image Processing department, and have been working
on prototype real-time image processing systems for the past few years, and 
we have been using boards from Datacube with extreme success.  These boards
are VME based image processing modules which use a proprietary image bus 
for real-time (rs-170) image processing.  The modules perform various functions
and can be pipelined together to implement algorithms of any degree of 
complexity.  I helped design and build a system consisting of about 80 of
these cards.  I would very strongly recommend that you look into Datacube
products.  Their software stinks, but their hardware is superb.  If you
would like some more information about them, I would be glad to answer any
questions you may have.

Scott Brandt