ALTA DATA TECHNOLOGIES RELEASES USB 3.0 MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC INTERFACE
Multi-Protocol MIL-STD-1553 and/or ARINC-429 Appliance is Industry’s First SuperSpeed Product
Rio Rancho, NM (March 25, 2020) – Alta Data Technologies (Alta) has released an innovative USB MIL-STD-1553 (1553) and ARINC-429 product: USB-MA4. This product connects notebooks, desktops and servers with 1553 and ARINC networks via USB 3.0 SuperSpeed – A first in the industry. The USB-MA4, which is about the size of a deck of cards, provides 1-2 dual redundant 1553 channels, and/or 8 ARINC-429 channels. In addition to 1553/ARINC full RX/TX message controls, USB-MA4 can generate or capture (o-scope) raw bus signals for protocol and electrical troubleshooting. The USB-MA4 is available now for immediate delivery.
“Our USB-MA4 product is the latest peripheral interconnect technology for 1553 and ARINC avionics buses (networks). A USB 3.0 SuperSpeed 1553/ARINC product has been eagerly awaited in the market as current USB 2.0 interfaces can have serious throughput issues. Along with our real-time Ethernet (ENET) converter and Thunderbolt appliances, and industry-leading interface cards, Alta now has the most complete 1553 and ARINC product offering. Along with our flexible, layered SDK, AltaAPI, and our AltaView Windows analyzer, customers can quickly integrate the USB-MA4 for their avionics application. For most applications, the customer can port existing Alta applications to the USB-MA4 product with little or no code changes,” states Harry Wild, Vice President of Sales for Alta.
Jake Haddock, Alta CTO, continues, “We’ve always been eyeing USB technology, but USB 2.0 is not a good technical fit for high frequency, small data packets used on 1553 avionics control networks. There is a general misconception that wire speed (or bit rate) of a connection (such as Ethernet or USB) directly correlates with higher packet rates, but this is often not the case. Most connection technologies have high overhead handshakes or OS stack layers that are better suited for large packet applications like video, file systems, surfing, etc. So even though the 1553 network has a much slower bit rate, the overall 1553 packet rate can overwhelm these other technologies, resulting in dropped or missed 1553 packets.”
“Upon releasing our Thunderbolt™ 3.0 appliance, TBOLT™, that provides near PCI Express backplane performance, we tested native USB 3.0 SuperSpeed and determined the throughput rates were acceptable for most moderate to high packet rate 1553 applications. While not backplanes speeds of PCI Express (XMC) or PCI (PMC) interface cards, our USB-MA4 3.0 SuperSpeed product provides customers the convenience of a USB appliance without having to perform a ‘Program then Run Sequence’ of typical USB 2.0 products.”
About Alta Data Technologies
Alta is a rapidly growing company that provides industry-leading 1553 and ARINC interface products with over $125M of similar COTS products sold. Alta’s products are offered in high-density channel configurations, IRIG Time Code Decoder, Triggers, Discretes and the advanced AltaAPI, AltaView Analyzer and SAE AS4111 5.2 AltaRTVal software packages. Operating system platforms include MS Windows (7-10), Linux, National Instruments’ LabVIEW/Windows. Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. For more information, contact Alta at www.altadt.com.
