How Thunderbolt 4 Helps Bring Fault-Tolerant, Distributed Systems to Market

In an embedded world gone SOSA sensational, one might believe that centralized ATR-style OpenVPX systems are the best way to architect your next rugged system. While these chassis are routinely and successfully deployed on airborne, shipboard, and vetronics platforms, they are big, heavy, costly, and a real challenge to cool and connect. An alternate but equivalent rugged, deployable approach uses one or more small form factor chassis modules, distributed into any available space in the vehicle, interconnected via Apple® and Intel's® 40Gbps Thunderbolt™ 4, a commercial open standard that uses USB Type-C connectors with a single, thin bi-directional copper or fiber cable.

With 4, 8, even 16 3U or 6U LRU (line replacement unit) boards inside an ATR chassis, 600 watts is on the low end of systems that can push well over 2,000 watts in a 200 square inch footprint or less. Assuming one can find the space for such a chassis in the vehicle or platform, there's also the issue of cooling it. Vetronics chassis must be bolted to a cold plate-no easy challenge in space-constrained armored vehicle interiors.