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.