JPL, Conexant license cores from Innovative

According to JPL, a key goal of X2000 is to make spacecraft electronics reusable across many missions, while driving down the size, mass, power and cost of spacecraft. To achieve that goal, the program takes advantage of c ommercial PC and communications technology, such as the IEEE-1394 high-speed serial-bus standard.

The FlexFire family includes the 1394 general-purpose link layer controller, an audio/video link layer controller that supports encryption and a PCI link layer controller. The line also boasts a backplane physical-layer controller and a cable PHY controller that includes both the analog and digital design components.

Meanwhile, Innovative's Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) VIP cores will likely be used initially for entertainment systems at Conexant, but the entire company will have access to them. The VIP core specifies the interface between graphics controllers and video devices. As a universal standard, it meets the industry's demand for compatibility, cost effectiveness and high performance, Innovative said. The latest version, VIP2, supports demanding applications such as HDTV, while maintaining backward compatibility. For further information, see www.isi96.com.