Intro SAFe-VX Long Term Support SAFe-VX architecture Use Cases Downloads

Applying specific design and architecture rules to Safety Critical computing

Safe-ready COTS meeting the highest safety levels for life critical applications

Wayside Interlocking Systems or Rolling stock computers
19” rack-mount chassis from 2U to 5U height
Modular 3U VPX architecture
EN50155, SIL2/SIL4 Certified platforms
Various cooling systems:
fanless conduction-cooled, passive cooling or redundant fans
Field proven, thousands of units in operation
control-room

SAFe-VX, a Safety Development Platform

A solid and flexible basis for certifiable applications in trains and signaling

SAFe-VX
  • Development Platform for immediate software development
    • Based on qualified VPX building blocks (Intel x86 CPUs and Ethernet Switch)
    • Adding specific I/O boards to SAFe-VX to deploy the target system
    • Using the same VPX modules, running strictly the same binary software
COTS hardware already certified up to SIL-4
Redundant configuration
Long Term Support

Long Term Support

Program life time management is supported over long periods thanks to Kontron solid background in obsolescence management.

  • EoL management with early notice warranty
  • Last time buy packages are offered
  • Tech refresh minimizes the cost of re-qualification: VPX modular architecture allows fit/form/function upgrades of the building blocks,
    providing the same electrical, mechanical and thermal specifications, with state-of-the-art silicon technology
  • Long life-time program is supported for 25+ years

SAFe-VX Hardware architecture

The base configuration is redundant, including three VPX processor modules, interconnected by a Gigabit Ethernet switch module through a backplane. SAFe-VX does not present any single point of failure.

Due to its modular architecture, SAFe-VX offers a high level of flexibility in terms of CPU, storage and I/Os.
The other major building blocks like the PSU and the fan trays can be offered with redundancy. In the simplest implementation, all boards are sharing the same Power Supply Unit.
The boards are electrically isolated from each other by the backplane design in order to guarantee the absence of common root cause of failure. Safety I/O are optionally implemented on channel A and B through dedicated I/O card(s), mainly serial UARTs, GPIOs and analog inputs.

SAFe-VX Vital Computing Platform
Download Datasheet View Product
  • Based on qualified VPX building blocks (Intel x86 CPUs and Ethernet Switch)
  • CPU boards running Safety Critical RTOS: SYSGO PikeOS
  • Compact 40HP platform, 4U height typical
  • SIL-ready certifiable architecture (SIL2/SIL3/SIL4)
  • Safety documentation kit available (HW and SW)

SAFe-VX-DEV is immediately available at the start of the project to begin the software development with fully representative hardware. The chassis, the power supply and the cooling subsystem can then be customized depending on the requirements. When needed, two SAFe-VX platforms can be used in parallel to reach the expected availability at SIL4 level.

Use cases

Transportation
Railway signalling program

Kontron 3U VPX computer certified by Alstom at the SIL-4 level for safe railway applications

  • Extractable Line Replacement Units (LRU) in order to provide a low maintenance time and repair (MTTR)
  • Computing unit featuring SBCs and an ethernet switch card
  • Versatility and modularity of a 3U VITA46 VPX standard architecture to offer a SIL-4 certifiable and long-term maintainable solution.

Downloads

shortform VME-VPX

Shortform catalog: VME & VPX
whitepaper Virtualization

Whitepaper: Virtualization in Smart Transportation Systems
shortform catalog TRACe products

Brochure:Railway Embedded Computing Portfolio