By Alex Wilson
Aerospace and defense has relied on rugged embedded vehicle mounted computers for many years, but as devices become more mobile, and with increased demand to reduce SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power), ARM-based computers become an interesting alternative. Added to that is the wealth of functionality available in ARM devices that make it a good choice, not only to reduce SWaP in the core CPU, but to reduce overall chipset sizes to a single SoC.
If we look at an example of an ARM-based device, such as the TI OMAP3530, this is a perfect device with which to build a software defined radio for example. It has a high performance, low powered Cortex A8 Core, with numerous IO devices to help connectivity and display. Designed as a mobile device, for example, it supports Android -- and the OMAP3530 is also well suited to other areas of A&D such as soldier mounted systems, or remote sensors.
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