CSP awarded second phase of multi-year contract by Northrop Grumman

Under a multi-year contract, valued at over $4 million, CSPI will supply high-performance multiprocessor computer systems for the computational section of the Generic Acoustic Stimulation System upgrades. Because many additional naval training sites can benefit from the advances offered by GASS program upgrades, this contract represents a significant long-term potential business opportunity for both Norden and CSPI.

"The continuation of the GASS Program using the 2000 SERIES multiprocessing system reaffirms our corporate commitment to provide our customer the best product value, combining the most advanced computational processors in an open technology architecture," stated Alexander R. Lupinetti, CSP Inc. President, CEO & Chairman of the Board. "CSPI's initial selection for this highly competitive GASS contract shows that the unrivaled performance and scalability of our 2000 SERIES systems are excellent solutions for the computation needs of the simulation market."

GASS Program

Undersea warfare is an extremely challenging and complex theater for the U. S. Navy. To operate successfully in this environment, the highest level of training is required through real-time simulation systems. Under the GASS program, Norden, the prime contractor, will deploy four 2000 SERIES systems as a major upgrade to the acoustics portion of the training systems at existing AIR ASW training sites.

"Acoustic upgrades to existing and new sonar simulator/stimulator training systems are being driven by improved threat-signature databases, advanced sensor technology and an emphasis on littoral water operations," stated Roger Ameden, Program Manager, Northrop Grumman Norden Systems. "Modern ASW trainers require a scalable high-performance computer solution capable of supporting a variety of ASW platforms. CSPI's 2000 SERIES MultiComputer system provides the best match and lowest risk approach to achieve these goals. With a COTS based computer system, and database driven software, this flexible architecture can be applied to a variety of derivative products such as On- Board Trainers, ASW Mission Planning Tools, or Tactical Decision Aids."

The 2000 SERIES system for the GASS Program utilizes multiple 2741 MultiComputer modules, each incorporating four 400 MHz PowerPC 750s with 256 Mbytes of memory, delivering over 175 GFLOPS in total computational power. The 2000 SERIES readily allows improved technology insertion for continuous improvement in computation capability and communication performance while maintaining a software interface that assures portability of application programs.

2000 SERIES Systems

The 2000 SERIES is a family of high-performance multicomputer systems designed for use in a variety of computationally intensive applications, including radar, sonar, simulation and surveillance signal processing. 2000 SERIES systems use Myrinet networking technology, Message Passing Interface (MPI) software for interprocessor communications, and the VxWorks real-time operating system. Computational nodes based upon PowerPCs and SHARCs provide a heterogeneous processor architecture. Within 2000 SERIES systems, all processors and I/O devices communicate with each other over Myrinet, whether on boards, between boards or between cabinets. The 2000 SERIES offers a combination of scalable, high-performance computation power (to 100s of GFLOPS) and high-speed, system-wide communication (to tens of Gigabytes/sec) in a uniform open software and hardware architecture.