3 ms·

I work in automotive software, and PowerPC CPUs (albeit from Freescale and STMicroelectronics, not IBM) are more popular than ever. It's a very common choice fo

I work in automotive software, and PowerPC CPUs (albeit from Freescale and STMicroelectronics, not IBM) are more popular than ever. It's a very common choice for powertrain ECUs.

Groxx 13y ago
any particular reason? error rate, power use, ?
- zerohp 13y ago
  General Motors was a big user of Motorola 68k variants. Workstations and personal computers that used the 680x0 series switched to the Power series, maybe the developers just find them easier to migrate to.
  - duaneb 13y ago
    Personally I've just found the architecture clean and well-designed. Even if this only helps the developers I'd say it's worth it.
- Tuna-Fish 13y ago
  The ISA is not better than others in any real way, but IBM put a lot of early work into RAS features for their server chipsets, and this sort of leaked into the automotive and aviation world. If you want to run 3 cpus lockstep, verifying each other's results, the PPC world already has the infrastructure. This and other similar things make it an easy choice for some applications.
  - chiph 13y ago
    IIRC, the service processor on IBM x86 servers is a PPC. (runs the light-path diagnostics, and manages remote boots, etc)
bluedino 13y ago
Big in avionics for some reason too. Wasn't it the F/22 which received an upgraded PPC that was in the news a while back?
- trafficlight 13y ago
  A bit of research says that the F-22 uses a pair of Raytheon CIPs, which are PowerPC based. http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/f22_cip/ http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/f22_cip/
  - wcfields 13y ago
    Power Architecture is used in spacecrafts as well: The [PowerPC] 603e processors also power all 66 satellites in the Iridium satellite phone fleet. The satellites each contain seven Motorola/Freescale PowerPC 603e processors running at roughly 200 MHz each.[1] There is a radiation hardened version called "RHPPC" based on PowerPC 603e made by Honeywell & Freescale. RHPPC is equivalent to the commercial PowerPC 603e processor with the minor exceptions of the phase locked loop (PLL) and the processor version register (PVR). [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_600#PowerPC_603e_and_603ev http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_600#PowerPC_603e_and_60... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RHPPC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RHPPC
- neurotech1 13y ago
  The F-22 uses PowerPC processors in the upgraded Common Integrated Processor(CIP) avionics, partly for compatibility with the F-35 Integrated Core Processor (ICP) avionics. F/A-18s also use PowerPC processors in the Advanced Mission Computer (AMC) avionics.
- tirant 13y ago
  It's also in the Airbus A400M, and other Airbus vehicles.

I work in automotive software, and PowerPC CPUs (albeit from Freescale and STMicroelectronics, not IBM) are more popular than ever. It's a very common choice for powertrain ECUs.

Groxx 13y ago

any particular reason? error rate, power use, ?

zerohp 13y ago
General Motors was a big user of Motorola 68k variants. Workstations and personal computers that used the 680x0 series switched to the Power series, maybe the developers just find them easier to migrate to.
- duaneb 13y ago
  Personally I've just found the architecture clean and well-designed. Even if this only helps the developers I'd say it's worth it.
Tuna-Fish 13y ago
The ISA is not better than others in any real way, but IBM put a lot of early work into RAS features for their server chipsets, and this sort of leaked into the automotive and aviation world. If you want to run 3 cpus lockstep, verifying each other's results, the PPC world already has the infrastructure. This and other similar things make it an easy choice for some applications.
- chiph 13y ago
  IIRC, the service processor on IBM x86 servers is a PPC. (runs the light-path diagnostics, and manages remote boots, etc)

bluedino 13y ago

Big in avionics for some reason too. Wasn't it the F/22 which received an upgraded PPC that was in the news a while back?

trafficlight 13y ago
A bit of research says that the F-22 uses a pair of Raytheon CIPs, which are PowerPC based. http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/f22_cip/ http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/f22_cip/
- wcfields 13y ago
  Power Architecture is used in spacecrafts as well: The [PowerPC] 603e processors also power all 66 satellites in the Iridium satellite phone fleet. The satellites each contain seven Motorola/Freescale PowerPC 603e processors running at roughly 200 MHz each.[1] There is a radiation hardened version called "RHPPC" based on PowerPC 603e made by Honeywell & Freescale. RHPPC is equivalent to the commercial PowerPC 603e processor with the minor exceptions of the phase locked loop (PLL) and the processor version register (PVR). [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_600#PowerPC_603e_and_603ev http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_600#PowerPC_603e_and_60... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RHPPC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RHPPC
neurotech1 13y ago
The F-22 uses PowerPC processors in the upgraded Common Integrated Processor(CIP) avionics, partly for compatibility with the F-35 Integrated Core Processor (ICP) avionics. F/A-18s also use PowerPC processors in the Advanced Mission Computer (AMC) avionics.
tirant 13y ago
It's also in the Airbus A400M, and other Airbus vehicles.