p. 6 editor’s foreword p. 8 vita news embedded tech vita...
TRANSCRIPT
p 6 Editorrsquos Foreword Embedded Tech Trends in review
p 8 VITA News VITA 40
Spend less time and money designing with NAIrsquos 3U and 6U COTS SBCs NAIrsquos configurable COSAtrade Architecture delivers smarter systems that simplify system integration with less weight less program risk and no NRE mdash so you can deploy faster
Choose your processor board and 2-6 Intelligent IO communications or Ethernet switch functions NAI will quickly assemble and configure the exact solution you need Ideally suited for rugged Mil-Aero applications NAI delivers off-the-shelf
solutions for SWaP-constrained systems in air land and sea applications
Freescale QorIQreg P2041 Intelreg Coretrade i7
Intelreg Atomtrade ARM Cortextrade-A9
A certified small business
Made in USA
Multi-function IO
Single Board Computers
Rugged Power Supplies
Rugged Systems
Benchtop amp VXI Instruments
Do more Spend less Reduce SWaP Deploy faster
North AtlanticI n d u s t r i e s
wwwna i i com
NA1027 VITA_Tech_Mar_SBC_Full_Page_AFindd 1 2714 423 PM
VPX turns 10By Jerry Gipper
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for
VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
Pigeon Point Systems
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with
intelligent extender cards By Brian Roberts
Dawn VME Products
VitaTechnologySPRING 2014 | VOLUME 32 NUMBER 1
raquo p 11
raquo p 14
raquo p 18
All registered brands and trademarks within VITA Technologies magazine are the property of their respective owners tradeVPX and its logo is a registered producttrademark of VITAcopy 2014 OpenSystems Media copy 2014 VITA Technologies
enviroinkindd 1 10108 104438 AM
2 Annapolis Micro Systems Inc ndash WILDSTAR OpenVPX ecosystem23 Behlman Electronics ndash Executive speakout on VPXtra 1500CS13 Dawn VME Products Inc ndash AC does it15 Elma Electronic ndash Storage solutions9 Excalibur Systems Inc ndash 1553couplerscom22 Hartmann Elektronik ndash Executive speakout on VPX power supplies and backplanes21 Interface Concept ndash Advanced electronic solutions 19 LCR Embedded Systems ndash Rugged systems engineered for your application 3 North Atlantic Industries ndash Rugged SBCs from NAI5 North Atlantic Industries ndash 3U cPCI SBCs12 Orion Technologies Inc ndash 3U OpenVPX i7 processors24 Pentek Inc ndash Critical recording in any arena when you canrsquot afford to miss a beat 12 Pigeon Point Systems ndash VITA 4611 management solutions available now17 Schroff Pentair ndash VME VME64X and VPX systemsfaster20 United Electronic Industries ndash Will your VME IO system go EOL this year 20 VEROTEC Electronics Packaging ndash Verotec integrated packaging system building components 22 Wolf Industrial Systems Inc ndash Capture and display together at last VPX3U-E8860-FGX23 Wolf Industrial Systems Inc ndash A new dawn for embedded graphics XMC-E8860-VO
Advertiser Index
On the coverVPX turns 10 These first 10 years have laid down a solid foundation for this technology that is sure to have many more years of growth As VPX completes its first decade member companies from around the industry are actively engaged in the development and enhancement of the leading COTS standard for harsh environment deployments evidenced with Behlman Electronics VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC COTS power supply
6 Editorrsquos Foreword Jerry Gipper
Embedded Tech Trends in review
7 Primetime Choices Four product highlights from the Embedded Tech Trends conference
8 VITA News Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
10 Defining Standards Jerry Gipper
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014
4 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Configure to CustomizeNAIrsquos 3U cPCI SBCs are ideally
suited for rugged Mil-Aero air
land and sea applications Built
with COSA Technology they
provide the highest packaging
density and greatest flexibility
of any 3U SBC in the industry
Freescale QorIQreg P2041
Intelreg Coretrade i7 Intelreg Atomtrade
ARM Cortextrade-A9
Wind Riverreg Linux
VxWorksreg Altera Linux
Windowsreg Embedded
Standard 7
A certified small business
Accelerate Your Time-to-Mission
COSATM Architecture
Processor of Choice
Up to 3 Function Modules
Select from 40+ Functions
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NA1028 VITA Tech Mar SBC 13 Page AFindd 1 2714 429 PM
John McHale Editorial Director Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors jmchaleopensystemsmediacomJerry Gipper Editorial Director VITA Technologies jgipperopensystemsmediacomCurt Schwaderer Editorial Director Embedded Computing Design cschwadereropensystemsmediacomMonique DeVoe Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design DSP-FPGAcom mdevoeopensystemsmediacomBrandon Lewis Assistant Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design PICMG Systems amp Technology Industrial Embedded Systems blewisopensystemsmediacom
Sally Cole Senior Editor Military Embedded Systems scoleopensystemsmediacomLisa Daigle Assistant Managing Editor Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors ldaigleopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor Military Embedded Systems VITA Technologies aharveyopensystemsmediacomRory Dear Technical Contributor Embedded Computing Design rdearopensystemsmediacom Konrad Witte Senior Web Developer Steph Sweet Creative DirectorDave Diomede Creative Services DirectorJoann Toth Senior Designer
VITA Technologies EditorialProduction Staff
OpenSystems Media EditorialProduction Staff
Corporate opensystemsmediacom
Subscriptions opensystemsmediacomsubscriptions
Tom Varcie Senior Account Manager tvarcieopensystemsmediacomRebecca Barker Strategic Account Manager rbarkeropensystemsmediacomEric Henry Strategic Account Manager ehenryopensystemsmediacomAnn Jesse Strategic Account Manager ajesseopensystemsmediacomKathleen Wackowski Strategic Account Manager kwackowskiopensystemsmediacomSusan MacLeod Strategic Account Manager smacleodopensystemsmediacomChristine Long Vice President Online Business clongopensystemsmediacom
Joy Gilmore Assistant Webcast Manager jgilmoreopensystemsmediacomAsia-Pacific Sales Elvi Lee Account Manager elviaceforumcomtwRegional Sales Managers Barbara Quinlan Southwest bquinlanopensystemsmediacomDenis Seger Southern California dsegeropensystemsmediacomSydele Starr Northern California sstarropensystemsmediacom
Reprints and PDFsrepublishopensystemsmediacom
Sales Group
EMEA Account Managers
Patrick Hopper Publisher phopperopensystemsmediacom Karen Layman Business Manager30233 Jefferson St Clair Shores MI 48082 Tel 586-415-6500
Rosemary Kristoff President rkristoffopensystemsmediacom Wayne Kristoff CTOEmily Verhoeks Financial Assistant 16626 E Avenue of the Fountains Ste 201 Fountain Hills AZ 85268 Tel 480-967-5581
Gerry Rhoades-Brown gerryrhoadesbrownhusonmediacom Christian Hoelscher christianhoelscherhusonmediacomLauren Palmer laurenpalmerhusonmediacom
ISSN Print 1941-3807 ISSN Online 1550-0403VITA Technologies is published four times a year (Spring Summer Fall and Winter) by OpenSystems Media 16626 E Ave of the Fountains Ste 201 Fountain Hills AZ 85268 VITA Technologies is free to qualified engineers or management dealing with or considering open-system technologies For others paid subscription rates inside the US and Canada are $45year For first-class delivery outside the US and Canada subscriptions are $60year (advance payment in US funds required) Periodicals postage paid at St Clair Shores MI and at additional mailing officesCanada Publication agreement number 40048627 Return address WDS Station A PO Box 54 Windsor ON N9A 615POSTMASTER Send address changes to VITA Technologies 30233 Jefferson St Clair Shores MI 48082
Jerry Gipper Editorial Director jerrygipperopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor aharveyopensystemsmediacom
Steph Sweet Creative Director ssweetopensystemsmediacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 5
Editorrsquos Foreword By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
Embedded Tech Trends 2014 the business and technology forum for critical and intelligent embedded systems just wrapped up in Phoenix This year 19 sponsor companies and 13 editors and industry analysts gathered for an intensive two days of technology presentations and meetings Twenty-five presentations were delivered in a very fast paced format that kept everyone on their toes Each morning session of pre-sentations was followed by a hectic afternoon of one-on-one sponsormedia meetings
The purpose of the event is to bring media and industry thought leaders together to exchange ideas and to network among peers It is good old fashioned face-to-face networking that is not possible with even the best of online social media networks Nothing beats spending a few days with such a col-lection of industry colleagues I left the event filled with new ideas and industry connections
The presentations were in TED Talk format meaning they were supposed to be about 15 minutes in length light on bulleted text and were to be devoid of promotional material
About half of the presenters stuck to that format while others are still learning the style Keeping the presentations short allowed much more content to be added to the agenda while keeping the energy level high and the event moving at a fast pace
I kicked off the event with a bit of data on the state of the industry and highlights from the International CES that I attended in January in Las Vegas Toby Colquhoun an analyst with IHS Electronics amp Media then presented a high-level run-down on market numbers for VITA and PICMG technologies
Attendees left the conference exhausted from the intensity of the sessions but excited to have exchanged so much informa-tion and renewed industry connections All of the presentations are posted and can be viewed at the Embedded Tech Trends website [wwwembeddedtechtrendscom]
The event in 2015 will be held January 19 and 20 at a location to be determined Be sure to check out sponsorship opportuni-ties and get this event on your marketing calendars
Embedded Tech Trends in review
VitaTechnology jgipperopensystemsmediacom
The remaining presentations covered many industry related topics as indicated by the following titles rsaquo The rising importance of signal integrity in VPX Systems
TE Connectivity ndash Matthew McAlonis rsaquo New direction for Digital Signal Processing
Kontron ndash Glenn Johnson rsaquo FMCs Are you measuring the right metrics
4DSP ndash Mike Pochkowski rsaquo Is lsquoopenrsquo delaying the future of cognitive computing
Mercury Systems ndash Ian Dunn rsaquo The compliance challenge
Elma Electronic ndash Michael Munroe rsaquo Alternative embedded architectures without a central processor
Alpha Data Inc ndash Adam Smith rsaquo Extending the AdvancedTCA standard for higher performance
footprint Artesyn Embedded Technologies ndash Rob Persons
rsaquo Video processing technologies and challenges for milaero applications CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Alan Simmonds
rsaquo SMARC for low power low cost high performance design ADLINK Technology ndash Matthias Huber
rsaquo Chassis vendor perspective on the standards market LCR Embedded Systems Inc ndash John Long
rsaquo Testing for PCIe SSD compatibility and performance Teledyne LeCroy ndash John Wiedemeier
rsaquo Getting rugged with COM Express MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH ndash Michael Planner
rsaquo New EW architectures based on tight coupling of FPGA and CPU processing OpenVPX Radar amp EW platforms Interface Concept ndash Thierry Wastiaux
rsaquo FMCs in defense markets extending to industrial TechwaY ndash Patrick Mechin
rsaquo VPX approaches to rugged conduction-cooled software radio applications using Virtex-7 architectures Pentek ndash Rodger Hosking
rsaquo Considerations for bridging storage technologies Elma Electronic ndash Ken Grob
rsaquo Certification for avionic mission computers CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Wayne McGee
rsaquo Bringing server-class performance to mobile military applications Mercury Systems ndash Marc Couture
rsaquo Rugged MicroTCA poised to take on VPX for milaero applications VadaTech ndash Justin Moll
rsaquo PICMG update PICMG ndash Doug Sandy
rsaquo VITA update VITA ndash Jerry Gipper
rsaquo Eliminating the fall-out from Moorersquos Law A profitable alternative to end-of-life GDCA ndash Ethan Plotkin
rsaquo The Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS) ndash SpaceVPX (VITA 78) Air Force Research Laboratory ndash Patrick CollierP
RES
EN
TA
TIO
NS
6 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 7
Many of the sponsors of Embedded Tech Trends used this opportunity to roll out new products I was impressed with the passion that was displayed by the companies making these announcements
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Industryrsquos first FMCVPX carrier with optical backplane interfaceRarely do you see as much enthusiasm displayed during a product briefing as that exhibited by Rodger Hosking Vice President of Pentek He was as thrilled as a grandfather bragging about his first grandchild His excitement was over the Flexor line of FMC (FPGA Mezzanine Card) carriers and FMC modules the Model 5973 3U VPX FMC carrier with a Virtex-7 FPGA and the Model 3312 multichannel high speed data converter FMC Together they combine the high performance of the Virtex-7 with the flexibility of the FMC data converter creating a complete radar and software radio solution
The Flexor Model 5973 delivers new levels of IO performance by incorporating the emerging VITA 664 standard for half-size MT optical interconnect providing 12 optical duplex lanes to
the backplane With the installation of a serial protocol the VITA 664 interface enables gigabit backplane communications between boards independent of the PCIe interface
The Flexor Model 3312 FMC surpasses the speed and density of previous products with four 250 MHz 16-bit ADs and two 800 MHz 16-bit DAs Its high pin-count FMC connector matches the new Virtex-7 FPGA carrier boosting performance levels and adding flexibility
Pentek Inc | wwwpentekcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916808 | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916807
Ultra high-speed ADC on an FMCWhen doing analog to digital conversion high sample rates can be very critical Adding the capability to the increasingly popular FMC form factor is even better 4DSP announced the release of two new FMCs for high-speed data acquisition and generation The FMC160 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps and one 14-bit DA channel at 56 Gsps The FMC161 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps or two AD channels at 18 Gsps The FMC160 and FMC161 are based on Texas Instrumentsrsquo ADC12D1800 Analog-to-Digital converter plus the FMC160 adds Analog Devicesrsquo AD9129 Digital-to-Analog converter Both can be used in a conduction-cooled environment
4DSP LLC | www4dspcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916810
COM Express gets ruggedIt was no magic just hard work as the MEN Micro team dealt the cards with the secret of making COM Express rugged They have been working for some time now to define a new standard for rugged mezzanine cards The effort was announced as Rugged COM Express The new VITA 59 standard enables the proven COM Express technology to be used in mission-critical and harsh environments New mechanical parameters guarantee operation across an extended temperature range while providing high shock and vibration resistance as well as EMC protection
Rugged COM Express adds PCB wings for mounting the electronics inside a Conduction Cooled Aluminum (CCA) frame When combined with passive cooling the CCA technology enables electronics to work in high temperature ranges without the need for high-maintenance fans
MEN Micro Inc | wwwmenmicrocom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916815
Feature rich and power efficientIt never ceases to amaze how much functionality can be placed on todayrsquos 6U Single Board Computers (SBCs) While the package pin-count continues to grow the chip count goes down with increasing functionality going into each new generation of processors and chipsets Concurrent Technologiesrsquo latest VPX processor board based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family is part of that trend The VR E1xmsd is a 6U VPX board featuring either the quad-core Intel Core i7-4700EQ processor or the dual-core Intel Core i5-4400E processor together with the associated mobile Intel QM87 Express chipset With up to 32 Gbytes of DRAM and a rich assortment of IO interfaces
including two PMCXMC sites this board is ideal for high-end command and control surveillance radar and image processing systems
Concurrent Technologies | wwwgocctcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916813
Thirty years ago the VMEbus Manufacturers Group founded in 1982 became the VMEbus International Trade Association commonly known as VITA Few organizations in the embedded computing world have the staying power that lasts more than a few years Even fewer have a legacy that stretches back more than 30 years VITA is such an organization staying strong and significant through all those years Under the guidance of the executive director Ray Alderman and his team technical director John Rynearson and administrator Lollie Wheeler VITA has become a recognized leader in standards and busi-ness development for the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
A new chapter is being added to the VITA story In January I became the new executive director of VITA I am excited to be taking the reins of such a respected and influential organiza-tion The opportunities ahead are limitless as we move into what I call VITA 40 (I am the fourth executive director of VITA)
VITA is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code for busi-ness leagues I found it helpful to revisit the IRS definition of the VITA registration
From the IRS website
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues hellip A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit To be exempt a business leaguersquos activities must be devoted to improving business conditions of one or more lines of business as distinguished from performing particular services for individual persons No part of a business leaguersquos net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and it may not be orga-nized for profit to engage in an activity ordinarily car-ried on for profit (even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only enough income to be self-sustaining) The term line of business generally refers either to an entire industry or to all components of an industry within a geographic area
VITA falls right in the sweet spot of the 501(c)(6) definition VITA is an incorporated non-profit organization of vendors
and users having a common market interest in real-time modular embedded computing systems for critical and intel-ligent applications VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards that open new markets VITA unites its members manufacturers and users through the acceptance and implementation of open technology standards that are critical to the success of the members
VITA provides the technical and marketing services of a stan-dards development organization and business development for its members VITA is a forum for developing accredited stan-dards discussing options and promotion of the technology
The scope of VITA is bound by its members to meet the com-puting needs for systems in critical and intelligent applications Originally the scope or line of business was limited to VMEbus technology only Over the years the scope has increased to stay relevant to the changing needs of the industry VITA 40 will be even more focused on increasing the scope and impact the organization and its members will have on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
VITArsquos mission is to promote the concept of open standards as embodied in the many standards developed or under develop-ment within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO)
Going into 2014 I do not expect any major sweeping changes to the mission and objectives of VITA There will be changes to the staff as John and Lollie have both announced their intentions to retire after many years of dedicated service to VITA I view this as an opportunity to review some of the business processes and shift assignments to make the organization even more efficient and effective I will be evaluating and implementing new web-based tools that will make the work of the members easier and more accessible to the membership as a whole
VITA News By Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
execvitacom
IRS
W
EB
SIT
E
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
VITA 40 WILL BE EVEN MORE
FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE SCOPE
AND IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
AND ITS MEMBERS WILL HAVE
ON THE CRITICAL AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED COMPUTING INDUSTRY
Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
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does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
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in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
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Card cages3U to 9U
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Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
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bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
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Spend less time and money designing with NAIrsquos 3U and 6U COTS SBCs NAIrsquos configurable COSAtrade Architecture delivers smarter systems that simplify system integration with less weight less program risk and no NRE mdash so you can deploy faster
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NA1027 VITA_Tech_Mar_SBC_Full_Page_AFindd 1 2714 423 PM
VPX turns 10By Jerry Gipper
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for
VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
Pigeon Point Systems
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with
intelligent extender cards By Brian Roberts
Dawn VME Products
VitaTechnologySPRING 2014 | VOLUME 32 NUMBER 1
raquo p 11
raquo p 14
raquo p 18
All registered brands and trademarks within VITA Technologies magazine are the property of their respective owners tradeVPX and its logo is a registered producttrademark of VITAcopy 2014 OpenSystems Media copy 2014 VITA Technologies
enviroinkindd 1 10108 104438 AM
2 Annapolis Micro Systems Inc ndash WILDSTAR OpenVPX ecosystem23 Behlman Electronics ndash Executive speakout on VPXtra 1500CS13 Dawn VME Products Inc ndash AC does it15 Elma Electronic ndash Storage solutions9 Excalibur Systems Inc ndash 1553couplerscom22 Hartmann Elektronik ndash Executive speakout on VPX power supplies and backplanes21 Interface Concept ndash Advanced electronic solutions 19 LCR Embedded Systems ndash Rugged systems engineered for your application 3 North Atlantic Industries ndash Rugged SBCs from NAI5 North Atlantic Industries ndash 3U cPCI SBCs12 Orion Technologies Inc ndash 3U OpenVPX i7 processors24 Pentek Inc ndash Critical recording in any arena when you canrsquot afford to miss a beat 12 Pigeon Point Systems ndash VITA 4611 management solutions available now17 Schroff Pentair ndash VME VME64X and VPX systemsfaster20 United Electronic Industries ndash Will your VME IO system go EOL this year 20 VEROTEC Electronics Packaging ndash Verotec integrated packaging system building components 22 Wolf Industrial Systems Inc ndash Capture and display together at last VPX3U-E8860-FGX23 Wolf Industrial Systems Inc ndash A new dawn for embedded graphics XMC-E8860-VO
Advertiser Index
On the coverVPX turns 10 These first 10 years have laid down a solid foundation for this technology that is sure to have many more years of growth As VPX completes its first decade member companies from around the industry are actively engaged in the development and enhancement of the leading COTS standard for harsh environment deployments evidenced with Behlman Electronics VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC COTS power supply
6 Editorrsquos Foreword Jerry Gipper
Embedded Tech Trends in review
7 Primetime Choices Four product highlights from the Embedded Tech Trends conference
8 VITA News Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
10 Defining Standards Jerry Gipper
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014
4 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
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John McHale Editorial Director Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors jmchaleopensystemsmediacomJerry Gipper Editorial Director VITA Technologies jgipperopensystemsmediacomCurt Schwaderer Editorial Director Embedded Computing Design cschwadereropensystemsmediacomMonique DeVoe Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design DSP-FPGAcom mdevoeopensystemsmediacomBrandon Lewis Assistant Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design PICMG Systems amp Technology Industrial Embedded Systems blewisopensystemsmediacom
Sally Cole Senior Editor Military Embedded Systems scoleopensystemsmediacomLisa Daigle Assistant Managing Editor Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors ldaigleopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor Military Embedded Systems VITA Technologies aharveyopensystemsmediacomRory Dear Technical Contributor Embedded Computing Design rdearopensystemsmediacom Konrad Witte Senior Web Developer Steph Sweet Creative DirectorDave Diomede Creative Services DirectorJoann Toth Senior Designer
VITA Technologies EditorialProduction Staff
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Corporate opensystemsmediacom
Subscriptions opensystemsmediacomsubscriptions
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EMEA Account Managers
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Gerry Rhoades-Brown gerryrhoadesbrownhusonmediacom Christian Hoelscher christianhoelscherhusonmediacomLauren Palmer laurenpalmerhusonmediacom
ISSN Print 1941-3807 ISSN Online 1550-0403VITA Technologies is published four times a year (Spring Summer Fall and Winter) by OpenSystems Media 16626 E Ave of the Fountains Ste 201 Fountain Hills AZ 85268 VITA Technologies is free to qualified engineers or management dealing with or considering open-system technologies For others paid subscription rates inside the US and Canada are $45year For first-class delivery outside the US and Canada subscriptions are $60year (advance payment in US funds required) Periodicals postage paid at St Clair Shores MI and at additional mailing officesCanada Publication agreement number 40048627 Return address WDS Station A PO Box 54 Windsor ON N9A 615POSTMASTER Send address changes to VITA Technologies 30233 Jefferson St Clair Shores MI 48082
Jerry Gipper Editorial Director jerrygipperopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor aharveyopensystemsmediacom
Steph Sweet Creative Director ssweetopensystemsmediacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 5
Editorrsquos Foreword By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
Embedded Tech Trends 2014 the business and technology forum for critical and intelligent embedded systems just wrapped up in Phoenix This year 19 sponsor companies and 13 editors and industry analysts gathered for an intensive two days of technology presentations and meetings Twenty-five presentations were delivered in a very fast paced format that kept everyone on their toes Each morning session of pre-sentations was followed by a hectic afternoon of one-on-one sponsormedia meetings
The purpose of the event is to bring media and industry thought leaders together to exchange ideas and to network among peers It is good old fashioned face-to-face networking that is not possible with even the best of online social media networks Nothing beats spending a few days with such a col-lection of industry colleagues I left the event filled with new ideas and industry connections
The presentations were in TED Talk format meaning they were supposed to be about 15 minutes in length light on bulleted text and were to be devoid of promotional material
About half of the presenters stuck to that format while others are still learning the style Keeping the presentations short allowed much more content to be added to the agenda while keeping the energy level high and the event moving at a fast pace
I kicked off the event with a bit of data on the state of the industry and highlights from the International CES that I attended in January in Las Vegas Toby Colquhoun an analyst with IHS Electronics amp Media then presented a high-level run-down on market numbers for VITA and PICMG technologies
Attendees left the conference exhausted from the intensity of the sessions but excited to have exchanged so much informa-tion and renewed industry connections All of the presentations are posted and can be viewed at the Embedded Tech Trends website [wwwembeddedtechtrendscom]
The event in 2015 will be held January 19 and 20 at a location to be determined Be sure to check out sponsorship opportuni-ties and get this event on your marketing calendars
Embedded Tech Trends in review
VitaTechnology jgipperopensystemsmediacom
The remaining presentations covered many industry related topics as indicated by the following titles rsaquo The rising importance of signal integrity in VPX Systems
TE Connectivity ndash Matthew McAlonis rsaquo New direction for Digital Signal Processing
Kontron ndash Glenn Johnson rsaquo FMCs Are you measuring the right metrics
4DSP ndash Mike Pochkowski rsaquo Is lsquoopenrsquo delaying the future of cognitive computing
Mercury Systems ndash Ian Dunn rsaquo The compliance challenge
Elma Electronic ndash Michael Munroe rsaquo Alternative embedded architectures without a central processor
Alpha Data Inc ndash Adam Smith rsaquo Extending the AdvancedTCA standard for higher performance
footprint Artesyn Embedded Technologies ndash Rob Persons
rsaquo Video processing technologies and challenges for milaero applications CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Alan Simmonds
rsaquo SMARC for low power low cost high performance design ADLINK Technology ndash Matthias Huber
rsaquo Chassis vendor perspective on the standards market LCR Embedded Systems Inc ndash John Long
rsaquo Testing for PCIe SSD compatibility and performance Teledyne LeCroy ndash John Wiedemeier
rsaquo Getting rugged with COM Express MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH ndash Michael Planner
rsaquo New EW architectures based on tight coupling of FPGA and CPU processing OpenVPX Radar amp EW platforms Interface Concept ndash Thierry Wastiaux
rsaquo FMCs in defense markets extending to industrial TechwaY ndash Patrick Mechin
rsaquo VPX approaches to rugged conduction-cooled software radio applications using Virtex-7 architectures Pentek ndash Rodger Hosking
rsaquo Considerations for bridging storage technologies Elma Electronic ndash Ken Grob
rsaquo Certification for avionic mission computers CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Wayne McGee
rsaquo Bringing server-class performance to mobile military applications Mercury Systems ndash Marc Couture
rsaquo Rugged MicroTCA poised to take on VPX for milaero applications VadaTech ndash Justin Moll
rsaquo PICMG update PICMG ndash Doug Sandy
rsaquo VITA update VITA ndash Jerry Gipper
rsaquo Eliminating the fall-out from Moorersquos Law A profitable alternative to end-of-life GDCA ndash Ethan Plotkin
rsaquo The Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS) ndash SpaceVPX (VITA 78) Air Force Research Laboratory ndash Patrick CollierP
RES
EN
TA
TIO
NS
6 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 7
Many of the sponsors of Embedded Tech Trends used this opportunity to roll out new products I was impressed with the passion that was displayed by the companies making these announcements
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Industryrsquos first FMCVPX carrier with optical backplane interfaceRarely do you see as much enthusiasm displayed during a product briefing as that exhibited by Rodger Hosking Vice President of Pentek He was as thrilled as a grandfather bragging about his first grandchild His excitement was over the Flexor line of FMC (FPGA Mezzanine Card) carriers and FMC modules the Model 5973 3U VPX FMC carrier with a Virtex-7 FPGA and the Model 3312 multichannel high speed data converter FMC Together they combine the high performance of the Virtex-7 with the flexibility of the FMC data converter creating a complete radar and software radio solution
The Flexor Model 5973 delivers new levels of IO performance by incorporating the emerging VITA 664 standard for half-size MT optical interconnect providing 12 optical duplex lanes to
the backplane With the installation of a serial protocol the VITA 664 interface enables gigabit backplane communications between boards independent of the PCIe interface
The Flexor Model 3312 FMC surpasses the speed and density of previous products with four 250 MHz 16-bit ADs and two 800 MHz 16-bit DAs Its high pin-count FMC connector matches the new Virtex-7 FPGA carrier boosting performance levels and adding flexibility
Pentek Inc | wwwpentekcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916808 | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916807
Ultra high-speed ADC on an FMCWhen doing analog to digital conversion high sample rates can be very critical Adding the capability to the increasingly popular FMC form factor is even better 4DSP announced the release of two new FMCs for high-speed data acquisition and generation The FMC160 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps and one 14-bit DA channel at 56 Gsps The FMC161 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps or two AD channels at 18 Gsps The FMC160 and FMC161 are based on Texas Instrumentsrsquo ADC12D1800 Analog-to-Digital converter plus the FMC160 adds Analog Devicesrsquo AD9129 Digital-to-Analog converter Both can be used in a conduction-cooled environment
4DSP LLC | www4dspcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916810
COM Express gets ruggedIt was no magic just hard work as the MEN Micro team dealt the cards with the secret of making COM Express rugged They have been working for some time now to define a new standard for rugged mezzanine cards The effort was announced as Rugged COM Express The new VITA 59 standard enables the proven COM Express technology to be used in mission-critical and harsh environments New mechanical parameters guarantee operation across an extended temperature range while providing high shock and vibration resistance as well as EMC protection
Rugged COM Express adds PCB wings for mounting the electronics inside a Conduction Cooled Aluminum (CCA) frame When combined with passive cooling the CCA technology enables electronics to work in high temperature ranges without the need for high-maintenance fans
MEN Micro Inc | wwwmenmicrocom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916815
Feature rich and power efficientIt never ceases to amaze how much functionality can be placed on todayrsquos 6U Single Board Computers (SBCs) While the package pin-count continues to grow the chip count goes down with increasing functionality going into each new generation of processors and chipsets Concurrent Technologiesrsquo latest VPX processor board based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family is part of that trend The VR E1xmsd is a 6U VPX board featuring either the quad-core Intel Core i7-4700EQ processor or the dual-core Intel Core i5-4400E processor together with the associated mobile Intel QM87 Express chipset With up to 32 Gbytes of DRAM and a rich assortment of IO interfaces
including two PMCXMC sites this board is ideal for high-end command and control surveillance radar and image processing systems
Concurrent Technologies | wwwgocctcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916813
Thirty years ago the VMEbus Manufacturers Group founded in 1982 became the VMEbus International Trade Association commonly known as VITA Few organizations in the embedded computing world have the staying power that lasts more than a few years Even fewer have a legacy that stretches back more than 30 years VITA is such an organization staying strong and significant through all those years Under the guidance of the executive director Ray Alderman and his team technical director John Rynearson and administrator Lollie Wheeler VITA has become a recognized leader in standards and busi-ness development for the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
A new chapter is being added to the VITA story In January I became the new executive director of VITA I am excited to be taking the reins of such a respected and influential organiza-tion The opportunities ahead are limitless as we move into what I call VITA 40 (I am the fourth executive director of VITA)
VITA is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code for busi-ness leagues I found it helpful to revisit the IRS definition of the VITA registration
From the IRS website
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues hellip A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit To be exempt a business leaguersquos activities must be devoted to improving business conditions of one or more lines of business as distinguished from performing particular services for individual persons No part of a business leaguersquos net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and it may not be orga-nized for profit to engage in an activity ordinarily car-ried on for profit (even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only enough income to be self-sustaining) The term line of business generally refers either to an entire industry or to all components of an industry within a geographic area
VITA falls right in the sweet spot of the 501(c)(6) definition VITA is an incorporated non-profit organization of vendors
and users having a common market interest in real-time modular embedded computing systems for critical and intel-ligent applications VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards that open new markets VITA unites its members manufacturers and users through the acceptance and implementation of open technology standards that are critical to the success of the members
VITA provides the technical and marketing services of a stan-dards development organization and business development for its members VITA is a forum for developing accredited stan-dards discussing options and promotion of the technology
The scope of VITA is bound by its members to meet the com-puting needs for systems in critical and intelligent applications Originally the scope or line of business was limited to VMEbus technology only Over the years the scope has increased to stay relevant to the changing needs of the industry VITA 40 will be even more focused on increasing the scope and impact the organization and its members will have on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
VITArsquos mission is to promote the concept of open standards as embodied in the many standards developed or under develop-ment within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO)
Going into 2014 I do not expect any major sweeping changes to the mission and objectives of VITA There will be changes to the staff as John and Lollie have both announced their intentions to retire after many years of dedicated service to VITA I view this as an opportunity to review some of the business processes and shift assignments to make the organization even more efficient and effective I will be evaluating and implementing new web-based tools that will make the work of the members easier and more accessible to the membership as a whole
VITA News By Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
execvitacom
IRS
W
EB
SIT
E
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
VITA 40 WILL BE EVEN MORE
FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE SCOPE
AND IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
AND ITS MEMBERS WILL HAVE
ON THE CRITICAL AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED COMPUTING INDUSTRY
Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
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Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
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rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
VPX turns 10By Jerry Gipper
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for
VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
Pigeon Point Systems
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with
intelligent extender cards By Brian Roberts
Dawn VME Products
VitaTechnologySPRING 2014 | VOLUME 32 NUMBER 1
raquo p 11
raquo p 14
raquo p 18
All registered brands and trademarks within VITA Technologies magazine are the property of their respective owners tradeVPX and its logo is a registered producttrademark of VITAcopy 2014 OpenSystems Media copy 2014 VITA Technologies
enviroinkindd 1 10108 104438 AM
2 Annapolis Micro Systems Inc ndash WILDSTAR OpenVPX ecosystem23 Behlman Electronics ndash Executive speakout on VPXtra 1500CS13 Dawn VME Products Inc ndash AC does it15 Elma Electronic ndash Storage solutions9 Excalibur Systems Inc ndash 1553couplerscom22 Hartmann Elektronik ndash Executive speakout on VPX power supplies and backplanes21 Interface Concept ndash Advanced electronic solutions 19 LCR Embedded Systems ndash Rugged systems engineered for your application 3 North Atlantic Industries ndash Rugged SBCs from NAI5 North Atlantic Industries ndash 3U cPCI SBCs12 Orion Technologies Inc ndash 3U OpenVPX i7 processors24 Pentek Inc ndash Critical recording in any arena when you canrsquot afford to miss a beat 12 Pigeon Point Systems ndash VITA 4611 management solutions available now17 Schroff Pentair ndash VME VME64X and VPX systemsfaster20 United Electronic Industries ndash Will your VME IO system go EOL this year 20 VEROTEC Electronics Packaging ndash Verotec integrated packaging system building components 22 Wolf Industrial Systems Inc ndash Capture and display together at last VPX3U-E8860-FGX23 Wolf Industrial Systems Inc ndash A new dawn for embedded graphics XMC-E8860-VO
Advertiser Index
On the coverVPX turns 10 These first 10 years have laid down a solid foundation for this technology that is sure to have many more years of growth As VPX completes its first decade member companies from around the industry are actively engaged in the development and enhancement of the leading COTS standard for harsh environment deployments evidenced with Behlman Electronics VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC COTS power supply
6 Editorrsquos Foreword Jerry Gipper
Embedded Tech Trends in review
7 Primetime Choices Four product highlights from the Embedded Tech Trends conference
8 VITA News Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
10 Defining Standards Jerry Gipper
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014
4 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
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NA1028 VITA Tech Mar SBC 13 Page AFindd 1 2714 429 PM
John McHale Editorial Director Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors jmchaleopensystemsmediacomJerry Gipper Editorial Director VITA Technologies jgipperopensystemsmediacomCurt Schwaderer Editorial Director Embedded Computing Design cschwadereropensystemsmediacomMonique DeVoe Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design DSP-FPGAcom mdevoeopensystemsmediacomBrandon Lewis Assistant Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design PICMG Systems amp Technology Industrial Embedded Systems blewisopensystemsmediacom
Sally Cole Senior Editor Military Embedded Systems scoleopensystemsmediacomLisa Daigle Assistant Managing Editor Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors ldaigleopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor Military Embedded Systems VITA Technologies aharveyopensystemsmediacomRory Dear Technical Contributor Embedded Computing Design rdearopensystemsmediacom Konrad Witte Senior Web Developer Steph Sweet Creative DirectorDave Diomede Creative Services DirectorJoann Toth Senior Designer
VITA Technologies EditorialProduction Staff
OpenSystems Media EditorialProduction Staff
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Patrick Hopper Publisher phopperopensystemsmediacom Karen Layman Business Manager30233 Jefferson St Clair Shores MI 48082 Tel 586-415-6500
Rosemary Kristoff President rkristoffopensystemsmediacom Wayne Kristoff CTOEmily Verhoeks Financial Assistant 16626 E Avenue of the Fountains Ste 201 Fountain Hills AZ 85268 Tel 480-967-5581
Gerry Rhoades-Brown gerryrhoadesbrownhusonmediacom Christian Hoelscher christianhoelscherhusonmediacomLauren Palmer laurenpalmerhusonmediacom
ISSN Print 1941-3807 ISSN Online 1550-0403VITA Technologies is published four times a year (Spring Summer Fall and Winter) by OpenSystems Media 16626 E Ave of the Fountains Ste 201 Fountain Hills AZ 85268 VITA Technologies is free to qualified engineers or management dealing with or considering open-system technologies For others paid subscription rates inside the US and Canada are $45year For first-class delivery outside the US and Canada subscriptions are $60year (advance payment in US funds required) Periodicals postage paid at St Clair Shores MI and at additional mailing officesCanada Publication agreement number 40048627 Return address WDS Station A PO Box 54 Windsor ON N9A 615POSTMASTER Send address changes to VITA Technologies 30233 Jefferson St Clair Shores MI 48082
Jerry Gipper Editorial Director jerrygipperopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor aharveyopensystemsmediacom
Steph Sweet Creative Director ssweetopensystemsmediacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 5
Editorrsquos Foreword By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
Embedded Tech Trends 2014 the business and technology forum for critical and intelligent embedded systems just wrapped up in Phoenix This year 19 sponsor companies and 13 editors and industry analysts gathered for an intensive two days of technology presentations and meetings Twenty-five presentations were delivered in a very fast paced format that kept everyone on their toes Each morning session of pre-sentations was followed by a hectic afternoon of one-on-one sponsormedia meetings
The purpose of the event is to bring media and industry thought leaders together to exchange ideas and to network among peers It is good old fashioned face-to-face networking that is not possible with even the best of online social media networks Nothing beats spending a few days with such a col-lection of industry colleagues I left the event filled with new ideas and industry connections
The presentations were in TED Talk format meaning they were supposed to be about 15 minutes in length light on bulleted text and were to be devoid of promotional material
About half of the presenters stuck to that format while others are still learning the style Keeping the presentations short allowed much more content to be added to the agenda while keeping the energy level high and the event moving at a fast pace
I kicked off the event with a bit of data on the state of the industry and highlights from the International CES that I attended in January in Las Vegas Toby Colquhoun an analyst with IHS Electronics amp Media then presented a high-level run-down on market numbers for VITA and PICMG technologies
Attendees left the conference exhausted from the intensity of the sessions but excited to have exchanged so much informa-tion and renewed industry connections All of the presentations are posted and can be viewed at the Embedded Tech Trends website [wwwembeddedtechtrendscom]
The event in 2015 will be held January 19 and 20 at a location to be determined Be sure to check out sponsorship opportuni-ties and get this event on your marketing calendars
Embedded Tech Trends in review
VitaTechnology jgipperopensystemsmediacom
The remaining presentations covered many industry related topics as indicated by the following titles rsaquo The rising importance of signal integrity in VPX Systems
TE Connectivity ndash Matthew McAlonis rsaquo New direction for Digital Signal Processing
Kontron ndash Glenn Johnson rsaquo FMCs Are you measuring the right metrics
4DSP ndash Mike Pochkowski rsaquo Is lsquoopenrsquo delaying the future of cognitive computing
Mercury Systems ndash Ian Dunn rsaquo The compliance challenge
Elma Electronic ndash Michael Munroe rsaquo Alternative embedded architectures without a central processor
Alpha Data Inc ndash Adam Smith rsaquo Extending the AdvancedTCA standard for higher performance
footprint Artesyn Embedded Technologies ndash Rob Persons
rsaquo Video processing technologies and challenges for milaero applications CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Alan Simmonds
rsaquo SMARC for low power low cost high performance design ADLINK Technology ndash Matthias Huber
rsaquo Chassis vendor perspective on the standards market LCR Embedded Systems Inc ndash John Long
rsaquo Testing for PCIe SSD compatibility and performance Teledyne LeCroy ndash John Wiedemeier
rsaquo Getting rugged with COM Express MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH ndash Michael Planner
rsaquo New EW architectures based on tight coupling of FPGA and CPU processing OpenVPX Radar amp EW platforms Interface Concept ndash Thierry Wastiaux
rsaquo FMCs in defense markets extending to industrial TechwaY ndash Patrick Mechin
rsaquo VPX approaches to rugged conduction-cooled software radio applications using Virtex-7 architectures Pentek ndash Rodger Hosking
rsaquo Considerations for bridging storage technologies Elma Electronic ndash Ken Grob
rsaquo Certification for avionic mission computers CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Wayne McGee
rsaquo Bringing server-class performance to mobile military applications Mercury Systems ndash Marc Couture
rsaquo Rugged MicroTCA poised to take on VPX for milaero applications VadaTech ndash Justin Moll
rsaquo PICMG update PICMG ndash Doug Sandy
rsaquo VITA update VITA ndash Jerry Gipper
rsaquo Eliminating the fall-out from Moorersquos Law A profitable alternative to end-of-life GDCA ndash Ethan Plotkin
rsaquo The Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS) ndash SpaceVPX (VITA 78) Air Force Research Laboratory ndash Patrick CollierP
RES
EN
TA
TIO
NS
6 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 7
Many of the sponsors of Embedded Tech Trends used this opportunity to roll out new products I was impressed with the passion that was displayed by the companies making these announcements
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Industryrsquos first FMCVPX carrier with optical backplane interfaceRarely do you see as much enthusiasm displayed during a product briefing as that exhibited by Rodger Hosking Vice President of Pentek He was as thrilled as a grandfather bragging about his first grandchild His excitement was over the Flexor line of FMC (FPGA Mezzanine Card) carriers and FMC modules the Model 5973 3U VPX FMC carrier with a Virtex-7 FPGA and the Model 3312 multichannel high speed data converter FMC Together they combine the high performance of the Virtex-7 with the flexibility of the FMC data converter creating a complete radar and software radio solution
The Flexor Model 5973 delivers new levels of IO performance by incorporating the emerging VITA 664 standard for half-size MT optical interconnect providing 12 optical duplex lanes to
the backplane With the installation of a serial protocol the VITA 664 interface enables gigabit backplane communications between boards independent of the PCIe interface
The Flexor Model 3312 FMC surpasses the speed and density of previous products with four 250 MHz 16-bit ADs and two 800 MHz 16-bit DAs Its high pin-count FMC connector matches the new Virtex-7 FPGA carrier boosting performance levels and adding flexibility
Pentek Inc | wwwpentekcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916808 | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916807
Ultra high-speed ADC on an FMCWhen doing analog to digital conversion high sample rates can be very critical Adding the capability to the increasingly popular FMC form factor is even better 4DSP announced the release of two new FMCs for high-speed data acquisition and generation The FMC160 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps and one 14-bit DA channel at 56 Gsps The FMC161 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps or two AD channels at 18 Gsps The FMC160 and FMC161 are based on Texas Instrumentsrsquo ADC12D1800 Analog-to-Digital converter plus the FMC160 adds Analog Devicesrsquo AD9129 Digital-to-Analog converter Both can be used in a conduction-cooled environment
4DSP LLC | www4dspcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916810
COM Express gets ruggedIt was no magic just hard work as the MEN Micro team dealt the cards with the secret of making COM Express rugged They have been working for some time now to define a new standard for rugged mezzanine cards The effort was announced as Rugged COM Express The new VITA 59 standard enables the proven COM Express technology to be used in mission-critical and harsh environments New mechanical parameters guarantee operation across an extended temperature range while providing high shock and vibration resistance as well as EMC protection
Rugged COM Express adds PCB wings for mounting the electronics inside a Conduction Cooled Aluminum (CCA) frame When combined with passive cooling the CCA technology enables electronics to work in high temperature ranges without the need for high-maintenance fans
MEN Micro Inc | wwwmenmicrocom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916815
Feature rich and power efficientIt never ceases to amaze how much functionality can be placed on todayrsquos 6U Single Board Computers (SBCs) While the package pin-count continues to grow the chip count goes down with increasing functionality going into each new generation of processors and chipsets Concurrent Technologiesrsquo latest VPX processor board based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family is part of that trend The VR E1xmsd is a 6U VPX board featuring either the quad-core Intel Core i7-4700EQ processor or the dual-core Intel Core i5-4400E processor together with the associated mobile Intel QM87 Express chipset With up to 32 Gbytes of DRAM and a rich assortment of IO interfaces
including two PMCXMC sites this board is ideal for high-end command and control surveillance radar and image processing systems
Concurrent Technologies | wwwgocctcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916813
Thirty years ago the VMEbus Manufacturers Group founded in 1982 became the VMEbus International Trade Association commonly known as VITA Few organizations in the embedded computing world have the staying power that lasts more than a few years Even fewer have a legacy that stretches back more than 30 years VITA is such an organization staying strong and significant through all those years Under the guidance of the executive director Ray Alderman and his team technical director John Rynearson and administrator Lollie Wheeler VITA has become a recognized leader in standards and busi-ness development for the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
A new chapter is being added to the VITA story In January I became the new executive director of VITA I am excited to be taking the reins of such a respected and influential organiza-tion The opportunities ahead are limitless as we move into what I call VITA 40 (I am the fourth executive director of VITA)
VITA is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code for busi-ness leagues I found it helpful to revisit the IRS definition of the VITA registration
From the IRS website
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues hellip A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit To be exempt a business leaguersquos activities must be devoted to improving business conditions of one or more lines of business as distinguished from performing particular services for individual persons No part of a business leaguersquos net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and it may not be orga-nized for profit to engage in an activity ordinarily car-ried on for profit (even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only enough income to be self-sustaining) The term line of business generally refers either to an entire industry or to all components of an industry within a geographic area
VITA falls right in the sweet spot of the 501(c)(6) definition VITA is an incorporated non-profit organization of vendors
and users having a common market interest in real-time modular embedded computing systems for critical and intel-ligent applications VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards that open new markets VITA unites its members manufacturers and users through the acceptance and implementation of open technology standards that are critical to the success of the members
VITA provides the technical and marketing services of a stan-dards development organization and business development for its members VITA is a forum for developing accredited stan-dards discussing options and promotion of the technology
The scope of VITA is bound by its members to meet the com-puting needs for systems in critical and intelligent applications Originally the scope or line of business was limited to VMEbus technology only Over the years the scope has increased to stay relevant to the changing needs of the industry VITA 40 will be even more focused on increasing the scope and impact the organization and its members will have on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
VITArsquos mission is to promote the concept of open standards as embodied in the many standards developed or under develop-ment within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO)
Going into 2014 I do not expect any major sweeping changes to the mission and objectives of VITA There will be changes to the staff as John and Lollie have both announced their intentions to retire after many years of dedicated service to VITA I view this as an opportunity to review some of the business processes and shift assignments to make the organization even more efficient and effective I will be evaluating and implementing new web-based tools that will make the work of the members easier and more accessible to the membership as a whole
VITA News By Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
execvitacom
IRS
W
EB
SIT
E
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
VITA 40 WILL BE EVEN MORE
FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE SCOPE
AND IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
AND ITS MEMBERS WILL HAVE
ON THE CRITICAL AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED COMPUTING INDUSTRY
Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
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ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
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Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
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Card cages3U to 9U
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Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
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rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
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NA1028 VITA Tech Mar SBC 13 Page AFindd 1 2714 429 PM
John McHale Editorial Director Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors jmchaleopensystemsmediacomJerry Gipper Editorial Director VITA Technologies jgipperopensystemsmediacomCurt Schwaderer Editorial Director Embedded Computing Design cschwadereropensystemsmediacomMonique DeVoe Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design DSP-FPGAcom mdevoeopensystemsmediacomBrandon Lewis Assistant Managing Editor Embedded Computing Design PICMG Systems amp Technology Industrial Embedded Systems blewisopensystemsmediacom
Sally Cole Senior Editor Military Embedded Systems scoleopensystemsmediacomLisa Daigle Assistant Managing Editor Military Embedded Systems PC104 and Small Form Factors ldaigleopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor Military Embedded Systems VITA Technologies aharveyopensystemsmediacomRory Dear Technical Contributor Embedded Computing Design rdearopensystemsmediacom Konrad Witte Senior Web Developer Steph Sweet Creative DirectorDave Diomede Creative Services DirectorJoann Toth Senior Designer
VITA Technologies EditorialProduction Staff
OpenSystems Media EditorialProduction Staff
Corporate opensystemsmediacom
Subscriptions opensystemsmediacomsubscriptions
Tom Varcie Senior Account Manager tvarcieopensystemsmediacomRebecca Barker Strategic Account Manager rbarkeropensystemsmediacomEric Henry Strategic Account Manager ehenryopensystemsmediacomAnn Jesse Strategic Account Manager ajesseopensystemsmediacomKathleen Wackowski Strategic Account Manager kwackowskiopensystemsmediacomSusan MacLeod Strategic Account Manager smacleodopensystemsmediacomChristine Long Vice President Online Business clongopensystemsmediacom
Joy Gilmore Assistant Webcast Manager jgilmoreopensystemsmediacomAsia-Pacific Sales Elvi Lee Account Manager elviaceforumcomtwRegional Sales Managers Barbara Quinlan Southwest bquinlanopensystemsmediacomDenis Seger Southern California dsegeropensystemsmediacomSydele Starr Northern California sstarropensystemsmediacom
Reprints and PDFsrepublishopensystemsmediacom
Sales Group
EMEA Account Managers
Patrick Hopper Publisher phopperopensystemsmediacom Karen Layman Business Manager30233 Jefferson St Clair Shores MI 48082 Tel 586-415-6500
Rosemary Kristoff President rkristoffopensystemsmediacom Wayne Kristoff CTOEmily Verhoeks Financial Assistant 16626 E Avenue of the Fountains Ste 201 Fountain Hills AZ 85268 Tel 480-967-5581
Gerry Rhoades-Brown gerryrhoadesbrownhusonmediacom Christian Hoelscher christianhoelscherhusonmediacomLauren Palmer laurenpalmerhusonmediacom
ISSN Print 1941-3807 ISSN Online 1550-0403VITA Technologies is published four times a year (Spring Summer Fall and Winter) by OpenSystems Media 16626 E Ave of the Fountains Ste 201 Fountain Hills AZ 85268 VITA Technologies is free to qualified engineers or management dealing with or considering open-system technologies For others paid subscription rates inside the US and Canada are $45year For first-class delivery outside the US and Canada subscriptions are $60year (advance payment in US funds required) Periodicals postage paid at St Clair Shores MI and at additional mailing officesCanada Publication agreement number 40048627 Return address WDS Station A PO Box 54 Windsor ON N9A 615POSTMASTER Send address changes to VITA Technologies 30233 Jefferson St Clair Shores MI 48082
Jerry Gipper Editorial Director jerrygipperopensystemsmediacomAmanda Harvey Assistant Editor aharveyopensystemsmediacom
Steph Sweet Creative Director ssweetopensystemsmediacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 5
Editorrsquos Foreword By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
Embedded Tech Trends 2014 the business and technology forum for critical and intelligent embedded systems just wrapped up in Phoenix This year 19 sponsor companies and 13 editors and industry analysts gathered for an intensive two days of technology presentations and meetings Twenty-five presentations were delivered in a very fast paced format that kept everyone on their toes Each morning session of pre-sentations was followed by a hectic afternoon of one-on-one sponsormedia meetings
The purpose of the event is to bring media and industry thought leaders together to exchange ideas and to network among peers It is good old fashioned face-to-face networking that is not possible with even the best of online social media networks Nothing beats spending a few days with such a col-lection of industry colleagues I left the event filled with new ideas and industry connections
The presentations were in TED Talk format meaning they were supposed to be about 15 minutes in length light on bulleted text and were to be devoid of promotional material
About half of the presenters stuck to that format while others are still learning the style Keeping the presentations short allowed much more content to be added to the agenda while keeping the energy level high and the event moving at a fast pace
I kicked off the event with a bit of data on the state of the industry and highlights from the International CES that I attended in January in Las Vegas Toby Colquhoun an analyst with IHS Electronics amp Media then presented a high-level run-down on market numbers for VITA and PICMG technologies
Attendees left the conference exhausted from the intensity of the sessions but excited to have exchanged so much informa-tion and renewed industry connections All of the presentations are posted and can be viewed at the Embedded Tech Trends website [wwwembeddedtechtrendscom]
The event in 2015 will be held January 19 and 20 at a location to be determined Be sure to check out sponsorship opportuni-ties and get this event on your marketing calendars
Embedded Tech Trends in review
VitaTechnology jgipperopensystemsmediacom
The remaining presentations covered many industry related topics as indicated by the following titles rsaquo The rising importance of signal integrity in VPX Systems
TE Connectivity ndash Matthew McAlonis rsaquo New direction for Digital Signal Processing
Kontron ndash Glenn Johnson rsaquo FMCs Are you measuring the right metrics
4DSP ndash Mike Pochkowski rsaquo Is lsquoopenrsquo delaying the future of cognitive computing
Mercury Systems ndash Ian Dunn rsaquo The compliance challenge
Elma Electronic ndash Michael Munroe rsaquo Alternative embedded architectures without a central processor
Alpha Data Inc ndash Adam Smith rsaquo Extending the AdvancedTCA standard for higher performance
footprint Artesyn Embedded Technologies ndash Rob Persons
rsaquo Video processing technologies and challenges for milaero applications CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Alan Simmonds
rsaquo SMARC for low power low cost high performance design ADLINK Technology ndash Matthias Huber
rsaquo Chassis vendor perspective on the standards market LCR Embedded Systems Inc ndash John Long
rsaquo Testing for PCIe SSD compatibility and performance Teledyne LeCroy ndash John Wiedemeier
rsaquo Getting rugged with COM Express MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH ndash Michael Planner
rsaquo New EW architectures based on tight coupling of FPGA and CPU processing OpenVPX Radar amp EW platforms Interface Concept ndash Thierry Wastiaux
rsaquo FMCs in defense markets extending to industrial TechwaY ndash Patrick Mechin
rsaquo VPX approaches to rugged conduction-cooled software radio applications using Virtex-7 architectures Pentek ndash Rodger Hosking
rsaquo Considerations for bridging storage technologies Elma Electronic ndash Ken Grob
rsaquo Certification for avionic mission computers CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Wayne McGee
rsaquo Bringing server-class performance to mobile military applications Mercury Systems ndash Marc Couture
rsaquo Rugged MicroTCA poised to take on VPX for milaero applications VadaTech ndash Justin Moll
rsaquo PICMG update PICMG ndash Doug Sandy
rsaquo VITA update VITA ndash Jerry Gipper
rsaquo Eliminating the fall-out from Moorersquos Law A profitable alternative to end-of-life GDCA ndash Ethan Plotkin
rsaquo The Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS) ndash SpaceVPX (VITA 78) Air Force Research Laboratory ndash Patrick CollierP
RES
EN
TA
TIO
NS
6 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 7
Many of the sponsors of Embedded Tech Trends used this opportunity to roll out new products I was impressed with the passion that was displayed by the companies making these announcements
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Industryrsquos first FMCVPX carrier with optical backplane interfaceRarely do you see as much enthusiasm displayed during a product briefing as that exhibited by Rodger Hosking Vice President of Pentek He was as thrilled as a grandfather bragging about his first grandchild His excitement was over the Flexor line of FMC (FPGA Mezzanine Card) carriers and FMC modules the Model 5973 3U VPX FMC carrier with a Virtex-7 FPGA and the Model 3312 multichannel high speed data converter FMC Together they combine the high performance of the Virtex-7 with the flexibility of the FMC data converter creating a complete radar and software radio solution
The Flexor Model 5973 delivers new levels of IO performance by incorporating the emerging VITA 664 standard for half-size MT optical interconnect providing 12 optical duplex lanes to
the backplane With the installation of a serial protocol the VITA 664 interface enables gigabit backplane communications between boards independent of the PCIe interface
The Flexor Model 3312 FMC surpasses the speed and density of previous products with four 250 MHz 16-bit ADs and two 800 MHz 16-bit DAs Its high pin-count FMC connector matches the new Virtex-7 FPGA carrier boosting performance levels and adding flexibility
Pentek Inc | wwwpentekcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916808 | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916807
Ultra high-speed ADC on an FMCWhen doing analog to digital conversion high sample rates can be very critical Adding the capability to the increasingly popular FMC form factor is even better 4DSP announced the release of two new FMCs for high-speed data acquisition and generation The FMC160 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps and one 14-bit DA channel at 56 Gsps The FMC161 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps or two AD channels at 18 Gsps The FMC160 and FMC161 are based on Texas Instrumentsrsquo ADC12D1800 Analog-to-Digital converter plus the FMC160 adds Analog Devicesrsquo AD9129 Digital-to-Analog converter Both can be used in a conduction-cooled environment
4DSP LLC | www4dspcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916810
COM Express gets ruggedIt was no magic just hard work as the MEN Micro team dealt the cards with the secret of making COM Express rugged They have been working for some time now to define a new standard for rugged mezzanine cards The effort was announced as Rugged COM Express The new VITA 59 standard enables the proven COM Express technology to be used in mission-critical and harsh environments New mechanical parameters guarantee operation across an extended temperature range while providing high shock and vibration resistance as well as EMC protection
Rugged COM Express adds PCB wings for mounting the electronics inside a Conduction Cooled Aluminum (CCA) frame When combined with passive cooling the CCA technology enables electronics to work in high temperature ranges without the need for high-maintenance fans
MEN Micro Inc | wwwmenmicrocom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916815
Feature rich and power efficientIt never ceases to amaze how much functionality can be placed on todayrsquos 6U Single Board Computers (SBCs) While the package pin-count continues to grow the chip count goes down with increasing functionality going into each new generation of processors and chipsets Concurrent Technologiesrsquo latest VPX processor board based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family is part of that trend The VR E1xmsd is a 6U VPX board featuring either the quad-core Intel Core i7-4700EQ processor or the dual-core Intel Core i5-4400E processor together with the associated mobile Intel QM87 Express chipset With up to 32 Gbytes of DRAM and a rich assortment of IO interfaces
including two PMCXMC sites this board is ideal for high-end command and control surveillance radar and image processing systems
Concurrent Technologies | wwwgocctcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916813
Thirty years ago the VMEbus Manufacturers Group founded in 1982 became the VMEbus International Trade Association commonly known as VITA Few organizations in the embedded computing world have the staying power that lasts more than a few years Even fewer have a legacy that stretches back more than 30 years VITA is such an organization staying strong and significant through all those years Under the guidance of the executive director Ray Alderman and his team technical director John Rynearson and administrator Lollie Wheeler VITA has become a recognized leader in standards and busi-ness development for the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
A new chapter is being added to the VITA story In January I became the new executive director of VITA I am excited to be taking the reins of such a respected and influential organiza-tion The opportunities ahead are limitless as we move into what I call VITA 40 (I am the fourth executive director of VITA)
VITA is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code for busi-ness leagues I found it helpful to revisit the IRS definition of the VITA registration
From the IRS website
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues hellip A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit To be exempt a business leaguersquos activities must be devoted to improving business conditions of one or more lines of business as distinguished from performing particular services for individual persons No part of a business leaguersquos net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and it may not be orga-nized for profit to engage in an activity ordinarily car-ried on for profit (even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only enough income to be self-sustaining) The term line of business generally refers either to an entire industry or to all components of an industry within a geographic area
VITA falls right in the sweet spot of the 501(c)(6) definition VITA is an incorporated non-profit organization of vendors
and users having a common market interest in real-time modular embedded computing systems for critical and intel-ligent applications VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards that open new markets VITA unites its members manufacturers and users through the acceptance and implementation of open technology standards that are critical to the success of the members
VITA provides the technical and marketing services of a stan-dards development organization and business development for its members VITA is a forum for developing accredited stan-dards discussing options and promotion of the technology
The scope of VITA is bound by its members to meet the com-puting needs for systems in critical and intelligent applications Originally the scope or line of business was limited to VMEbus technology only Over the years the scope has increased to stay relevant to the changing needs of the industry VITA 40 will be even more focused on increasing the scope and impact the organization and its members will have on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
VITArsquos mission is to promote the concept of open standards as embodied in the many standards developed or under develop-ment within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO)
Going into 2014 I do not expect any major sweeping changes to the mission and objectives of VITA There will be changes to the staff as John and Lollie have both announced their intentions to retire after many years of dedicated service to VITA I view this as an opportunity to review some of the business processes and shift assignments to make the organization even more efficient and effective I will be evaluating and implementing new web-based tools that will make the work of the members easier and more accessible to the membership as a whole
VITA News By Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
execvitacom
IRS
W
EB
SIT
E
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
VITA 40 WILL BE EVEN MORE
FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE SCOPE
AND IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
AND ITS MEMBERS WILL HAVE
ON THE CRITICAL AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED COMPUTING INDUSTRY
Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
Editorrsquos Foreword By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
Embedded Tech Trends 2014 the business and technology forum for critical and intelligent embedded systems just wrapped up in Phoenix This year 19 sponsor companies and 13 editors and industry analysts gathered for an intensive two days of technology presentations and meetings Twenty-five presentations were delivered in a very fast paced format that kept everyone on their toes Each morning session of pre-sentations was followed by a hectic afternoon of one-on-one sponsormedia meetings
The purpose of the event is to bring media and industry thought leaders together to exchange ideas and to network among peers It is good old fashioned face-to-face networking that is not possible with even the best of online social media networks Nothing beats spending a few days with such a col-lection of industry colleagues I left the event filled with new ideas and industry connections
The presentations were in TED Talk format meaning they were supposed to be about 15 minutes in length light on bulleted text and were to be devoid of promotional material
About half of the presenters stuck to that format while others are still learning the style Keeping the presentations short allowed much more content to be added to the agenda while keeping the energy level high and the event moving at a fast pace
I kicked off the event with a bit of data on the state of the industry and highlights from the International CES that I attended in January in Las Vegas Toby Colquhoun an analyst with IHS Electronics amp Media then presented a high-level run-down on market numbers for VITA and PICMG technologies
Attendees left the conference exhausted from the intensity of the sessions but excited to have exchanged so much informa-tion and renewed industry connections All of the presentations are posted and can be viewed at the Embedded Tech Trends website [wwwembeddedtechtrendscom]
The event in 2015 will be held January 19 and 20 at a location to be determined Be sure to check out sponsorship opportuni-ties and get this event on your marketing calendars
Embedded Tech Trends in review
VitaTechnology jgipperopensystemsmediacom
The remaining presentations covered many industry related topics as indicated by the following titles rsaquo The rising importance of signal integrity in VPX Systems
TE Connectivity ndash Matthew McAlonis rsaquo New direction for Digital Signal Processing
Kontron ndash Glenn Johnson rsaquo FMCs Are you measuring the right metrics
4DSP ndash Mike Pochkowski rsaquo Is lsquoopenrsquo delaying the future of cognitive computing
Mercury Systems ndash Ian Dunn rsaquo The compliance challenge
Elma Electronic ndash Michael Munroe rsaquo Alternative embedded architectures without a central processor
Alpha Data Inc ndash Adam Smith rsaquo Extending the AdvancedTCA standard for higher performance
footprint Artesyn Embedded Technologies ndash Rob Persons
rsaquo Video processing technologies and challenges for milaero applications CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Alan Simmonds
rsaquo SMARC for low power low cost high performance design ADLINK Technology ndash Matthias Huber
rsaquo Chassis vendor perspective on the standards market LCR Embedded Systems Inc ndash John Long
rsaquo Testing for PCIe SSD compatibility and performance Teledyne LeCroy ndash John Wiedemeier
rsaquo Getting rugged with COM Express MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH ndash Michael Planner
rsaquo New EW architectures based on tight coupling of FPGA and CPU processing OpenVPX Radar amp EW platforms Interface Concept ndash Thierry Wastiaux
rsaquo FMCs in defense markets extending to industrial TechwaY ndash Patrick Mechin
rsaquo VPX approaches to rugged conduction-cooled software radio applications using Virtex-7 architectures Pentek ndash Rodger Hosking
rsaquo Considerations for bridging storage technologies Elma Electronic ndash Ken Grob
rsaquo Certification for avionic mission computers CES ndash Creative Electronic Systems SA ndash Wayne McGee
rsaquo Bringing server-class performance to mobile military applications Mercury Systems ndash Marc Couture
rsaquo Rugged MicroTCA poised to take on VPX for milaero applications VadaTech ndash Justin Moll
rsaquo PICMG update PICMG ndash Doug Sandy
rsaquo VITA update VITA ndash Jerry Gipper
rsaquo Eliminating the fall-out from Moorersquos Law A profitable alternative to end-of-life GDCA ndash Ethan Plotkin
rsaquo The Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS) ndash SpaceVPX (VITA 78) Air Force Research Laboratory ndash Patrick CollierP
RES
EN
TA
TIO
NS
6 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 7
Many of the sponsors of Embedded Tech Trends used this opportunity to roll out new products I was impressed with the passion that was displayed by the companies making these announcements
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Industryrsquos first FMCVPX carrier with optical backplane interfaceRarely do you see as much enthusiasm displayed during a product briefing as that exhibited by Rodger Hosking Vice President of Pentek He was as thrilled as a grandfather bragging about his first grandchild His excitement was over the Flexor line of FMC (FPGA Mezzanine Card) carriers and FMC modules the Model 5973 3U VPX FMC carrier with a Virtex-7 FPGA and the Model 3312 multichannel high speed data converter FMC Together they combine the high performance of the Virtex-7 with the flexibility of the FMC data converter creating a complete radar and software radio solution
The Flexor Model 5973 delivers new levels of IO performance by incorporating the emerging VITA 664 standard for half-size MT optical interconnect providing 12 optical duplex lanes to
the backplane With the installation of a serial protocol the VITA 664 interface enables gigabit backplane communications between boards independent of the PCIe interface
The Flexor Model 3312 FMC surpasses the speed and density of previous products with four 250 MHz 16-bit ADs and two 800 MHz 16-bit DAs Its high pin-count FMC connector matches the new Virtex-7 FPGA carrier boosting performance levels and adding flexibility
Pentek Inc | wwwpentekcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916808 | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916807
Ultra high-speed ADC on an FMCWhen doing analog to digital conversion high sample rates can be very critical Adding the capability to the increasingly popular FMC form factor is even better 4DSP announced the release of two new FMCs for high-speed data acquisition and generation The FMC160 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps and one 14-bit DA channel at 56 Gsps The FMC161 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps or two AD channels at 18 Gsps The FMC160 and FMC161 are based on Texas Instrumentsrsquo ADC12D1800 Analog-to-Digital converter plus the FMC160 adds Analog Devicesrsquo AD9129 Digital-to-Analog converter Both can be used in a conduction-cooled environment
4DSP LLC | www4dspcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916810
COM Express gets ruggedIt was no magic just hard work as the MEN Micro team dealt the cards with the secret of making COM Express rugged They have been working for some time now to define a new standard for rugged mezzanine cards The effort was announced as Rugged COM Express The new VITA 59 standard enables the proven COM Express technology to be used in mission-critical and harsh environments New mechanical parameters guarantee operation across an extended temperature range while providing high shock and vibration resistance as well as EMC protection
Rugged COM Express adds PCB wings for mounting the electronics inside a Conduction Cooled Aluminum (CCA) frame When combined with passive cooling the CCA technology enables electronics to work in high temperature ranges without the need for high-maintenance fans
MEN Micro Inc | wwwmenmicrocom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916815
Feature rich and power efficientIt never ceases to amaze how much functionality can be placed on todayrsquos 6U Single Board Computers (SBCs) While the package pin-count continues to grow the chip count goes down with increasing functionality going into each new generation of processors and chipsets Concurrent Technologiesrsquo latest VPX processor board based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family is part of that trend The VR E1xmsd is a 6U VPX board featuring either the quad-core Intel Core i7-4700EQ processor or the dual-core Intel Core i5-4400E processor together with the associated mobile Intel QM87 Express chipset With up to 32 Gbytes of DRAM and a rich assortment of IO interfaces
including two PMCXMC sites this board is ideal for high-end command and control surveillance radar and image processing systems
Concurrent Technologies | wwwgocctcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916813
Thirty years ago the VMEbus Manufacturers Group founded in 1982 became the VMEbus International Trade Association commonly known as VITA Few organizations in the embedded computing world have the staying power that lasts more than a few years Even fewer have a legacy that stretches back more than 30 years VITA is such an organization staying strong and significant through all those years Under the guidance of the executive director Ray Alderman and his team technical director John Rynearson and administrator Lollie Wheeler VITA has become a recognized leader in standards and busi-ness development for the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
A new chapter is being added to the VITA story In January I became the new executive director of VITA I am excited to be taking the reins of such a respected and influential organiza-tion The opportunities ahead are limitless as we move into what I call VITA 40 (I am the fourth executive director of VITA)
VITA is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code for busi-ness leagues I found it helpful to revisit the IRS definition of the VITA registration
From the IRS website
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues hellip A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit To be exempt a business leaguersquos activities must be devoted to improving business conditions of one or more lines of business as distinguished from performing particular services for individual persons No part of a business leaguersquos net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and it may not be orga-nized for profit to engage in an activity ordinarily car-ried on for profit (even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only enough income to be self-sustaining) The term line of business generally refers either to an entire industry or to all components of an industry within a geographic area
VITA falls right in the sweet spot of the 501(c)(6) definition VITA is an incorporated non-profit organization of vendors
and users having a common market interest in real-time modular embedded computing systems for critical and intel-ligent applications VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards that open new markets VITA unites its members manufacturers and users through the acceptance and implementation of open technology standards that are critical to the success of the members
VITA provides the technical and marketing services of a stan-dards development organization and business development for its members VITA is a forum for developing accredited stan-dards discussing options and promotion of the technology
The scope of VITA is bound by its members to meet the com-puting needs for systems in critical and intelligent applications Originally the scope or line of business was limited to VMEbus technology only Over the years the scope has increased to stay relevant to the changing needs of the industry VITA 40 will be even more focused on increasing the scope and impact the organization and its members will have on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
VITArsquos mission is to promote the concept of open standards as embodied in the many standards developed or under develop-ment within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO)
Going into 2014 I do not expect any major sweeping changes to the mission and objectives of VITA There will be changes to the staff as John and Lollie have both announced their intentions to retire after many years of dedicated service to VITA I view this as an opportunity to review some of the business processes and shift assignments to make the organization even more efficient and effective I will be evaluating and implementing new web-based tools that will make the work of the members easier and more accessible to the membership as a whole
VITA News By Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
execvitacom
IRS
W
EB
SIT
E
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
VITA 40 WILL BE EVEN MORE
FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE SCOPE
AND IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
AND ITS MEMBERS WILL HAVE
ON THE CRITICAL AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED COMPUTING INDUSTRY
Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
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bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 7
Many of the sponsors of Embedded Tech Trends used this opportunity to roll out new products I was impressed with the passion that was displayed by the companies making these announcements
PRIMETIME CHOICES
Industryrsquos first FMCVPX carrier with optical backplane interfaceRarely do you see as much enthusiasm displayed during a product briefing as that exhibited by Rodger Hosking Vice President of Pentek He was as thrilled as a grandfather bragging about his first grandchild His excitement was over the Flexor line of FMC (FPGA Mezzanine Card) carriers and FMC modules the Model 5973 3U VPX FMC carrier with a Virtex-7 FPGA and the Model 3312 multichannel high speed data converter FMC Together they combine the high performance of the Virtex-7 with the flexibility of the FMC data converter creating a complete radar and software radio solution
The Flexor Model 5973 delivers new levels of IO performance by incorporating the emerging VITA 664 standard for half-size MT optical interconnect providing 12 optical duplex lanes to
the backplane With the installation of a serial protocol the VITA 664 interface enables gigabit backplane communications between boards independent of the PCIe interface
The Flexor Model 3312 FMC surpasses the speed and density of previous products with four 250 MHz 16-bit ADs and two 800 MHz 16-bit DAs Its high pin-count FMC connector matches the new Virtex-7 FPGA carrier boosting performance levels and adding flexibility
Pentek Inc | wwwpentekcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916808 | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916807
Ultra high-speed ADC on an FMCWhen doing analog to digital conversion high sample rates can be very critical Adding the capability to the increasingly popular FMC form factor is even better 4DSP announced the release of two new FMCs for high-speed data acquisition and generation The FMC160 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps and one 14-bit DA channel at 56 Gsps The FMC161 provides one 12-bit AD channel at 36 Gsps or two AD channels at 18 Gsps The FMC160 and FMC161 are based on Texas Instrumentsrsquo ADC12D1800 Analog-to-Digital converter plus the FMC160 adds Analog Devicesrsquo AD9129 Digital-to-Analog converter Both can be used in a conduction-cooled environment
4DSP LLC | www4dspcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916810
COM Express gets ruggedIt was no magic just hard work as the MEN Micro team dealt the cards with the secret of making COM Express rugged They have been working for some time now to define a new standard for rugged mezzanine cards The effort was announced as Rugged COM Express The new VITA 59 standard enables the proven COM Express technology to be used in mission-critical and harsh environments New mechanical parameters guarantee operation across an extended temperature range while providing high shock and vibration resistance as well as EMC protection
Rugged COM Express adds PCB wings for mounting the electronics inside a Conduction Cooled Aluminum (CCA) frame When combined with passive cooling the CCA technology enables electronics to work in high temperature ranges without the need for high-maintenance fans
MEN Micro Inc | wwwmenmicrocom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916815
Feature rich and power efficientIt never ceases to amaze how much functionality can be placed on todayrsquos 6U Single Board Computers (SBCs) While the package pin-count continues to grow the chip count goes down with increasing functionality going into each new generation of processors and chipsets Concurrent Technologiesrsquo latest VPX processor board based on the 4th generation Intel Core processor family is part of that trend The VR E1xmsd is a 6U VPX board featuring either the quad-core Intel Core i7-4700EQ processor or the dual-core Intel Core i5-4400E processor together with the associated mobile Intel QM87 Express chipset With up to 32 Gbytes of DRAM and a rich assortment of IO interfaces
including two PMCXMC sites this board is ideal for high-end command and control surveillance radar and image processing systems
Concurrent Technologies | wwwgocctcom | wwwvita-technologiescomp9916813
Thirty years ago the VMEbus Manufacturers Group founded in 1982 became the VMEbus International Trade Association commonly known as VITA Few organizations in the embedded computing world have the staying power that lasts more than a few years Even fewer have a legacy that stretches back more than 30 years VITA is such an organization staying strong and significant through all those years Under the guidance of the executive director Ray Alderman and his team technical director John Rynearson and administrator Lollie Wheeler VITA has become a recognized leader in standards and busi-ness development for the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
A new chapter is being added to the VITA story In January I became the new executive director of VITA I am excited to be taking the reins of such a respected and influential organiza-tion The opportunities ahead are limitless as we move into what I call VITA 40 (I am the fourth executive director of VITA)
VITA is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code for busi-ness leagues I found it helpful to revisit the IRS definition of the VITA registration
From the IRS website
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues hellip A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit To be exempt a business leaguersquos activities must be devoted to improving business conditions of one or more lines of business as distinguished from performing particular services for individual persons No part of a business leaguersquos net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and it may not be orga-nized for profit to engage in an activity ordinarily car-ried on for profit (even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only enough income to be self-sustaining) The term line of business generally refers either to an entire industry or to all components of an industry within a geographic area
VITA falls right in the sweet spot of the 501(c)(6) definition VITA is an incorporated non-profit organization of vendors
and users having a common market interest in real-time modular embedded computing systems for critical and intel-ligent applications VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards that open new markets VITA unites its members manufacturers and users through the acceptance and implementation of open technology standards that are critical to the success of the members
VITA provides the technical and marketing services of a stan-dards development organization and business development for its members VITA is a forum for developing accredited stan-dards discussing options and promotion of the technology
The scope of VITA is bound by its members to meet the com-puting needs for systems in critical and intelligent applications Originally the scope or line of business was limited to VMEbus technology only Over the years the scope has increased to stay relevant to the changing needs of the industry VITA 40 will be even more focused on increasing the scope and impact the organization and its members will have on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
VITArsquos mission is to promote the concept of open standards as embodied in the many standards developed or under develop-ment within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO)
Going into 2014 I do not expect any major sweeping changes to the mission and objectives of VITA There will be changes to the staff as John and Lollie have both announced their intentions to retire after many years of dedicated service to VITA I view this as an opportunity to review some of the business processes and shift assignments to make the organization even more efficient and effective I will be evaluating and implementing new web-based tools that will make the work of the members easier and more accessible to the membership as a whole
VITA News By Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
execvitacom
IRS
W
EB
SIT
E
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
VITA 40 WILL BE EVEN MORE
FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE SCOPE
AND IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
AND ITS MEMBERS WILL HAVE
ON THE CRITICAL AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED COMPUTING INDUSTRY
Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
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NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
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Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
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Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
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Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
Thirty years ago the VMEbus Manufacturers Group founded in 1982 became the VMEbus International Trade Association commonly known as VITA Few organizations in the embedded computing world have the staying power that lasts more than a few years Even fewer have a legacy that stretches back more than 30 years VITA is such an organization staying strong and significant through all those years Under the guidance of the executive director Ray Alderman and his team technical director John Rynearson and administrator Lollie Wheeler VITA has become a recognized leader in standards and busi-ness development for the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
A new chapter is being added to the VITA story In January I became the new executive director of VITA I am excited to be taking the reins of such a respected and influential organiza-tion The opportunities ahead are limitless as we move into what I call VITA 40 (I am the fourth executive director of VITA)
VITA is registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code for busi-ness leagues I found it helpful to revisit the IRS definition of the VITA registration
From the IRS website
Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code provides for the exemption of business leagues hellip A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit To be exempt a business leaguersquos activities must be devoted to improving business conditions of one or more lines of business as distinguished from performing particular services for individual persons No part of a business leaguersquos net earnings may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual and it may not be orga-nized for profit to engage in an activity ordinarily car-ried on for profit (even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only enough income to be self-sustaining) The term line of business generally refers either to an entire industry or to all components of an industry within a geographic area
VITA falls right in the sweet spot of the 501(c)(6) definition VITA is an incorporated non-profit organization of vendors
and users having a common market interest in real-time modular embedded computing systems for critical and intel-ligent applications VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards that open new markets VITA unites its members manufacturers and users through the acceptance and implementation of open technology standards that are critical to the success of the members
VITA provides the technical and marketing services of a stan-dards development organization and business development for its members VITA is a forum for developing accredited stan-dards discussing options and promotion of the technology
The scope of VITA is bound by its members to meet the com-puting needs for systems in critical and intelligent applications Originally the scope or line of business was limited to VMEbus technology only Over the years the scope has increased to stay relevant to the changing needs of the industry VITA 40 will be even more focused on increasing the scope and impact the organization and its members will have on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
VITArsquos mission is to promote the concept of open standards as embodied in the many standards developed or under develop-ment within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO)
Going into 2014 I do not expect any major sweeping changes to the mission and objectives of VITA There will be changes to the staff as John and Lollie have both announced their intentions to retire after many years of dedicated service to VITA I view this as an opportunity to review some of the business processes and shift assignments to make the organization even more efficient and effective I will be evaluating and implementing new web-based tools that will make the work of the members easier and more accessible to the membership as a whole
VITA News By Jerry Gipper
VITA 40
execvitacom
IRS
W
EB
SIT
E
8 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
VITA 40 WILL BE EVEN MORE
FOCUSED ON INCREASING THE SCOPE
AND IMPACT THE ORGANIZATION
AND ITS MEMBERS WILL HAVE
ON THE CRITICAL AND INTELLIGENT
EMBEDDED COMPUTING INDUSTRY
Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
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AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
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Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
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Key objectives for 2014Under the mission VITA has two key objectives to reach as we go into 2014
Keep the VSO pipeline full of meaningful and beneficial programs for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology Many current projects have much work remaining to be completed VPX for example has several working groups working on multiple aspects of this popular standard The VSO will continue efforts to develop small form factor standards that are important to critical and intelligent embedded com-puting Efforts to expand into optical standards and technology have already begun and will increase in intensity as the need for faster and bigger data pipes continues to grow VITA will continue to research new areas for possible standards develop-ment projects that should be brought into our standards devel-opment process
Increase VITA and VITA member visibility in the critical and intelligent embedded computing markets Over the years VITA has become recognized as a key standards development organization for critical and intelligent embedded computing technology We will continue to promote VITA as the place to bring new standards development projects for key technology The VSO processes with its ANSI ratification of specifications and ex-ante patent policy lead in the standards development community
Along with the work done within the working groups of the VSO we will increase marketing alliance activities to drive interest in the resulting technologies and to grow ecosys-tems of suppliers VITA will be researching and creating new marketing services to enable expanding into non-traditional markets And we intend to expand international visibility and participation through global marketing activities that promote our standards and marketing capabilities
VITA fills a critical void in technology development The oppor-tunities are numerous especially as innovation remains one of the best ways to achieve growth in tough economic times Having both the supply and demand of the market as VITA members is going to make it easier to identify new problems in the market leading to the development of technology speci-fications that will solve those problems I am very confident that the creative minds of our membership will provide the needed stimulus to help VITA thrive and grow as we meet the upcoming challenges
If you are an innovator who is seeking to have an impact on the industry there is no better time than now to get involved Donrsquot sit on the sidelines visit the VITA website (wwwvitacom) now to learn how you can join the efforts I look forward to your participation
Jerry Gipper bull VITA Executive Director bull jerryvitacom
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 9
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
VITA Technologies Hall of Fame Class of 2014There have been a great number of people who have made tremendous contributions to the innovation and advancement of many technologies that have been important to the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry The intention of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame is to honor and preserve the memory of the key contributors
Last fall we announced the launch of the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame John Rynearson the current technical director of VITA was the first inductee into the Hall of Fame With this issue we are announcing additional inductees We are also releasing the process for nomi-nating and selecting future inductees
New inductees Cecil Kaplinksy Craig MacKenna John Black Shlomo Pri-Tal Wayne Fischer
Our first three inductees ndash Cecil Kaplinsky Craig MacKenna and John Black developed the first draft of the VMEbus specification Unfortunately we have lost touch with two of these VMEbus pioneers Cecil who was at Signetics at the time of the launch of VMEbus went on to a career of IP devel-opment but it appears that he passed away in 1999 Craig was the designer of Mostekrsquos first VME processor board but has not been heard from in recent years
John authored the VMEbus specification which was eventually adopted as an IEEE ANSI and ISO standard In 1985 John left Motorola to found his own company (Micrology pbt Inc) to work with start-up companies seeking to offer leading-edge embedded multiprocessing com-puter systems based on the VMEbus standard At the same time he and two partners launched a technical publishing company (OpenSystems Publishing now called OpenSystems Media) to promote the development of open standards
and to assist start-up companies in introducing products based on those standards In addition to his part- ner responsibilities John served as editor-in-chief of VMEbus Systems (now VITA Technologies) magazine and Real-time Engineering magazine
In 2003 John joined Arizona State University as a Research Scientist to help launch the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing and the iCARE project which conducts research aimed at the development of assistive technol-ogies for people who are blind
Shlomo Pri-Tal joined Motorola in 1980 and was an originator of the VMEbus architecture In 1984 Shlomo assumed the chair of the VME Subsystem Bus (VSB) 1096 committee One year later he would do the same with the IEEE 1014 VMEbus working group Shlomo was elected chairman of the VITA Technical Committee in 1987
Shlomo has remained connected to the original Motorola team in one form or another He is now the CTO of Artesyn Embedded Technologies which is the latest incarnation of Motorola Force Computers and several other embedded technology companies that have merged together over the years
Wayne Fischer was working as Motorolarsquos 68000 microprocessor expert for Silicon Valley in 1981 and became involved with the VME strategy as part of Motorolarsquos plans for expanding the new CPUrsquos market As Fischer recalls ldquoVME was a means to an end not an end unto itselfrdquo
Wayne went to Force Computers in 1983 He headed the IEEE working group for the US VMEbus standard IEEE 1014 gaining final approval in 1987 He fully retired in January of 2000 and moved to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the beauty of the area remaining active in the local community
More on each of these inductees can be found at the Hall of Fame web-site httpopensystemsmediacomhall-of-famevita-technologies
Nomination and selection processWe have developed a simple nomina-tion and selection process that is loosely based on the NFL Hall of Fame process
Any ldquofanrdquo may nominate any qualified individual team of individuals com-pany product or technology to the VITA Technologies Hall of Fame via the nomi-nation form on the Hall of Fame website The only restriction is that the nominee must have had a significant impact on the critical and intelligent embedded computing industry
The nominees will be gathered into a ballot at the end of November each year The ballot will be distributed to the current members of VITA who will make up the Selection Committee for online voting Each member company will have one ballot to select their top choices
To be elected a finalist must receive at least 80 percent support from the ballot with at least five but no more than 10 candidates being elected annually If less than five candidates get 80 percent of the vote then the top five vote-getters will be inducted that year If more than 10 get 80 percent then only the top 10 vote-getters will be inducted There is no set number for any class (people products companies etc) of inductees
To assure that older nominees will be con-sidered along with the younger breed the Seniors Committee made up of the current VITA Board of Directors will ensure that at least five candidates active pre-1995 are included on the ballot
This is a great way for the industry to show our appreciation for the contri-butions made to make this industry such a success Be sure to submit your nominations
Defining Standards By Jerry Gipper
10 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
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AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
The VITA 46 working group was quickly formed to begin development of this new standard The goal of the VITA 46 working group was to develop a speci-fication that enabled significant high-speed backplane IO and blade-to-blade communication using a variety of serial switch fabrics as well as legacy VMEbus or PCI bus protocols for commercial and military systems The specification also had to address the use of high-speed connectors in harsh environments
Many other companies joined in the effort to develop the VPX VITA 46 family of specifications By 2009 the VPX Marketing Alliance was formed to carry on the necessary promotional efforts for VPX and OpenVPX the architectural framework that defines a VPX system Dy 4 Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls have since been bought by Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solu- tions and Mercury Computer Systems is now Mercury Systems but the effort expended by these companies to develop VPX products is stronger than ever The first 10 years have established VPX as the leading embedded computing platform for many defense programs
By Jerry Gipper Editorial Director
On January 19 2004 at the Bus amp Board Conference in Long Beach CA Dy 4 Systems Mercury Computer Systems Radstone Technology and VISTA Controls jointly announced support for the latest VME standard to address the needs of deployed military systems The proposal was made to ensure that the next VME specification met the IO processing and power distribution requirements of the military and aerospace market Within a few months the effort was branded VPX
Growth projectionsVPX revenues were projected by industry analysts to match VME by 2012 This didnrsquot quite happen as the cuts and uncertainty on military program spending went on longer than expected and is in fact still ongoing New data from IHS Electronics amp Media shows the crossover more likely to now occur in 2016 (see Figure 1)
VPX has established a strong foothold in many defense programs that use high performance and rugged computing platforms The defense sector represents about 80 percent of the revenue for VME and VPX combined This could be even higher
VME
VPX
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The World Market for VME and VPX Boards and Systems
Revenues ($M) - 2012 to 2017 Source IHS Electronics and Media 2013
Figure 1 | VPX and VME projected revenues from 2012 to 2017 Information courtesy of IHS Electronics amp Media rsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 11
MAIN FEATURE
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
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ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
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rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
for VPX exclusively as the defense sector is the primary market for VPX technology at this time In the early days of VMEbus it was just the oppo-site ndash most of the focus was on industrial and defense had no interest Over time it will be interesting to see how other market sectors pick up on the VPX tech-nology Members of VITA are reporting VPX design wins in some transporta-tion and industrial applications that can take advantage of the performance and rugged packaging of VPX
The ecosystemThe VITA VPX Marketing Alliance is 41 members strong and growing with new companies joining the alliance on a regular basis The alliance tracks the number of products in the VITA product directory as illustrated in Figure 2 There has been a steady and consistent in - crease in the number of products since the first products were introduced in 2007 Figure 2 is not an all-inclusive list but it is estimated to represent 60 to 70 percent of the products avail-able worldwide The variety of products span single board computers signal processing specialized IO backplanes chassis and complete integrated sys-tems ensuring that there are many choices for system designers
ChallengesVPX has moved beyond the hype curve and is now in the ramping stage as pro-grams using VPX-based platforms are starting early deployment The speci-fication is still being rounded out with new capabilities being defined each year The OpenVPX initiative to develop an architectural framework that defines interoperability of VPX components
continues to evolve with new combina-tions added with each release The archi-tects working on this specification are starting to see some of the early short-falls making adjustments as needed to the framework document Part of this work is to eliminate unused combina-tions that never were realized in the real world or that have been supplanted by better options Continuing to evolve
SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
VPX Product Spotlights
reg
VITA 4611 Management Solutions Available Nowbull Chassisandmodulelevel
solutions ready for integration into your product including
deg Schematics firmware source code FPGA design deg Bench top implementations for quick familiarization and
use as a known-good instance bull LikeVITA4611itselftheyleveragemorethanadecadeof
ATCA experience for Pigeon Point Systems and our products
deg ChMM-700R Chassis Manager (pictured above) based on market leading Pigeon Point Shelf Manager for ATCA
deg BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC based on market leading Pigeon Point Board Management Reference solutions for ATCA
Pigeon Point Systems infopigeonpointcom wwwpigeonpointcom
0 50
100 150 200 250 300 350 400
of
Pro
duct
s
VPX Products in VITA Product Directory Source VITA
Figure 2 | This chart displays the number of VPX products in the VITA product directoryrsaquo
3U Open VPX I7 Processors from Orion Technologiesbull MultiCoreThirdFourth
Generation Intelreg Coretrade i7 up to 34GHz (Max Turbo Frequency)
bull Upto16GBofsolderedDDR3SDRAM(ECC)Upto16GBofon-board Flash
bull OnePCIeXMCslotFourSerialportsEightGPIOFourUSBFour SATA (6Gbs)
bull Two101001000Base-BXportsOne101001000Base-Tportbull Optional10GigabitEthernetPortbull UserConfigurableIOModule(PersonalityModule)
Orion Technologies LLC407-476-2120
wwworiontechnologiescom
12 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
MAIN FEATURE
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
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wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
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Card cages3U to 9U
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Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
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bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
the OpenVPX architectural framework will remain a challenge for some time to come
The ecosystem is also researching how to evolve to adopt optical interconnect technology that is emerging on the hori- zon The VITA 66 Optical Inter connect on VPX specifications are the first fruits of the working grouprsquos efforts The first products implementing optical intercon-nections are just starting to show up in the market Many technical challenges still remain but with the physical limita-tions of a copper interconnect there are not a lot of optimal choices to handle the explosion of data that must be trans-ported in the next generation of critical embedded computing platforms
Fortunately the fabric wars have settled down and the leaders have been estab-lished with Ethernet PCI Express Serial RapidIO and the occasional InfiniBand implementation There is sure to be new technology but for now the suppliers are able to focus on product develop-ment with any of these fabrics with assurance that they can achieve a return on their investment
The complexity of VPX systems has led to a higher level of integration than what was typically provided by VMEbus suppliers in the past Even at the board level many suppliers are offering a more complete solution or are teaming with other suppliers in the chain to increase the level of system integration The leading suppliers in the industry ndash for instance Mercury Systems and Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions are offering platforms that are near ready for deployment Others such as Elma Electronic or Kontron offer systems and integration services to help reduce the integration challenge The recent release of VITA 4611 VPX System Management promises to make system level products even more robust
The futureA category of computing called High Performance Embedded Computing (HPEC) is emerging The use of switched serial fabrics makes it possible to inter-connect systems in ways that lend themselves to the challenges of very high performance computing VPX is establishing itself as a top solution for
embedded platforms The packaging density combines with the high perfor-mance levels to create some very inter-esting platforms especially in signal processing applications that require a high number of computing blades in a rugged package
VPX is expanding into new application areas VITA 78 SpaceVPX Systems des- cribes an open standard for creating high performance fault tolerant inter-operable backplanes and modules to assemble electronic systems for space-craft and other high availability applica-tions Such systems will support a wide
variety of use cases across the aero-space community This standard lever-ages the OpenVPX standards family and the commercial infrastructure that supports these standards in non-space applications
The first 10 years have laid down a very solid foundation for a technology that is sure to have many years of growth in its future There is still plenty of work ahead for the VPX ecosystem as both the technology and markets evolve and mature
Happy 10th anniversary VPX
You need it rightYou want Dawn
Dawn PSC-6236 universal AC input VITA 62 compliant 3U power supply for air or conduction cooled OpenVPX systems True 6 channel supply with up to 400 watts output Mission critical wide temperature range at high power Input 85 VAC to 264 VAC 47 Hz to 400 Hz
Can be special ordered to suppoCan be special ordered to support high current single channel applications Embedded RuSHtrade technology actively monitors voltage current and temperature and provides protective control
(510) 657-4444dawnvmecomvpx
does itACACAC
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 13
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
VME VME64X AND VPX SYSTEMSFASTER
SCHROFFUS
RAPID DELIVERY VITA and PICMG compliant solutions
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
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AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
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copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
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bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
System management on VPX Leveraging VITA 4611 for VPX plug-in modules By Mark Overgaard
In November 2013 after several years of work VITA 4611 was adopted as a Draft Standard for Trial Use in the VPX community The draft standard defines components interfaces mechanisms and general infrastructure to support the implementation of an interoperable management subsystem within VPX that enables features such as inventory sensor and diagnostic management as well as system configuration and recovery In the absence of VITA 4611 such features if present in VPX systems would be implemented as part of the application(s) rather than as a standardized layer serving the application(s) VITA 4611 aims to enable for the system management aspects of applications many of the same benefits that COTS hardware has long provided lower cost and quicker application development and system upgrades
VITA 4611 addresses two main levels of system management The lowest level is the individual front-loading plug-in module where the integrated man-agement entity is called an Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) The next level up is the overall chassis including all the modules and other management-visible facilities (such as fan trays) it contains The manage-ment entity at this level is the Chassis Manager which supervises the chassis and its constituent elements in addition to representing the chassis to upper layers of management In VITA 4611 those upper management layers are rep-resented by a logical System Manager
This article focuses on the IPMC level of VITA 4611 introducing the function-ality and responsibilities of this level It also covers possible approaches to implementing this level using a generic hardware + firmware component that provides the core of an IPMC suit-able for adaptation to the needs of a particular module and associated application(s)
How do the system management levels in VITA 4611 communicateFigure 1 shows these levels and the System Manager interface which is typi-cally implemented over an Ethernet link to the Chassis Manager Each module in a VITA 4611 compliant system includes an IPMC which monitors the opera-tion of that module and represents the management aspects of the module to the Chassis Manager The main con-nection between the Chassis Manager and the IPMCs in the chassis is the I2C-based System IPMB (Intelligent Plat- form Management Bus) which is option-ally dual redundant Figure 1 represents the logical architecture VITA 4611 can be applied in any compatible VPX-based system
How does VITA 4611 leverage ATCA management (and its IPMI foundation)The VITA 4611 working group chose to leverage the management infrastructure in PICMGrsquos AdvancedTCA (ATCA) archi-tecture rather than start from scratch This choice accelerated development of
the standard and will hasten availability and maturity of VITA 4611-compliant products because the management controllers can be derived from corre-sponding mature ATCA controllers
Effective collaboration with PICMG was a key factor in implementing this approach PICMG graciously agreed that substantial portions of the VITA 4611 standard could be derived (with attribu-tion) from the corresponding sections of the ATCA specification PICMG also agreed to share materials related to its management interoperability testing which has occurred in dozens of PICMG-organized interoperability workshops starting in 2002 The VITA 4611 working group has already started adapting ATCA interoperability test plans for use with VITA 4611
ATCArsquos management layer is based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) which is an openly pub-lished management architecture that is widely used in the PC and server indus-tries for hardware management (IPMB is
14 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
VME VME64X AND VPX SYSTEMSFASTER
SCHROFFUS
RAPID DELIVERY VITA and PICMG compliant solutions
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
part of the IPMI architecture) Similarly VITA 4611 is based on IPMI
IPMI provides a rich infrastructure for defining and monitoring analog and digital sensors in an implementation-independent and consistent way These facilities allow independently imple-mented elements of a VPX system from different suppliers (including chassis vendors module vendors and system integrators) to be monitored by a single Chassis Manager That Chassis Manager has a unified view of the state of the chassis and all the analog and digital sensors that its elements include
How are VITA 4611 IPMCs different from ATCA IPMCsOne key difference results from the distinct needs of VPX applications for system management For some VPX applications the traditional approach of integrating system management into the application is preferred Therefore VITA 4611 management is optional unlike the mandatory ATCA management layer
Even among applications that need a separate management layer the extent and sophistication of the needed layer varies In response VITA 4611 defines
two tiers of functionality Tier 1 IPMCs and Chassis Managers have minimal facilities but can be simpler and less expensive to implement Tier 2 com-ponents deliver more functionality in the management layer allowing greater reuse of those facilities across applications
In addition VITA 4611 omits some aspects of the ATCA architecture that are not relevant to VPX For instance VPX modules are not designed to be hot swapped in a live system so the exten-sive facilities supporting such operations in ATCA are not needed simplifying the management layer for VPX
Also VITA 4611 defines a number of VPX-specific facilities to optimize the management layer for VPX needs For instance there is a collection of man-datory sensors that allows that layer to quickly and consistently summarize the overall status of all the modules in a chassis including their voltage and temperature status Also the IPMI com-mands that are directly leveraged from ATCA have their own set of VSO IPMI command numbers so that VSO can evolve those commands independently from PICMG if necessary
Finally there are some valuable supple-mentary facilities for ATCA IPMCs that
Figure 1 | Overall architecture for VITA 4611 system managementrsaquo
Our high performance feature-rich prod ucts are used in all sorts of applications that require reliable and tested storage
Available in air and conduction cooled featuring SATA or SAS rotating or SLC MLC and eMLC solid state drives for virtually any application Features such as Secure-Erase Write-Protect RAID and NAS available in board and system level configurations
ldquo ldquoElma has the broadest selection of storage solutions
in the embed ded computing industry
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 15
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
VME VME64X AND VPX SYSTEMSFASTER
SCHROFFUS
RAPID DELIVERY VITA and PICMG compliant solutions
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
have not yet been explicitly mapped into a VPX context One of these is an imple-mentation-independent framework for upgrading the firmware of IPMCs in a system The framework is defined in a PICMG specification called HPM1 It can be straightforwardly implemented as is in VPX IPMCs Perhaps the VITA 4611 working group will do an explicit map-ping in the future but in the meantime it seems reasonable to take advantage of the existing HPM1 architecture which is essentially universally implemented in ATCA IPMCs
Can VPX IPMCs be connected to an on-module Ethernet planeMany VITA 4611-compliant VPX mod-ules will have connections to one or more Ethernet-based communication planes in the chassis It would be desir-able to allow the IPMCs on those mod-ules to connect directly to such planes complementing their System IPMB con-nectivity Fortunately there is a well-established ecosystem and governing
open specifications that enable an IPMC to share access to Network Controllers (NCs) that interface to an in-chassis Ethernet on behalf of the main payload of a module This area is not addressed in the current revision of VITA 4611 but these facilities can potentially be applied in VPX modules where this need exists
One key specification in this area is NC-SI the Network Controller Sideband Interface specification which is main-tained by the Distributed Management Task Force (wwwdmtforg) If an NC that provides Ethernet connectivity for the main module payload is NC-SI-compliant the modulersquos IPMC can make a ldquosideband interfacerdquo connec-tion to the NC using a 10100 Mbps RMII connection A PICMG specifi-cation called HPM2 can be used to establish interoperable integration of LAN attach features into a VPX IPMC enabling IPMC firmware upgrades serial over LAN and other applications
to benefit from the LAN attach connec-tion Figure 2 shows this arrangement for a LAN-attached IPMC
Figure 2 | With standards-based extensions beyond VITA 4611 a LAN-attached IPMC can share one or more Ethernet-based communication planes with payload CPU(s)
rsaquo
Figure 3 | Example generic core of a VITA 4611 IPMC suitable for cost-effective adaption to the needs of a specific VPX modulersaquo16 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
SPECIAL FEATURE
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
VME VME64X AND VPX SYSTEMSFASTER
SCHROFFUS
RAPID DELIVERY VITA and PICMG compliant solutions
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
How can VPX modules be equipped quickly with compliant interoperable IPMCsOne key to cost-effective IPMC integra-tion into a VPX module is to start with an existing implementation and integrate a generic IPMC core to match the spe-cific needs of a particular VPX module design This approach which is widely and successfully used in the ATCA eco-system allows an IPMC implementer to defer to a specialized partner for thorough knowledge of the relevant governing specifications and the corre-sponding interoperability testing
One example of this class of generic but adaptable IPMC cores is the Pigeon Point BMR-A2F-VPX IPMC solution which is a reference hardwarefirmware design based upon the SmartFusion (A2F) intelligent mixed signal FPGA that is already widely used in the ATCA domain Leveraging the commonality between VPX and ATCA management multiple VPX module vendors have already been delivering VPX modules that integrate an ATCA-derived IPMC
including Pigeon Pointrsquos corresponding ATCA solution BMR-A2F-ATCA
Figure 3 provides a block diagram for a SmartFusion-based generic IPMC core IPMC firmware runs on the integrated Cortex-M3 ARM32 microcontroller while the integrated FPGA fabric customizes the hardware for system management needs and optionally implements board-specific FPGA logic The microcontroller subsystem also includes needed inter-faces such as I2C ports serial ports and (if relevant to a given module) an Ethernet interface for LAN attach pur-poses SmartFusionrsquos analog subsystem reduces the need for external compo-nents to address analog sensing needs
The benefits of a system management layer for VPX are gaining increasingly wide recognition Adopting a proven management solution for that sub-system of a VPX module can save time and money and preserve scarce devel-opment resources for value added func-tionality of the module With careful implementation choices VITA 4611
based system management for VPX can deliver a standardized implementation of the hardware platform management layer that saves development and inte-gration time and improves interoper-ability The architecture of this layer also preserves the flexibility for system devel-opers and integrators to decide how to partition the system management func-tion between the standardized layer and their application subsystems
Mark Overgaard is the Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems He is a leader in the VITA 4611 working group and actively contributed
to the development of VITA 4611 Within PICMG he chairs the HPMx subcommittee and participates in numerous others
rsaquo Pigeon Point Systems 760-757-2304 wwwpigeonpointcom
Propel your project success with Schroffreg Systems and Subracks EXPRESS We provide VME product solutions faster and at a competitive price Protect your application with standard or customized VME products ndash shipped in as few as two weeks and backed by our global network and more than 60 years of engineering experience See our complete offering online
VME VME64X AND VPX SYSTEMSFASTER
SCHROFFUS
RAPID DELIVERY VITA and PICMG compliant solutions
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 17
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
The traditional ldquosaferdquo approach to power designA very traditional engineering approach is to make a best estimate of the power requirements for each card in a system using whatever information is available usually from vendor spec sheets It is probably an exaggeration to call this guesswork but not by much Next sum those requirements across all the cards and finally apply a safety factor This ldquosaferdquo number is then used to define the capacity of the system power supply
During prototype system development and testing some voltages will be moni-tored but a detailed evaluation of power consumption is unusual As long as no problems arise the initial power supply capacity definition will be retained
While the traditional approach may be perceived as ldquosaferdquo there are a number of issues involved in its use First over- design of the power supply is a common result with the degree of overdesign dependent on individual card estimates
the design engineerrsquos judgment and the level of conservatism in the safety factor Second an overdesigned power supply will be physically larger and heavier than needed
On large platforms like a naval vessel or manned aircraft the incremental size and weight may be irrelevant But on todayrsquos smaller unmanned platforms unneeded size and weight has a negative effect on critical mission achievement param-eters And on these small platforms the overdesign affects not only the com-puting systemrsquos power design but also the power design for the platform which must address allocating a limited supply across computing communication con-trol and other platform functions
Moreover it is possible to underdesign the power supply based on invalid card-level estimates While underdesign will be discovered during prototype testing (assuming system tests match real-world operating demands) changing out the power supply will certainly have a
negative impact on the development schedule
Furthermore during a system upgrade when a new card is being added or is replacing an older card it is very difficult to know if the existing power supply will be able to support the change given a lack of detail on both the current sys-temrsquos power draw during operation and the power requirements of the new card
While these issues are all widely rec-ognized the traditional ldquosaferdquo design approach is still used under the assump-tion that a detailed forecast of a systemrsquos power requirements under actual oper-ating conditions is simply not achiev-able It is assumed simply too difficult to make accurate estimates of the power requirements for the complex indi-vidual card-level system components This is especially difficult for the current generation of modules built to the VPX standard because the standard offers designers such a flexible array of voltage levels and power rail implementations
Taking the guesswork out of VPX power designs with intelligent extender cardsBy Brian Roberts
Understanding the power requirements of an individual embedded computing card is an important part of overall systems design What the card will require from the system power supply and ideally how those requirements will vary based on workload is information that factors into system design decisions Obviously there must always be sufficient power for all system components across all required voltages and individual power rails Determining the power needs is the first step
18 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
The challenges involved in power estimationBeyond the flexibility of the standard there are a number of other factors that make estimating the power requirements of todayrsquos VPX cards extremely difficult
1 Most VPX cards have a range of different configuration options in hardware Processor clock speeds memory sizes and IO interface options can all be selected from a range of choices resulting in a large number of possible combinations Card vendors have almost certainly not tested them all in fact some configurations may not even be built as prototypes before the first customer order
2 FPGAs GPGPUs and other configurable processing devices can have huge differences in power requirements based on different firmware loads and use profiles It is simply not possible to know what the power draw will be without knowing how the device will be used during actual operations
LCR Embedded Systemrsquos complete line of integrated rugged industrial and military systems from off-the-shelf to fully customized are ideal for all aspects of mission-critical computing To learn more about what we can do for you and your application contact us today
For chassis backplanes and integrated systems LCR Electronics is now LCR Embedded Systems
(800) 747-5972 e-mail saleslcrembeddedcom wwwlcrembeddedsystemscom
Our integrated systems feature VME VPX ATCA and CompactPCI architectures
3 Multicore CPUs will display a range of power requirements based on variations in software use across the cores Again actual power draw depends on device use during operations
Power measurement using VPX intelligent extender cardsWhile advances in processing technology have made power requirement estimation increasingly difficult another technology advance has given system designers the option of dispensing with estimation and all its inherent problems by moving to direct measurement of power use
VPX intelligent extender cards with built-in current and voltage monitoring are now being used to accurately measure the power use of VPX modules as they operate in test systems An intelligent extender card attaches to a card-under-test while it is inserted and functioning in a VPX system chassis The operational firmware and software can be loaded onto the card-under-test and then operations initiated that simulate as closely as possible real-world mission situations The intelligent extender card collects comprehensive data on actual power use while the card-under-test is running as it would in the field A detailed power profile can then be developed across a range of firmware and software configurations and during multiple mission
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 19
VPX INTELLIGENT EXTENDER CARDS WITH BUILT-IN
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE MONITORING ARE NOW BEING
USED TO ACCURATELY MEASURE THE POWER USE OF
VPX MODULES AS THEY OPERATE IN TEST SYSTEMS
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
simulation use cases giving a very high level of visibility into power demands (see Figure 1)
For example within an Intel Core i7- based SBC the software activity will vary depending on the number of i7 cores being used for different parts of the software deployment model The effect of the variation in software use on power requirements can be captured and analyzed by a power monitoring extender card Similarly a PMCXMC carrier module can be tested with dif-ferent PMCXMC modules so the varia-tions in power draw are understood Or an FPGA card can be run with all the various firmware loads that may be required for different stages of a mission For all these situations an intelligent card extender with current and voltage measurement will capture the related changes in power requirements
An available solutionDawn VME Products has brought to market a leading implementation of
this capability in the EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Board Dawnrsquos embedded Rugged System Health Monitor (RuSH) technology provides the embedded intelligence which enables monitoring of critical system parameters on the card-under-test including voltage current and control of power shutdown of all VPX voltage rails (see Figure 2)
This Dawn extender card fits enclo-sures designed for either 8 or 1 pitch boards It can be used to quickly and easily measure and profile the normal current used on each voltage rail (see Table 1) The EXB-7458 will monitor six channels of voltage and six channels of current simultaneously and is designed to support the maximums allowed by the VPX specification 3U VPX versions of this technology are also available from Dawn
Multiple features are present to enable a testing environment that is both safe and productive (see Table 1) Thresholds can be set to instantly shut off power
on any voltage rail should current limits be exceeded by any card-under-test effectively protecting both the card and system from damage caused by short circuits Switches and IO con-nectors provided for OnOff System Reset LCD Display Fans and Serial Communications There is also support for a remote cooling fan
SummaryA comprehensive understanding of the power requirements for individual VPX
Will Your VME IO System Go EOL This Year
UEI has a 10-Year Availability Guarantee and a host of technical advantages
bull 100 COTS made in USAbull VxWorks QNX Linux and
Windows supportbull MIL-STD-1553 ARINC-429
AFDX-664 CAN LVDT RVDT and much more
NEW Rugged MIL-Series Chassis
copy 2014 United Electronic Industries Inc All rights reserved
ueidaqcomrugged(508) 921-4 600
Ph 6038219921 bull salesverotecus bull wwwverotecusE L E C T R O N I C S PA C K A G I N G
Continuing 50 years of excellence in packaging forcPCI VME VME64x VPX all major bus structures and general electronics
VEROTEC INTEGRATED PACKAGING System building components
Card cages3U to 9U
Shielded and unshielded front panels
IEEE11011 and 110110 commercial and rugged systems
Plug-in modules
19rdquo standard screened and Eurocard rack cases
Figure 1 | Dawn EXB-7458 VPX 6U Extender Boardrsaquo
20 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
cards is critical to designing power supplies for VPX systems Advances in processing technologies and the growing flexibility in configurations have made accurate power estimation virtually impossible However intelligent power monitoring extender card technology has replaced estimation with the ability to develop detailed power profiles for cards-under-test while operating in simulations of real-world missions By replacing estimations with empirical data intelligent extender cards enable power designs that are both safe and optimized for mission performance
Brian Roberts Senior Designer at Dawn VME Products has 22 years of design experience in Silicon Valley developing electronic products for commercial and defense applications Over this period he has worked with clients in the areas of system engineering power supply design and other printed circuit board based solutions Brian has been with the team at Dawn VME Products since 2005
rsaquo Dawn VME Products bull 510-657-4444 bull wwwdawnvmecom
Figure 2 | Dawn EXB-7458 inserted in system under testrsaquo3U amp 6U VITA 65
Voltage RailVITA 65 Standard Nominal Voltage
VITA 65 Specific Range
VS1 +12 V (+ndash 5)
VS2 +33 V (325 V to 345 V)
VS3 +5 V (+5 ndash25)
33 V_AUX + 33 V (+ndash 5)
+12 V_AUX +12 V (+ndash 5)
ndash12 V_AUX ndash12 V (+ndash 5)
VBAT +30 V 25 V to 35 V
Table 1 | VPX monitoring for power requirements using intelligent extender cardsrsaquo
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 21
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
Capture and DisplayTogether at Last
VPX3U-E8860-FGXbull 2 HD3G-SDI video inputs
bull 2 DVI video inputs
bull 2 NTSC video inputs
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort HDMI DVI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull AMD E8860 Adelaar GPU
bull 768 GFLOPs SP 48 GFLOPs DP
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G Shock and Vibration
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163 httpwolfca
22 | VITA Technologies Spring 2014 wwwvita-technologiescom
Hartmann Electronic GmbHHartmann Electronic is an established leader in the design and manufacturing of backplanes and electronic system platforms With over 35 years of experience in high-speed backplane design and manufacturing Hartmann offers an extensive range of standard backplanes and system platforms including VPX VMEVME64x VXS CompactPCI216 CompactPCI Serial CompactPCI PlusIO and others
Our development team which consists of well qualified and highly motivated engineers work with extremely powerful CAD software to devise ldquofuture-proofrdquo electronic and mechanical solutions for you
A particular area of expertise is the research and simulation of the latest high-speed structures Hartmann is doing a lot of research work to realize the data transmission for the future Our latest designs for VPX and OpenVPX backplanes are designed and proved for transmission rates up to 10 Gbauds
Along with our backplane expertise Hartmann designs and develops system platforms Our offerings range from the new rugged 19 chassis like the Slimline series in 1U 2U and 4U size The Slimline series are horizontal chassis with a focus on a robust design with up to 8mm thick sidewalls We are also designing and manufacturing ATR chassis ndash both standard and custom
Hartmann has developed a line of VPX power supplies which include a 3U pluggable conduction cooled power supply scalable to 715w according to VITA 62 and a 6U pluggable VPX power supply also scalable up to 1300 W
Hartmann also offers 3U and 6U VPX custom and standard backplanes and power backplanes Designed and built to your requirements For all your development needs we offer a wide range of accessories like the Open Frame Chassis for 3 and 6U Boards (airconduction cooled) For measurement purposes we offer special test boards and cables
For more information e-mail JochenFriedrichHartmann-Electroniccom
Hartmann Electronic GmbH | +49 711 13989-184 wwwhartmann-electroniccom
ADVERTORIAL SPEAKOUTExecutive
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
WOLF Industrial Systems Incsaleswolfca
1 (905) 852-1163
A New Dawn for Embedded Graphics
XMC-E8860-VObull 768 GFLOPs SP
48 GFLOPs DP
bull Tunable power 10 - 40 Watts
bull up to 2 HD-SDI video outputs
bull 6 Digital video outputs (DisplayPort DVI HDMI)
bull 1 Analog video output (RGBHV)
bull Extended temperature (-40deg to +85degC)
bull MIL-STD-810 40G shock and vibration
bull Front IO Rear IO or Combination
bull Rear IO XMC X16 or PMC P14
httpwolfca
wwwvita-technologiescom VITA Technologies Spring 2014 | 23
ADVERTORIAL
VPXtratrade high-power supplies break through another power ceiling with the VPXtratrade 1500CS AC-to-DC Front EndBy Jerry Hovdestad Director COTS Engineering Behlman Electronics
In late 2012 Behlman raised the VPX power bar to 1000 watts with two 6U Open VPX Compliant units VPXtratrade 1000CD Dual-output and VPXtratrade 1000CM Multi-output DC-to-DC COTS power supplies VPXtratrade 1000CD delivers up to 1000 watts of clean regulated 12 VDC power and 33 VDC auxiliary power with a typical efficiency of 90 from a wide-range 28 VDC input The 12 VDC output can be paralleled for higher power and fail-safe redundancy TheVPXtratrade 1000CM provides five outputs up to 700 watts It accepts wide-range 28 VDC input and has high-power DC outputs of 12 VDC 40 A and 5 VDC 24 A and three auxiliary outputs of 33 VDC 15 A ndash12 VDC 2 A and +12 VDC 1 ANow we are pleased to introduce what may be the VPX industryrsquos highest-power 6U front-end module Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1500CS Three-phase AC-to-DC COTS power supply VPXtratrade1500CS is a rugged highly reliable conduction-cooled switch mode unit built for high-end industrial and military applications Although initially conceived to power Behlmanrsquos VPXtratrade 1000CD and VPXtratrade 1000CM DC-to-DC power supplies it can be used to power other devices with similar wide-range DC input requirements It accepts 115200 VAC 3-phase input IAW MIL-STD-704 and delivers 1500 Watts of 33 VDC power Input current complies with CE101 and MIL-STD-1399 This front-end module has no minimum load requirement and has short circuit protection as well as over current and thermal protection Designed and manufactured with Xtra-Coolingtrade Xtra-Ruggedtrade construction and Xtra-Hightrade Reliability VPXtratrade 1500CS is the optimum solution to provide a wide-range DC output from a three phase AC source
VPXtratrade1500CS FEATURESbull OpenVPXVITA62compliantbull 6UVPX10pitchsingleslotbull Three-phaseACinput47-440Hzbull High-powerDCoutput33V46Abull AuxiliaryDCoutput33V02Abull Lownoiseampripplebull Input-outputisolationbull Excellentloadregulationbull OverCurrentOverVoltageandOverTemperatureprotectionbull Efficiencyof90(typical)bull Highpowerdensitybull Conductioncooledatcardedgebull ConformalcoatingonPWBbull ExternalEMIfilterrequiredtomeetMIL-STD-461FCE-102bull ENABLEINHIBITcontrolsperVITA62bull OutputvoltageFAILsignalbull LEDindication
Complete specifications httpgooglnQFROPData sheet httpgooglI5JNPcBehlman Electronics Inc | 631-435-0410 | wwwbehlmancom
SPEAKOUTExecutive
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat
Pentekrsquos rugged turn-key recorders are built and tested for fast reliable and secure operation in your environment
Call 201-818-5900 or go to wwwpentekcomgovitatalon for your FREE High-Speed Recording Systems Handbook and Talon Recording Systems Catalog
Introducing Pentekrsquos expanded line of Talonreg COTS
rugged portable and lab-based recorders Built to capture wideband SIGINT radar and communication signals right out-of-the-box
bull Analog RFIF 10 GbE LVDS sFPDP solutionsbull Real-time sustained recording to 4 GBsecbull Recording and playback operationbull Analog signal bandwidths to 16 GHzbull Shock and vibration resistant Solid State Drivesbull GPS time and position stampingbull Hot-swappable storage to Windows
reg NTFS RAIDs
bull Remote operation amp multi-system synchronizationbull SystemFlow
reg API amp GUI with Signal Analyzer
bull Complete documentation amp lifetime support
Pentek Inc One Park Way Upper Saddle River NJ 07458 bull Phone 2018185900 bull Fax 2018185904 bull e-mailinfopentekcom bull wwwpentekcomWorldwide Distribution amp Support Copyright copy 2013 Pentek Inc Pentek Talon and SystemFlow are trademarks of Pentek Inc Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners
Critical Recording in Any ArenaWhen You Canrsquot Afford to Miss a Beat