VITA completed its first VPX System Management Interoperability Workshop (VSM-IW), which tested VPS product compliancy to the VITA 46.11 System Management for VPX standard. VITA member companies (including Mercury Systems, Elma Electronic, Extreme Engineering Solutions, and Pigeon Point Systems) that build VITA 46.11-compliant VPX chassis and modules came together to systematically test the interoperability of their chassis and module combinations.
VITA 46.11 was intentionally modeled on the hardware management layer of AdvancedTCA (ATCA), adapting the management architecture and test plans to the special needs of critical embedded systems. The standard has two main layers: a chassis manager that manages and represents a chassis to upper-level management, and an intelligent platform management controller (IPMC) integrated into each VPX module that represents the module to the chassis manager. The standard defines two tiers of functionality for each layer to enable implementation flexibility.
In preparation for the workshop, the VITA 46.11 Working Group developed a set of test plans for key functional areas of the standard, and then used those plans to guide the testing. The plans highlighted where the draft standard for trial use (DSTU) can be clarified and improved to enhance interoperability between products built to the specification. The workshop tested the interoperability of two independent chassis manager implementations and four IPMC implementations. Testing included a 16-slot Open VPX chassis filled with modules from various vendors, including both tiers of IPMC functionality.