What’s New in the VITA 100 Standard (Part 2)
VITA’s OpenVPX and related standards have stood the test of time, allowing developers of rugged systems for applications like defense and avionics to build modular systems using boards and modules from a variety of sources. VITA 100 looks to extend these standards to handle higher-speed interconnect, provide more power to boards, and increase the number of interface pins.
In this video (above), I talked with Daniel Toohey, a Fellow Chief Technologist within the Advanced Concepts Group at Mercury Systems, Michael Walmsley, Global Product Manager in the Aerospace, Defense and Marine business unit at TE Connectivity, and Mark Littlefield, Senior Manager of Embedded Computing Products and Services for Elma Electronic, about new features included in the VITA 100 set of standards.
Making a Bigger Board: VITA’s Move to 4U
3U and 6U boards have been the norm for decades. A 6U board actually provides more space than two 3U boards, but the differences tended to be minor and the components used to be smaller. These days, chips have become significantly larger and hotter, requiring more power to the point where 3U boards can't accommodate them. Moving to 6U is a significant jump.
Enter the 4U board (Fig. 1).
The 4U is marginally larger than a 3U board, but it's sufficient to handle the newer, larger chips. It can manage proportionally more power and cooling.
3U will remain a significant target for many rugged applications. Likewise, systems already designed for 3U will continue on. However, 4U may be a consideration for new designs where compact, high performance computing (HPC) is pushing the limits.
VITA 100 Brings More Connections
The 400G Ethernet VITA 100 support brings higher bandwidth with the same number of connections. Even so, the demand for more connections in rugged applications continues to grow. One answer is the option to use a 1.2-in. board pitch with new six-pair pin connectors (Fig. 2). The approach uses the same architecture, but it bumps the number of pairs from four to six, which is a 50% improvement with a smaller increase in board pitch.
Flexible board connector designs provide designers with more options, but it's one reason why COTS also has a custom aspect to it (Fig. 3). Not all designs require RF or optical connections. If they do, though, then they can be implemented in a standardized fashion using connections that are included as part of the standard.
System Management is More Functional in VITA 100
The VITA 46.11 Systems Management for VPX is a new standard that will also be part of the VITA 100 suite (Fig. 4). The standard is key in bringing commonality among the chassis-management components and the device-management components in a system so that everything can be centrally managed. It's more than just mandating the use of IPMI for management communications.
