Managing Mission-Critical VITA 100 Systems
VITA 100 is a collection of standards from VITA. It’s a follow-on to the successful VITA OpenVPX standards. The VITA 100.20 is one of the VITA standards that targets system management. Daniel Toohey, Fellow and Technologist in the Advanced Concepts Group at Mercury Systems, provided an excellent overview of VITA 100.20 at this year’s VITA Embedded Tech Trends conference (watch the video above).
What is VITA 100.20?
System-management systems have been around a long time. Fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security, otherwise known as FCAPS, is an ISO telecommunications management network model and framework that addresses network management developed in the 1980s (Fig. 1).
Subsequently, the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) was developed in the 1990s for out-of-band (OOB) system management (Fig. 2). It’s been used extensively in server management.
VITA 100.20 was started in the late 2020s as part of the VITA 100 project (Fig. 3). It is interoperable with prior VITA management standards that include VITA 46.11 and VITA 65.
VITA 100.20 supports the Object Management Group’s (OMG) Model-based System Engineering standard (MBSE). MBSE uses modeling to support developers through a system’s lifecycle, including system requirements, design, analysis, verification, validation, and system-management activities (Fig. 4).
The Importance of System Management in Rugged Systems
System management based on standards gives developers a way to incorporate system management into their design, providing interoperability between system devices as well as the ability for these to work with compatible software. The standards deliver the needed compatibility between applications and devices.
System power management is an example of a common system-management use case. With VITA 46, the system manager was part of the system, but developers needed to have custom power-management support on each board (Fig. 5).
VITA 65 utilized Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC) software and provided standard support on each board (Fig. 6). A Chassis Management Controller (ChMC) provides a single point of contact for the system manager that’s typically connected via Ethernet. VITA 65, built on the VITA 46.11 IPMI and ChMC definitions, also includes a standard backplane and board interface.
VITA 100.20 uses an architecture similar to VITA 65, using a more advanced ChMC and management controllers (MCs) for VITA 100 modules. It’s backwards compatible, so the ChMC can support a VITA 65 module. The Ethernet connection also uses a secure link.
Compatibility is key to supporting rugged, field replaceable units (FRUs). This requires compatibility at all levels from the backplane, boards, modules, and software. VITA 100.20 offers a broader standard definition, making it easier for designers to select and support a wide range of hardware (Fig. 7).
