Open Standards, Open Markets VITA is an incorporated, non-profit organization of vendors and users having a common market interest in real-time, modular embedded com- puting systems. Accredited as an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developer, VITA provides its members with the ability to develop and to promote open technology standards. VITA Technologies are a favorite choice in many critical embedded computing archi- tectures. VITA Technologies adhere to the open system architecture definition of real- time, modular critical embedded comput- ing systems. The developers within the VITA community are committed to technology fabric and system management specifica- ANSI/VITA 1.7 adds support for an increased excellence. tions, such as VPX, are additional layers that current DIN connector that doubles the With a rich heritage and bright future, VITA build upon the core specifications. maximum wattage capacity of a VME module. Technologies have found an indispensable VME 2eSST (ANSI/VITA 1.5) extends perfor- Each of these standards adds progressively place in Intelligent and Critical Embedded mance by adding dual edge, source synchro- more capability and performance. New Systems. These are the systems that must nous data transfer (2eSST) capability that products, from VITA members, are emerging be “able” in many dimensions: dependable, allows sustained data transfers in excess of that leverage the evolutionary changes in supportable, configurable, reliable, service- 300MB/sec. During its data phases, 2eSST is technology. able, . a source synchronous protocol. No acknowl- These systems must operate flawlessly to edgment is expected from the receiver of protect life, property, equipment, and the the data. Hence, the theoretical performance environment – and to do that they rely on VITA Technologies of a 2eSST VMEbus system is limited only by the durable products of today and tomorrow the skew between receiver and transmitter VME32 is where every- using VITA Technologies. of data. thing started in New projects are leveraging advancements October 1981. The Gigabit Ethernet on VME64x (ANSI/VITA in VITA Technology, capturing the benefits original specification 31.1) adds GigE to backplanes via a P0 con- of performance and life cycle advantages. was sponsored by the nector as defined in VME64x. This is the first Today’s VITA Technologies include: VMEbus Manufacturer’s Group, now VITA, and generation of serial switched fabric solu- ◊ The original parallel VMEbus with per- eventually standardized as IEEE 1014 and IEC tions implemented in VMEbus backplanes. formance of over 300 MB/s using VME 821. VMEbus established a framework for 8-, This implementation works well with VME32, 2eSST. 16- and 32-bit parallel-bus computer archi- VME64 and 2eSST configurations. tectures that could implement single and VME compatible products continue to be ◊ Serial switch fabric interconnects in multiprocessor systems. VMEbus includes XMC, VXS, VPX and new small form used in numerous applications throughout four basic sub-buses: (1) data transfer bus, (2) the world. The VITA Technology roadmap is factor standards that include Gigabit priority interrupt bus, (3) arbitration bus, and Ethernet, PCI Express, Serial RapidIO, committed to a legacy of backward compat- (4) utility bus. Other architectures, with other ibility as technology advances. and InfiniBand. sub-buses are possible within this VME ◊ Specifications to help standardize envi- framework. (VME Switched Serial) com- ronmental criteria, reliability prediction, bines the event-driven par- and other topics important to electronic In 1994, VME64 was formally approved by allel VMEbus with enhance- systems design. ANSI as ANSI/VITA 1-1994, incorporating all ments to support switch the features of VME32 plus adding support fabrics over a P0 connection. Development of new standards improves the for 64-bit transfers. VXS maintains backward compatibility with utilization of VITA Technologies in complex existing backplanes that do not have a con- systems. The VITA Standards Organization VME64x (ANSI/VITA 1.1) is an extension of flicting P0 scheme. Several fabric protocols (VSO) is continually working to advance the VME64 standard. It defines a set of fea- are mapped out for VXS including; 10 Gigabit common technology, improve interoperabil- tures that can be added to VME32 and VME64 Ethernet, PCI Express, Serial RapidIO and ity, and create new and exciting possibilities boards, backplanes and subracks. These fea- InfiniBand. VME’s parallel bus architecture for the future. tures include a 160 pin P1 and P2 connector, provides bus control and maintenance data, a P0 connector, geographical addressing, handling everything from single byte trans- voltage pins for 3.3V, a test and maintenance actions to +300MB/s block data transfers. VITA Technology Roadmap bus, EMI, ESD, and front panel keying per Combining this in various ways with the The VITA Technology roadmap begins with IEEE 1101.10. The 160 pin connectors greatly switch fabric technologies for multi-point, the original VMEbus foundation. Serial switch increase the bandwidth and I/O capability of high-speed data transfers creates choices for VMEbus. embedded computing of all types. standards establish a new (ANSI/VITA 42.x) opens the included is a specification for standard I/O direction for the next rev- specification to support using MIL-DTL-38999 connectors to make olution in embedded XMC various serial buses such as the standard even more desirable for rugged computing. It breaks out PCI Express, Serial RapidIO, and other high deployments. speed serial interfaces while still offering from the traditional connector scheme of VITA 74, Nano Small Form Factor - Defines backwards compatibility with PMC. VMEbus to merge the latest in connector and a standards-based approach to small form packaging technology with the latest in bus (ANSI/VITA 57) pro- factor conduction-cooled systems for rugged and serial switch fabric technology. VPX com- vides a specification commercial and military field applications. MCTM bines best-in-class technologies to assure a F describing an I/O mez- VITA 75, Rugged Small Form Factor - very long technology cycle similar to that of zanine module with connection to an FPGA Defines a small, scalable box and external the original VMEbus solutions. or other device with reconfigurable I/O capa- interfaces to that box. The specification is bility. The low profile design allows use on defines a general me- based heavily on the voice of the customer. chanical design im- popular industry standard slot card, blade plementation for and low profile motherboard form factors. Eurocards such as The compact size is highly adaptable to many The Future VMEbus and VPX that enhances thermal per- configuration needs and compliments exist- VITA and its members are always studying formance and structural integrity as well as ing common low profile mezzanine future computing requirements of Intelligent providing for Two Level Maintenance (2LM) technology. and Critical Embedded Systems. compatibility. Reliability VITA members recognize the need for higher VPX REDI gives an overview of the associ- density, higher performing interconnect tech- ated plug-in units for air-cooling, conduction nologies that will be used in next generations cooling, and liquid cooling applications. VPX of Intelligent and Critical Embedded Systems. REDI standards define applicable detailed As the transfer rates continue to increase, it dimensions of key plug-in unit and sub-rack is clear that optical technology offers many interfaces. TM advantages. Since optical interconnects work systems best as a point-to-point connection, future specification systems are going to need much higher I/O defines an density supporting hundreds of connec- The Reliability Prediction Community of architecture tions in a single board or line-replaceable Practice is a product of a collaborative effort framework that manages and constrains unit (LRU). To that end, VITA launched the by a working group in VITA, comprised of rep- module and backplane designs, including VITA Architectures for Optical (VAO) study resentatives from electronics suppliers, defining pin outs, and sets interoperability group to research potential technologies and system integrator companies, and the points within VPX while maintaining full com- propose an architecture that could become Department of Defense (DoD). This working pliance with VPX. part of future solutions. group has developed a community of prac- The OpenVPX framework delineates clear tice document that provides an electronics VITA encourages user participation in future interoperability points necessary for integrat- failure rate prediction methodology and self- specification development. ing module to module, module to backplane, assessment standard. and chassis. OpenVPX will evolve and incor- Failure rate predictions have been utilized by porate new fabric, connector, and system logistics and systems engineers for a myriad technologies as new standards are defined. of purposes, including reliability analysis, cost trade studies, availability analysis, spares Mezzanine Cards planning, redundancies modeling, scheduled Many mezzanine card specifications have maintenance planning, product warranties emerged out of the work of VITA. These speci- and guarantees. fications provide increased flexibility and functionality to VITA Technology. Small Form Factors CRITICAL In particular, the working groups have ex- VITA has several initiatives focused on ad- EMBEDDED