2010 Design Engineer’s

Guide to OpenVPX

OpenVPX – From Concept to Specification

Transitioning to OpenVPX for

Next-Generation C4ISR Systems

Putting OpenVPX to Work

Who’s Who In OpenVPX

Supplement to Embedded Technology

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 Foreward

Let the Show Begin

PX is like a three act play. Act one was the launching of a
V new high density platform for critical embedded comput-
ing applications. Leveraging the wildly popular VMEbus in 3U
VPX is initially targeted at the military and aerospace mar-
kets but several other market segments have similar needs for
critical embedded systems and are showing strong interest in
and 6U Eurocard formats, VPX added the capability of using VPX technology. These markets include: industrial, medical,
high speed serial switch fabric technologies such as Ethernet, communications, transportation, and research.
PCI Express, serial RapidIO, and others, that can be configured In a recent survey of the embedded computing industry con-
in various backplane topologies. VPX also greatly increased the ducted by VITA, 40% of the respondents indicated that they
number of backplane pins to handle more data traffic and user are designing new products with VPX now, and an additional
I/O making it more effective 36% indicate that they intend
for today’s applications. to use VPX in future projects.
Act two was the addition of This is an overwhelming vote
an architectural framework that of confidence for the technol-
manages and constrains mod- ogy. Suppliers are working
ule and backplane designs, hard to expand the product
including defining pin outs, offerings, ensuring that
and that sets interoperability designers will have the right
points within VPX while main- commercially available prod-
taining full compliance. This ucts for their upcoming proj-
architectural framework is ects. Designers are very
referred to as OpenVPX™. It pleased with the perform-
was recently ratified by VITA ance, scalable and expand-
and ANSI, making it available able architecture, high com-
to the general public. putational density, extended
The efforts of the OpenVPX temperature, shock, and vi-
(VITA 65) working group rep- bration capabilities, and
resent a significant shift in the choices of cooling schemes.
industry. Major industry buy- They are looking forward to
ers came to VITA to get an the long product life cycles
architectural framework for that they have enjoyed with
VPX in place, and quickly. The previous generations of tech-
team responded start to finish nology from VITA members.
in less than 14 months, which It appears that designers
is quite incredible given the have plans to take advantage
scope of the project. Much of the backplane topology
work is still ahead as addition- flexibility built into the VPX
al framework alternatives are specification. Designers are
defined to meet specific needs of new applications of the VPX evenly spread between centralized (star) configurations, dis-
technology. tributed switching (mesh or ring) configurations, and hybrid
Act three is the rollout of products, from boards to complete switching where numerous combinations exist, even some with
systems, that follow the family of VPX specifications. Over 30 parallel buses like VMEbus and PCI bus.
companies have announced, or plan to announce, products The VITA members working on VPX have over thirty addi-
based on the series of specifications that define VPX. During tional working group projects underway to improve and com-
this act, there will be much jockeying for position as the vari- pliment the original VPX specification. New projects will sure-
ous profiles defined in OpenVPX (ANSI/VITA65.0-2010) start ly be introduced to the working groups as the technology
to gain acceptance. Trends will emerge that point to specific matures. These companies are fully committed to ensuring
serial switch fabrics, board/system sizes, interconnect topolo- that VPX is the best solution for future critical embedded com-
gies, and many other configuration options possible with VPX. puting systems.

Ray Alderman
Executive Director
VITA

OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010 www.embeddedtechmag.com 1

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 Contents
September 2010

FORWARD
1 Let the Show Begin

FEATURES 4
4 OpenVPX – From Concept to Specification
10 Transitioning to OpenVPX for Next-Generation 10
C4ISR Systems
15 Putting OpenVPX to Work
15

19 Who’s Who In OpenVPX

PRODUCT BRIEFS
On the Cover
21 6U OpenVPX Radar System Upgrade Initially targeted at the military and
OpenVPX/VITA-65 Serial RapidIO Gen-2 Switch aerospace markets, OpenVPX will find
new applications in a wide variety of
6U OpenVPX Rugged Single Board Computer critical embedded systems.
6U VPX Load Board Photo courtesy of Pentek
Forced Air-Cooled Enclosure (Upper Saddle River, NJ).

Two-Slot OpenVPX Development Platform

IPv4/IPv6 Gigabit Ethernet Switch

2 Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/28057-839 OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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 Open VPX for your System
Architecture Advantage.
When interoperability and open standards are musts,
trust Tyco Electronics to deliver robust products and
services for your OpenVPX system architecture.

As a dedicated partner with VITA, Tyco Electronics is

committed to making your OpenVPX requirements a
competitive advantage.

Visit us at www.te.com/ADM/NASAtech to learn more

about our commitment to VITA and OpenVPX.

www.te.com/ADM
TE (logo) and Tyco Electronics are trademarks.
OpenVPX logo is a trademark of VITA.
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OpenVPX —
From Concept to
Specification
The OpenVPX Industry Working Group, Countless hours were spent with embed-
a 28-company team founded by Mercury ded community technical and business
Computer Systems, collaborated with a leaders (suppliers and integrators) to
common goal and accelerated the com- come up with a system-level architecture • 1 GiGE, 10 GiGE, sRIO, PCIe gen 2.0
pletion of a system architecture specifica- specification, dedicated to creating well- fabrics;
tion for open system COTS suppliers and defined interoperability points for multi- • Optimized SWaP smart processing via
integrators to specify, design, and build vendor, 3U and 6U VPX integrated solu- open architectures.
multi-vendor interoperable solutions. tions. The inter-company marathon was a
testament to what can be done when VPX vs. OpenVPX
Timeline: experts are dedicated to solving a signifi- A board-level specification approach
• January 2009 — OpenVPX Speci- cant industry issue for the good of the ulti- for VME bus technology was suitable due
fication effort by Mercury Computer mate primary customer — the warfighters. to its architectural simplicities, and it was
Systems begins, based on VPX embed- logically brought forward as an approach
ded community’s need to accelerate So What? for VPX specifications. While significant
multi-vendor interoperable solutions. If the following is important to your VITA standards work was in process, many
• March 2009 — First open member- company or your customer, then technology users felt that the focus on the
ship face-to-face meeting and call for OpenVPX should be important to you. board-level specification(s) was not suit-
membership. • Reduce TCO in integrated systems life able for creating interoperable solutions
• Spring/Summer 2009 — Ongoing cycle; for the complex application space that
meetings, conference calls and discus- • Use of common language for simpli- VPX technology is designed to serve. This
sions. fied RFP generation; includes a next generation of complex,
• October 2009 — OpenVPX specifica- • Choice of ecosystems to lower costs, rugged, integrated assets that consist of
tion V1.0 completed and transition to get best-of-breed capabilities; high-speed backplane fabrics and new
VITA 65 working group. • Technology refresh possibilities with processor technologies like multi-core
• January 2010 — VITA 65 Working reduced obsolescence hurdles; x86 and GPGPUs.
group completed comment resolu- • Highly interoperable, multi-vendor In late 2008, VITA’s Executive Director,
tion, balloting and ratification of the integrated solutions development; Ray Alderman, and Mercury Computer’s
specification. • Open standards, performance migra- industry research determined a need for a
• June 2010 — ANSI VITA 65-2010 rat- tion, and proliferation; new systems approach to specifying VPX.
ification of the OpenVPX System • Reduced risk to deployment for QRC In January 2009 the Open VPX Industry
Architecture Specification. programs; Working Group was formed as the first
step on the path forward to add system-
level clarity to the specifications to accel-
erate the commercial benefits of VPX
technology for integrated, multi-vendor
systems. Available today, the ANSI-
approved, OpenVPX systems architecture
specification builds upon VPX technology
(VITA 46 and dot specs) but does so from
a top down, system engineering approach
to specify interoperability points at the
slot, module and backplane level.

OpenVPX Taxonomy
The group created a common build-
ing block language to convey the key
attributes of the OpenVPX specification.
The definition of Planes, Pipes and
Profiles were key taxonomy definitions
allowing the user to specify a wide range
of “building blocks” with a common set
Figure 1. Cascading Challenges of intersections.

4 www.embeddedtechmag.com OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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 » How do I reduce my risk when building my
application solution around VPX/OpenVPX? «
Kontron drives the latest industry standards with unparalleled technical
expertise; providing you proven capabilities and minimizing your risk.
Copyright © 2010 Kontron AG. All rights reserved. Kontron and the Kontron logo and all other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are recognized. Rev. # D106us01

» Kontron is an active member of VITA and is committed to the development of

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OpenVPX — From Concept to Specification
Planes: Segregated architecture bound- • Utility Plane — dedicated to common sys- • Octal Fat Pipe (OFP): 64 differential
aries for backplane and module connec- tems services or utilities (Eg. SYSRESET, pairs (e.g. 32x PCIe interfaces)
tivity Power, Gnd, distribution, ref clocks). Profiles: The OpenVPX specification
• Control Plane — dedicated to applica- Pipes: A collection of differential pairs uses profiles for structure and hierarchy.
tion software control traffic (1GE pipe). assigned to a plane and used by slot pro- Three Profile types exist: Slot, Module
• Data Plane — dedicated to application files. Pipes are protocol- agnostic. and Backplane.
and external data traffic ( eg: 10GigE • Ultra Thin Pipe (UTP): 2 differential • Slot Profile: Physical mapping of ports
switch fabric). pairs (e.g. 1000BASE-KX Ethernet or to a slot’s backplane connectors, using
• Expansion Plane — dedicated to com- 1X Serial RapidIO) planes and pipes.
munication between logical control- • Thin Pipe (TP): 4 differential pairs • Module Profile: Extends a slot profile
ling system element and a separate, (e.g. 2x PCIe interfaces) by adding protocols, as well as thermal,
but logically adjunct, system resource • Fat Pipe (FP): 8 differential pairs (e.g. power, and mechanical requirements.
(ex : PCIe lanes between multi-core 10GBASE-KX4, 4x PCIe) • Backplane Profile: Physical backplane
and GPGPU modules). • Double Fat Pipe (DFP):16 differential mapping of number of slot profiles
• Management Plane — dedicated to pairs (e.g. 8x PCIe interfaces) and topology of slot interconnects.
supervision and management of hard- • Quad fat Pipe (QFP): 32 differential Backplane Topologies: Different appli-
ware resources (eg. I2C). pairs (e.g. 16x PCIe interfaces) cations require different backplane

Figure 2. Determine the backplane profile and chassis topology required for the development chassis, and then select a standard OpenVPX reference chas-
sis or create a custom configuration development chassis for design and integration.

Figure 3. 16-Slot 6U Multi Plane Development Chassis Topology Wiring Diagram.

6 www.embeddedtechmag.com OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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Making Sense of

PMC/XMC Carrier

Box Level Solutions

Fabric Switch AT
T Platform
ATR ATRs & Chassis Platforms

Pre-Integrated Subsystems

SystemPaks
Storage High Performance FPGA

Open VPX™
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OpenVPX — From Concept to Specification

Task (VITA 46) or Custom COTS Approach Typical OpenVPX Savings Comments

RFP generation for • Custom effort 25-50% time • OpenVPX assures common
System elements • Interoperability holes language and definitions
• No clear way to specify system • Communications improved on
requirements requirements creation team

System design • Custom effort 50% time • OpenVPX establishes well-

• Significant error-prone backplane defined choices
/chassis /module investigations • System issues addressed
• Difficulty in getting agreement on • Pinouts, placements,
needed design implementation protocols defined in
OpenVPX specification

Development system • Significant iterations with vendors 33% time or • OpenVPX assures common
readiness for integration before lock down 50-60% time savings, if language and definitions
• Room for interpretation standard development • Established ecosystem of
chassis chosen standard backplane and
chassis

Multi-vendor • Rework cycles 50% time • OpenVPX published

hardware/system • Finger pointing common language and
integration • Cost, schedule, performance hits due specifications quickly
to interoperability issues resolves conflicts

Risk to demonstrate • High 50%+ risk reduction for • OpenVPX reduces errors
readiness for initial • Reduced quality integrated system goals early in process
fight-test • Technical, management, customer, with a clean architecture • Overall quality improves
team frustration maintained • Overall QRC improves

topologies. OpenVPX supports Central- 1. Establish application requirements to be considered for a QRC VPX technolo-
ized Switching, Distributed Switching, determine technology choice. gy development program, noting esti-
and Master/Slave Topologies. 2. Decide on VPX technology — 3U or mated benefits anticipated from using
• Centralized Switching: Uses dedicated 6U form factor for SWaP requirements. the OpenVPX systems specification as a
switch modules in multiple types of 3. Is integrated multi-module, perhaps clear decision making guide to develop-
switched configurations (e.g. Dual Star). multi-vendor and /or system manage- ment. As an early thought leader and
• Distributed Switching: Full or partial ment enabled chassis solution required? major contributor to the OpenVPX spec-
mesh switching. May require switch a. No — (standalone module only) ification content, Mercury Computer was
logic on each card for larger slot count Use VITA 46 specification(s) if able to use these concepts to create and
chassis (e.g. 5 slot sRIO mesh). desired. deploy a major prime QRC program
• Master-Slave: Generally Master host b. Yes — Use OpenVPX specification. using OpenVPX-compliant architec-
SBC with Slave I/O cards connected If yes, select slot and module payload tures in just 10 months. When systems
by PCIe fabric. (e.g. SBC root com- profiles and, if switched architecture, developers with domain expertise and
plex connected to I/O cards via PCIe switch module profiles that will allow proposal writers become proficient with
fabric.) assets to achieve (processing, through- using the specification, similar types of
Using the OpenVPX specification tax- put, management) application require- risk reduction and development effi-
onomy and the architectural building ments. ciencies may be expected.
block language of connectivity, a system Once this step in the solution devel-
engineer or architect can now leverage opment process has been reached, you The Journey Continues
the specification’s content and rules for have essentially constructed the archi- A path to OpenVPX V1.1 is being
their unique application. tecture and topology of your develop- developed to create an efficient meth-
ment solution for application integra- od to augment the specification with
OpenVPX Specification Decision Tree tion. You now have a clear template new profiles in support of technology
The OpenVPX Specification (available for design or for approaching suppli- and market changes. Also, recommen-
now via ANSI and www.vita.com) can be ers for module, backplane and or chas- dations for user-defined pins are in dis-
used in developing open architecture, sis outsourcing from an ever-growing cussion, which hopefully will result in
high-performance, embedded hardware ecosystem and cadre of OpenVPX sup- further VITA 65 specification defini-
solutions. OpenVPX-compliant solutions pliers. tion, but still allow for innovation. As a
provide a compatible hardware platform result, the team is already looking for-
for open embedded OS and middleware Achieving Significant Results and ward to ensuring that OpenVPX will
layering. As a result, as the target applica- Benefits stay current and relevant as the world
tion is developed, the OpenVPX specifica- The OpenVPX Open Systems archi- of fast-moving technology continues to
tion can provide a performance migra- tecture specification gives developers evolve.
tion path to using open middleware capa- the tools to create complex OpenVPX This article was written by Bob Grochmal,
bilities at the module, chassis and intra- technology applications for mitigating Director, OpenVPX Program, Mercury Computer
chassis levels. risk to Quick Response Capabilities Systems, Inc. (Chelmsford, MA). For more informa-
Here is a simple, high level “recipe” (QRC) development programs and, tion, contact Mr. Grochmal at [email protected],
for using the OpenVPX specification for ultimately, deployment. The above table or visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-450.
application development: identifies a typical set of tasks that may

8 www.embeddedtechmag.com OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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 Transitioning to OpenVPX for
Next-Generation C4ISR Systems
VPX systems offer tremendous per- based applications. another vendor, along with a backplane
formance for the Mil/Aero market, • Stable architecture, less risk — from yet another party. Therefore, the
including naval, airborne, and ground- Platforms need to last many years, even OpenVPX initiative commenced in early
based computing systems. The architec- decades. Vendor support is also critical. 2009 with a goal of providing interoper-
ture provides an unprecedented combi- • Performance density — As space ability definitions for the VPX specifica-
nation of bandwidth, user IO, and restrictions get tighter, the system tion. The initiative was rolled into VITA
rugged design, in both a 3U and 6U needs options for small form factors as the VITA 65 specification, which was
Eurocard format. The new OpenVPX while retaining high performance. approved by ANSI in June 2010.
initiative has opened up new definitions VPX, and later OpenVPX, were collab- In short, OpenVPX provides defini-
for VPX system interoperability, includ- oratively created within VITA (VME tions for backplane configurations,
ing defined module profiles, slot pro- International Trade Association) by which are comprised of slot profiles into
files, backplane & chassis configura- dozens of experts in the military/aero- which various module profiles can be
tions, secondary expansion fabrics and space community. Based on the rugged plugged. The module and slot profiles
control planes, and higher speed fabric Eurocard format like VME and ensure that a vendor’s VPX boards
options. CompactPCI, VPX comes in both 3U (modules) have pinouts that are inter-
and 6U standard board sizes with typical- operable within the VPX backplane
Command, Control, Communications, ly 1.0" pitch (0.80" and 1.2" pitch are slots. The backplane configuration tells
Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance also possible). VPX uses a high-speed the user which slot profiles are utilized,
and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Multi-Gig connector and offers plenty of including information on the data rate,
C4ISR embedded computing systems IO in a rugged, open standard architec- routing topology, and fabric used.
have certain general needs, both today ture. With dozens of vendors and some When it comes to backplane function-
and continuing into the future. These backwards compatibility options to ality, there is very little change. The new
include: VME, the architecture is stable and will standard simply redefined two reserved
• Mission-critical reliability — For be supported for years to come. P0/J0 signals Aux_Clk (+/-) and added
Mil/Aero applications, system failures one P1/J1 single ended Utility signal of
can cost lives. OpenVPX for System Interoperability Maskable Reset and redefined the
• Higher bandwidth — Weapon and If there is any fault with VPX, it was Res_Bus signal to GDiscrete. The
intelligence gathering platforms are made to be very flexible. This flexibility Aux_Clk and GDiscrete pins were
using more intensive digital signal pro- was beneficial for customized solutions, already bussed anyway, so the change is
cessing for gathering, relaying, and particularly for how high-speed IO is minimal. Also, the SysCon signal is now
processing data. transported throughout the system. configurable.
• Rugged design — Platforms need to However, it was difficult, if not impossi- Let’s take a look at a standard 6U VPX 5-
survive the shock, vibration, and ble, to be assured that a board from one slot Mesh backplane and compare it to an
effects in aircraft, ground, and sea vendor would work with one from OpenVPX version. Figure 1a shows a 6U 5-
slot VPX backplane and 1b shows a side-
view of how the J0-J6 connectors are used.
The standard VPX version has pinout
charts for P0 and P1 sections with the P2-
P6 as “undefined”. Although the P0 and
P1 sections have defined pinouts, there
are no details in VPX as to the kind of sig-
nals such as thin pipes, fat pipes, or ultra
thin pipes. Also, the details of the utility
plane are not as clear.
In the OpenVPX version of the same
backplane, Figure 2 shows the payload
slot profile. It provides more information
for the data plane section (in yellow),
which in this case defines 4 fat pipe lanes.
Also, the utility plane sections are clearer.
Although this backplane does not have a
control plane, if it had one we’d also see
this in the payload slot profile, along with
the type of signal (thin pipes are com-
monly used for the control plane).
The Slot Profile that is referenced in
Figure 2 gives us some details on the card
Figure 1. Figure 1a shows a standard 6U 5-slot VPX backplane and 1b shows a simple side-view dia- plugging into the slot. For example, the
gram of how the J0-J6 connectors are used. slot profile number SLT6 says it’s a 6U slot

10 www.embeddedtechmag.com OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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GE
Intelligent Platforms

It’s an open
specification.
So it’s only fitting that our 136-page
reference guide is free.
Think of this reference book as Cliffs Notes for VPX and OpenVPX.
It’s that comprehensive and easy to read. It covers all the key
topics, including the VITA 46 (VPX) specification, VITA 48 (VPX REDI),
and VITA 65 (OpenVPX). It covers the history and rationale for VPX,
its underlying principles and features, describes in detail important
technical information, and illustrates the content with over 50
diagrams, charts and photos. Ordering one is a no-brainer.

Order your free copy at www.ge-ip.com/vpx

© 2010 GE Intelligent Platforms, Inc. All rights reserved.

All other brands or names are property of their respective holders.

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Transitioning to OpenVPX
profile (a 6U board), the PER says it’s a BKP6-DIS05-11.2.16-1. The BKP6 tells us
peripheral slot, 4F means it has 4 fat pipes it’s a 6U backplane profile. DIS05 means
and the 10.3.1 is where you can find it’s a distributed (like a mesh or ring)
details on this slot profile in the VITA 65 architecture and has 5 slots. The 11.2.16
specification. For OpenVPX, fat pipes is the section of the specification where
have 4 links (4 Tx pairs + 4 Rx pairs), thin you can find details on this backplane
pipes have 2 links, and ultra thin pipes profile. The “-1” tells us the data rate is
have one link. The wider bands, like fat 3.125 Gbps (-2 means 5 Gbps and -3
pipes, are typically used in the data plane, means 6.250 Gbps).
while the control plane will often have the The backplane profile chart in Figure 3
thin pipe or ultra thin-pipe signals. Slot shows the profile name, the pitch, the cor-
types are comprised of peripheral slots, responding slot profile for the backplane,
payload slots, switch slots, or bridge slots. the control plane data rate (if applicable)
The backplane profile of the back- and the data rate of the backplane.
plane also provides more information. The slot type (like DIS05) section of
For example, this 6U 5-slot’s profile is the profile name is an important part of

Figure 2. A Slot Profile of an OpenVPX (VITA 65

compliant) version of the 6U 5-slot backplane.
The profile provides more details on the data Figure 3. The Backplane Profile Chart tells us which OpenVPX Slot Profile(s) is used, the pitch, and data
signals, utility plane, and more. rate of the backplane.

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 SPEED YOUR TIME-TO-MARKET
Y O U R T O TA L S O L U T I O N S PA R T N E R

1 Command & System 3 Flight Control

2
Control Connectivity Multi-Platform Mission
Single Board Ethernet Routers Computers
Computers VPX3-685 Secure MPMC-9350 &
VPX6-185 Router MPMC-9310

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products to fully integrated systems, we provide advanced technology solutions that perform under the most rugged operating
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Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/28057-846

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Transitioning to OpenVPX
the description. The main fabric just refers to the fact that this VPX slot
topologies are CEN for centralized, DIS also has pinouts defined for the parallel
for distributed, and HYB for hybrid. bus (like VME).
“Centralized” means it has a centralized
switch slot and the routing could be Future Designs for VPX/OpenVPX
similar to a Star topology. The DIS and There are some interesting configu-
CEN configurations typically have pay- rations coming up in OpenVPX. They
load and switch slot types. The HYB will include special connections for optical
typically also define peripheral, bridge, connectors and another version for a
and bus slot types like “VME” to RF connector interface. VITA 67 is
account for connections to the legacy underway to add RF connectors to the
bus slots. The bridge slot does not OpenVPX backplanes. Figure 4 shows
mean an active bridge board (like a the new gold connectors on a back-
cPCI Bridge) is being used. Rather, it plane.
Figure 4. This photo shows two upcoming solu-
tions in one. The gold connectors are for RF sig-

Essential Building Blocks... nals per the VITA 67 specification underway. Also
shown is a VPX cabling solution with a shroud to
secure the cables that clip into the backplane.

Innovative Solutions. Another very compelling new solution

for VPX is cabling systems. Compliant to
the latest VITA 46 specifications, the
cabling system can be used for IO to bulk-
head connectors, slot-to-slot connections,
and out-of-band communication. The
cabling system can also be used for system
development. Figure 4 also shows an exam-
ple of these cables plugged into a VPX
backplane. The direct cabling system also
has front-plug versions, which allow testing
Signal Processing HW across the backplane or full interconnect
path. The metal shroud can be used in
IP & FrameWorks
deployable systems to securely hold the
Development Tools cables in place and satisfy MIL-STD-810E
and 901D for shock and vibration.
Systems & Services There are several reasons to use a
cabling system in a deployed VPX plat-
form. Many applications such as ATRs
Size Weight and Power... (air transport racks), may not have RTM
Today’s military electronic systems require flexible state-of-the-art processing (rear transition module) options. In
some cases, the signal speeds through the
performance in a low power, compact solution that meets the demands RTM are not enough. In other designs,
of the extreme conditions of the battlefield. That’s where BittWare’s high the system cannot afford to lose a slot of
performance signal processing FPGA solutions come in. Conduction-cooled, space to an IO slot. The VPX cabling sys-
tem provides a rugged and robust alter-
ruggedized, and COTS compliant OpenVPX, VME/VXS and CompactPCI
native with a high-speed connection that
boards based on Altera’s Stratix family of FPGAs provide fast time to market, is plugged directly into the MultiGig con-
on-the-fly flexibility and the ability to process complex, compute-intensive nector in single or multi-wafer formats.
OpenVPX provides definitions for VPX
algorithms in real time. BittWare military solutions for radar, sonar, SigInt
backplanes, modules, and chassis to
and electronic warfare provide developers the ensure that the products are interopera-
Essential Building Blocks necessary to deliver ble. The backplane configurations have
been defined to show the collection of slot
Innovative Solutions today for tomorrow’s state-
profiles it entails, including information
of-the-art military systems. on the data rate, routing topology, and fab-
ric used. Exciting VPX/OpenVPX prod-
ucts have emerged that offer the perform-
ance solutions required in C4ISR systems.
This article was written by Melissa
Heckman, Electrical Engineeer, Elma
Based on the Altera Stratix family Bustronic Corporation (Fremont, CA). For
of FPGAs for signal processing more information, contact Ms. Heckman at
[email protected], or
For more information, visit bittware.com visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-451.

14 Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/28057-847 OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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 Putting OpenVPX To Work

Before the advent of OpenVPX, these standardized profiles to find one the adjusted sensor signals are com-
designers of embedded systems took that satisfies the objectives of each new bined, they add constructively. For
advantage of the extreme connectivity system. By narrowing the field of config- receivers, the combination is performed
offered by VPX (VITA 46), but were urations, these profiles boost reusability by summing the adjusted signals from
faced with a virtually unlimited number and interoperability between vendors. each sensor. For transmitters, each sen-
of possible implementations. Specific sor delivers a signal that adds construc-
choices for the control and data channel Beamforming Principles tively at the destination.
assignments for each slot, the backplane A multichannel software radio beam-
connectivity, and serial fabrics were forming receiver system is presented as Defining System Requirements
often made somewhat arbitrarily to suit an example that illustrates how the The sensors in a software radio receiv-
the particular needs of the current sys- OpenVPX system design process works. er system for beam forming are antennas
tem. Although following the general Principles from this example can be eas- arranged in a linear or two-dimensional
framework of VITA 46, each system tend- ily applied to other systems. array. The term “software” in software
ed to be so unique that the boards and Beamforming is extensively used in radio refers to the programmability of the
backplanes designed for one system communications, radar, direction find- digital signal processing functions includ-
were seldom usable in other systems, ing, countermeasures, weapons systems, ing the digital down conversion, phase
even from the same vendor. oil and mineral exploration, and med- shifting, gain adjustments, summation of
Now, OpenVPX (VITA 65) provides an ical imaging and treatment. In essence, the received channels, and then the ulti-
effective taxonomy for describing VPX beamforming utilizes multiple sensors to mate demodulation, decoding, and/or
components, and also defines numerous achieve directionality of the sensor array, decryption of the acquired signal.
“profiles” for boards, slots and back- and also to improve the signal quality The example system requires sixteen
planes that detail specific configurations and reception range. antennas, each followed by an RF stage to
of channels, interconnections, and fab- Beamforming achieves these benefits amplify and down convert the radio fre-
rics. Instead of starting from scratch each by judiciously adjusting the phase shift quency signal to an intermediate frequen-
time, designers can browse through and gain of each sensor so that, when cy (IF) analog signal so it can be digitized
by an A/D converter. These sixteen IF sig-
t1 Gain Phase nals are supplied as inputs to the system.
Adjust Adjust
G1 P1
Each IF signal has a bandwidth of 20
Beamformed
t2 MHz and is centered at 70 MHz. After
Sum Out
Gain Phase A/D conversion, all sixteen channels are
t3 Adjust Adjust down converted to baseband and beam-
G2 P2
formed using gain and phase shift param-
t4 eters to comply with operational objec-
Gain Phase
Adjust Adjust tives. The final beamformed sum is deliv-
G3 P3 ered as a baseband signal to a remote sys-
tem control processor PC for additional
Gain Phase
Adjust Adjust
processing, forwarding, or storage.
G4 P4 The system must operate in a limited
space avionics equipment bay and must
Figure 1. Beamforming adjusts phase and gain of signals from each antenna in an array to compen-
sate for different delays (tn), so that signals arriving from a particular angle relative to the array add comply with typical shock, vibration,
constructively when combined in the summer. temperature, altitude, humidity, flight
safety, power consumption, power sup-
ply, and EMC/EMI standards.
VPX P1
X4 Sum Out PCIe X4
AURORA X4 DP01 (Data Plane & Choosing the OpenVPX Payload
BEAMFORM Control Plane)
SUMMATION X4 Sum In Module for Beamforming
X4 EP01 Aurora X4 Sum OUT T
(Expansion Plane)
Since industry standard chassis are
200 MHz DDC 1 X4 EP02
FP 3 Aurora X4 Sum IN available in both 3U and 6U sizes, and
16-bit A/D & shift (Expansion Plane) both are well defined for OpenVPX, the
200 MHz DDC 2
16-bit A/D & shift PCIe small avionics bay requirement favors the
X4
200 MHz DDC 3 I/F
3U style. The next tasks are to select the
16-bit A/D & shift
CROSS appropriate 3U software radio and
200 MHz DDC 4
16-bit A/D & shift
BAR
SWITCH
processor modules (boards) to perform
the beamforming, define the required
Figure 2. Model 5353 3U VPX Beamformer Module with four A/Ds, four DDCs, X4 PCIe interface, phase connections between the modules, select
shifters and summation engine for beamforming. a 3U backplane to support those inter-

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connections, a chassis to meet the physi- system control processor is best classi- cent payload slots 1 through 5 to support
cal and environmental requirements, fied as the data plane under OpenVPX. the sum in and sum out chaining ports
and a link between the chassis and the between 5353 modules. One data plane
remote system control processor PC. Choosing the OpenVPX Backplane fat pipe from each payload slot to the
For example, Pentek’s Model 5353 OpenVPX backplanes use many dif- switch slot 6 supports the four X4 PCIe
Software Radio Beamformer is a 3U ferent topologies named after the geom- links we need to the control processor.
OpenVPX module featuring four 200 MHz etry of their interconnections, including This backplane defines specific slot pro-
16-bit A/D converters and two Virtex-5 mesh, star, leaf, and ring. Most include files for the two types of slots. Slots 1
FPGAs, one for signal processing and a sec- slots for switch modules to support through 5 use the payload slot profile
ond one for the PCI interface. Inside the reconfigurable inter-board connections, SLT3-PAY-1F2F2U-14.2.2 shown in the
first FPGA are interfaces to the four A/D while some simply rely on dedicated upper right section of Figure 3. To see if
converters, four digital downconverters wiring between the slots. we can use the Model 5353 in the payload
(DDCs) with programmable phase shift After reviewing the 3U OpenVPX slots, we must verify that the Model 5353
and gain, and four power meters at each backplane choices in the standard, the has a module profile compatible with this
DDC output. A simplified block diagram of most appropriate for our system is the 6- slot profile.
the 5353 is shown in Figure 2. Slot backplane profile BKP3-CEN06- It is important to note that the backplane
The Model 5353 also includes a sum- 15.2.2-1, which has five payload slots and profiles and slot profiles do not specify any
mation block that adds the DDC outputs one switch slot as shown in Figure 3. fabric or protocol for the connections.
for a four-channel beamforming sum. The expansion plane fat pipes join adja- However, the backplane profile does speci-
This block also accepts a propagated
5 Payload Slots Switch Slot Payload Slots 1-5
sum in signal from another module and SLT3-PAY-1F2F2U-14.2.2
generates a propagated sum signal out Data Plane
DP01
to the next module. The sum in/sum 1 Fat Pipe

out signals use two X4 Aurora gigabit VPX EP04

EP01-
Expansion Plane
serial links connected to the VPX P1 P1 EP05- 16 Differential Pairs
backplane connector, each capable of EP08
Control Plane
moving data at 1.25 GB/sec peak. 2 UTPs
To support the 20 MHz IF channel
bandwidth with a 25% filter margin, the Switch Slot 6
SLT3-SWH-6F6U-14.4.1
DDC outputs deliver complex 16-bit I+Q
Data Plane
samples at 25 MHz, or 100 MB/sec. The DP01
1 Fat Pipe
propagated sum in/sum out signals also DP02
Data Plane
VPX 1 Fat Pipe
operate at 100 MB/sec and are thus eas-
P1 Data Plane
ily handled by the 1.25 GB/sec X4 DP03
1 Fat Pipe
Aurora links. DP04
Data Plane
1 Fat Pipe
The 5353 system interface for control
and data is an X4 PCIe port, also con- Figure 3. OpenVPX 3U 6-Slot Backplane BKP3-CEN06-15.2.2-n showing definition for the payload slot
nected to P1. Bandwidth requirements profiles and switch slot profiles.
for the control and data port are domi-
nated by delivery of the final beam- VPX P1
formed sum out to the control processor.
Data Plane Expansion Plane Control Plane DP01
Data Plane
This 100 MB/sec stream falls well within 1 Fat Pipe 8 UTPs 2 UTPs 1 Fat Pipe
the 2 GB/sec peak rate of the X4 PCIe EP01-
port when operating in Gen 2 mode. DP01 EP01-EP08 CPutp01 CPutp02 EP04 Expansion Plane
EP05- 16 Differential Pairs
A programmable, fabric-transparent PCIe Gen 2 per PCIe Gen 2 per 1000BASE-BX per EP08
crossbar switch allows free assignment of Control Plane
Section 5.3 Section 5.3 Section 5.1.1
2 UTPs
the two X4 Aurora ports and the X4
PCIe port, in any combination, to the
Figure 4. Fabric definitions listed for the module Profile MOD3-PAY-1F2F2U-16.2.2-4 (for the model
four X4 fat pipes of P1. This flexibility 5353) are completely compatible with the VPX P1 connections for payload slot profile SLT3-PAY-
allows the 5353 to accommodate various 1F2F2U-14.2.2, defined for backpane profile BKP3-CEN06-15.2.2-1.
OpenVPX slot profiles and backplanes.
To accommodate 16 antennas, a total
of four 4-channel 5353 modules are VPX P1
required. Since the summation chain PCIe X4 X4 DP01
X8 PCIe X4
requires the same data rate as each DDC, PCIe X8
Cable
the two sum ports must simultaneously ReDriver
PCI
X4 X4 DP02
PCIe X4
PCIe X8
handle 100 MB/sec each. This class of sig- Serial Cable
EXPRESS
SWITCH X4 X4 DP03
FP 3 PCIe X4
nals falls under the definition of expan- 4 GB/sec
X4 X4 DP04
sion plane in the OpenVPX specification. PCIe X4
The X4 PCIe interface for handling
the data initialization, delivery of beam- CROSS
BAR
forming parameters is described as the SWITCH

control plane under OpenVPX. Final Figure 5. Model 5308 3U VPX PCIe X8 Serial Cable Adapter with ReDriver, PCIe switch and crossbar
delivery of the beamformed result to the switch. Also shown are the X8 PCIe cable, PC host adapter board, and host PC.

16 www.embeddedtechmag.com OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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Putting OpenVPX To Work
fy the maximum baud rate for each gigabit 14.4.1, whose VPX P1 connections are The final beamforming system is
serial pipe. This scheme allows a wide vari- shown in the bottom right section of shown in Figure 7, with simplified block
ety of modules to be used in a given back- Figure 3. The four data plane fat pipes diagrams of the four Model 5353
plane slot, each with its own particular fab- shown (DP01 — DP04) connect to pay- Beamformers and the 5308 PCIe Cable
ric and baud rate. Of course, the baud rate load slot fat pipes DP01 on slots 1 Adapter. All of the required gigabit seri-
of each pipe of the module must be equal through 4. al links for Aurora expansion plane and
to or less than the maximum baud rate Now we need to find a compatible PCIe data and control planes are con-
specified in the backplane profile. switch module that can plug into slot 6 nected by the backplane wiring.
Because of its programmable crossbar and connect these four PCIe links to the The chart in the diagram shows the
switch, the Model 5353 can be configured remote system control processor. Pentek’s OpenVPX profiles for the backplane,
to meet the module profile MOD3-PAY- Model 5308 PCIe Cable Adapter is a 3U the slots, and the modules that plug into
1F2F2U-16.2.2-4, which is compatible with VPX switch module with a front panel X8 those slots. Each profile is described in
the slot profile SLT3-PAY-1F2F2U-14.2.2. PCIe cable connector defined by the PCI- full detail in the specification and the
This module profile defines data, expan- SIG PCI Express® External Cabling 1.0 system designer must ensure that the
sion and control plane fabric connections Specification. Compatible PCIe host profiles are compatible.
and baud rates. The backplane profile adapters are available for many different This process of matching module pro-
BKP3-CEN06-15.2.2-1 defines a single fat systems including PCIe cards for desktop files, slot profiles, and backplane pro-
pipe (X4) on the DP01 data plane for PCs as well as avionics cockpit computers. files for a particular application is the
PCIe Gen 2 that corresponds directly to The 5308 features a PCIe switch that sup- key to successful system configuration
the PCIe interface as shown in Figure 4. ports flexible lane bonding so that a single under OpenVPX. Not all of the
The eight expansion plane ultra thin X4 or X8 PCIe port from the control resources of each profile need to be fully
pipes, EP01 through EP08, are also processor PC can be split into four X4 PCIe implemented or utilized if the needs of
defined as PCIe Gen 2, capable of oper- ports to four individual PCIe endpoints. the application are satisfied.
ating at baud rates of 5 GHz. We will The fabric-transparent crossbar switch Finally, the chassis profile needs to be
organize these eight pipes as two fat joins these four X4 ports to the VPX1 P1 defined based on the environmental
pipes for the two X4 Aurora ports for backplane connector, fully compatible with and physical constraints of the system.
sum in and sum out, which need to oper- OpenVPX module profile MOD3-SWH-4F- OpenVPX does not yet have specific
ate at only 3.125 GHz. The two control 16.4.5-2 shown in Figure 6. chassis profiles defined, but it offers a
plane ports, CPutp01 and CPutp02, are Inspection reveals that this module complete system for specifying the size,
not implemented on the 5353. profile is fully compatible with the four type (rack mount, tower, etc), slot count,
VPX P1 fat pipes on the slot profile SLT3- primary power, cooling, backplane
Choosing the OpenVPX Switch/ SWH-6F6U-14.4.1. Further, the baud rate power, and the profile name.
Interface Module specified for the backplane profile BPK3-
The selected backplane also has a CEN06-15.2.2-1 supports the PCIe Gen 2 Summary
switch slot with profile SLT3-SWH-6F6U- with baud rates up to 5 GHz. OpenVPX presents a formal, well-
organized system for defining all compo-
VPX P1
nents in VPX systems, and the efforts of
Data Plane
DP01 the working group should be applaud-
1 Fat Pipe
Data Plane Data Plane
2 Fat Pipes 2 Fat Pipes DP02
Data Plane ed. Many of the figures and all of the
1 Fat Pipe
profiles in this article were derived from
DP01 - DP02 DP03 - DP04 Data Plane
DP03
1 Fat Pipe
the full OpenVPX VITA 65 specification,
PCIe Gen 2 per Section 5.3 PCIe Gen 2 per Section 5.3 which is available from the VITA website
Data Plane
DP04
1 Fat Pipe (www.vita.com), and is definitely a
Figure 6. Fabric definitions listed for the module Profile MOD3-SWH-4F-16.4.5-2 (for the model 5308)
worthwhile and important reference
are data rate compatible with the VPX P1 connections for payload slot profile SLT3-SWH-6F6U-14.4.1, document.
defined for backpane profile BKP3-CEN06-15.2.2-1. A good metric for the significance of a
new standard is how actively new exten-
sions are proposed to embrace new
Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4 Slot 6
options and new technology. As promising
PCIe X4
5353 5353 5353 5353
PCIe X4
5308
evidence, even before final ratification,
PCIe DP01 PCIe DP01 PCIe DP01 PCIe DP01 DP01 new initiatives like VITA 66 and VITA 67
X4 X4 X4 X4 PCIe X4
EP01 EP01 EP01 EP01 DP02
were proposed, adding both optical and
Out Out Out Out
PCIe RF I/O capabilities. As OpenVPX is
EP02
FP 3 EP02
FP 3 EP02
FP 3 EP02
FP 3 DP03
FP 3 Switch
In In In In applied to an increasing number of appli-
S S S S DP04 cation systems, the need for future evolu-
tionary capabilities will emerge. All signs
Aurora X4 Aurora X4 Aurora X4
point to growing adoption of OpenVPX
3U VPX Backplane Profile: BKP3-CEN06-15.2.2-1 for new programs by both the embedded
Slot 1 – 4 Slot Profile: SLT3-PAY-1F2F2U-14.2.2 systems industry and its customers.
Slot 6 Slot Profile: SLT3-SWH-6F6U-14.4.1 PCIe X8 This article was written by Rodger
cable
Model 5353 Module Profile: MOD3-PAY-1F2F2U-16.2.2-4
Hosking, Vice President, Pentek, Inc. (Saddle
Model 5308 Module Profile: MOD3-SWH-4F-16.4.5-2
River, NJ). For more information, contact Mr.
Figure 7. Complete OpenVPX beamforming system showing four 5353’s with Aurora X4 sum in/out Hosking at [email protected], or visit
links (red), and PCIe X4 links (blue) connected to one 5308 with PCIe X8 cable link to the PC. http://info.hotims.com/28057-452.

18 www.embeddedtechmag.com OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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 Who’s Who in OpenVPX

A directory of companies currently involved in OpenVPX

4DSP, Inc. Condurant Corporation
955 S Virginia Street 1501 S. Sunset Street
Suite 214 Longmont, CO 80501 Elma Bustronic
Reno, NV 89502 (303) 485-2721 Elma Bustronic Corp.
(800) 816-1751 [email protected] 44350 Grimmer Blvd.
[email protected] www.conduant.com Fremont, CA 94538
www.4dsp.com (510) 656-3400
CSP Inc. [email protected]
Aitech Defense Systems, Inc. 43 Manning Road www.elma.com
19756 Prairie Street Billerica, MA 01821
Chatsworth, CA 91311 (978) 663-7598
(888) 248-3248 [email protected]
[email protected] www.cspi.com
www.rugged.com Elma Electronic Inc. — Systems
760 Veterans Circle
Amphenol Backplane Systems Warminster, PA 18974
18 Celina Avenue (215) 956-1200
Suite 200 [email protected]
Nashua, NH 03063 Curtiss-Wright Controls www.elma.com
(603) 883-5100 Embedded Computing
www.amphenol-abs.com 333 Palladium Drive Emerson Network Power
Kanata, Ontario 2900 South Diablo Way
K2V 1A6 Suite 190
Canada Tempe, AZ 85282
(613) 599-9199 (800) 759-1107 or (602) 438-5720
[email protected] embeddedcomputingamericasales@emer-
BittWare, Inc. son.com
9 Hills Avenue www.cwcembedded.com
www.emerson.com/embeddedcomputing
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 226-0404 Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic
Systems
[email protected]
(formerly Hybricon Corporation)
www.bittware.com
151 Taylor Street
Littleton, MA 01460 Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc.
(978) 952-2000 (X-ES)
[email protected] 3225 Deming Way
www.cwelectronicsystems.com Suite 120
Middleton, WI 53562
Creative Electronic Systems SA (608) 833-1155
Avenue Eugene- Diversified Technology, Inc.
476 Highland Colony Parkway [email protected]
Lance 38
P.O. Box 748 www.xes-inc.com
CH-1212 Grand Lancy 1
Geneva, Switzerland Ridgeland, MS 39157
+41 (0)22 884 51 00 (800) 443-2667
[email protected] [email protected]
www.ces.ch www.dtims.com

Concurrent Technologies Inc. Dynatem, Inc. GE Intelligent Platforms

6 Tower Office Park 23263 Madero 12090 South
Woburn, MA 01801 Suite C Memorial Parkway
(781) 933-5900 Mission Viejo, CA 92691 Huntsville, AL 35803
[email protected] (800) 543-3830 (800) 433-2682
www.gocct.com [email protected] [email protected]
www.dynatem.com www.ge-ip.com

OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010 www.embeddedtechmag.com 19

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 Who’s Who in OpenVPX

General Dynamics Canada Technobox, Inc.

3785 Richmond Road 140 Mount Holly Bypass
Ottawa, Ontario K2H 5B7 Unit 1
Canada Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. Lumberton, NJ 08048
(613) 596-7000 199 Riverneck Road (609) 267-8988
[email protected] Chelmsford, MA 01824 www.technobox.com
www.gdcanada.com (866) 627-6951
www.mc.com TEK Microsystems, Inc.
Hartmann Electronic 300 Apollo Drive
300 E. Auburn Ave. Meritec/Joy Signal Technology Chelmsford, MA 01824
Springfield, OH 45504 1359 West Jackson Street (978) 244-9200
(937) 324-4422 Painesville, OH 44077 www.tekmicro.com
[email protected] (888) 637-4832
www.hartmann-electronic.com [email protected] Themis Computer
www.meritec.com 47200 Bayside Parkway
HDL Research Lab, Inc. Fremont, CA 94538
406 West Blue Bell Road North Atlantic Industries (510) 252-0870
Brenham, TX 77833 110 Wilbur Place www.themis.com
(979) 836-2300 Bohemia, NY 11716
[email protected] (631) 567-1100 Tracewell Systems
www.hdlresearchlab.com www.naii.com 567 Enterprise Drive
Westerville, OH 43081
Innovative Integration, Inc. Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (800) 848-4525
2390-A Ward Avenue 1580-A West Nursery Road [email protected]
Simi Valley, CA 93065 Linthicum, MD 21090 www.tracewellsystems.com
(805) 578-4260 (800) 443-9219
[email protected] ww.es.northropgrumman.com
www.innovative-dsp.com
PCI-Systems Inc.
Interface Concept 13 C Street
Suite D Tyco Electronics
Z.I. n° 2 des Pays Bas
Laurel, MD 20707 100 Amp Drive
29510 Briec de l’Odet
(301) 358-3621 Harrisburg, PA 17112
France
[email protected] (800) 522-6752
+33 (0)2 98 57 30 30
www.pcisystems.com www.tycoelectronics.com
[email protected]
www.interfaceconcept.com
VTI Instruments Corporation
2031 Main Street
Juniper Networks
Irvine, CA 92614
1194 North Mathilda Avenue Pentek, Inc. (949) 955-1894
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 One Park Way [email protected]
(888) 586-4737 Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 www.vtiinstruments.com
www.juniper.net (201) 818-5900
[email protected] Xembedded LLC
www.pentek.com 1050 Highland Drive
Suite E
SIE Computing Solutions, Inc. Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Kontron
10 Mupac Drive (877) 944-1942
14118 Stowe Drive
Brockton, MA 02301 [email protected]
Poway, CA 92064
(800) 926-8722 www.xembedded.com
(888) 294-4558
www.sie-cs.com
[email protected]
www.kontron.com

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 Product Briefs

6U OpenVPX Radar System Upgrade Forced Air-Cooled Enclosure

Available in both air- and conduction-cooled configurations, the Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) (Middleton, WI) is now shipping
Ensemble™ 6000 Series OpenVPX HCD6410 High the XPand4200, a sub- 1⁄2 ATR, forced air-cooled enclosure for conduc-
Compute Density Module from Mercury tion-cooled modules. The system measures 4.88" (W) × 6.0" (H) × 13.5"
Computer Systems (Chelmsford, MA) com- (D) and weighs 8.8 pounds. The XPand4200 has an optional removable
bines eight high-performance Power memory module attach-
Architecture processor cores with various ment that supports the
I/O capabilities and the scalable serial RapidIO XPort6191 Solid State Disk
interconnect. The HCD6410 also features the (SSD) removable storage
MultiCore Plus® software infrastructure, which allows ease of portabil- module, with 64 GB of stor-
ity in an open software development environment. age capacity. With the mem-
For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-455 ory module attachment the
height increases to 7.62" and the
OpenVPX/VITA-65 Serial RapidIO® GEN-2 Switch weight to 11.1 pounds. Up to six conduction-cooled, 0.8" pitch 3U VPX, 3U
Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (Ottawa, Ontario, cPCI, or power supply modules can be configured into the XPand4200.
Canada) has introduced the OpenVPX™/VITA-65 compliant VPX6- Additionally, the XPand4200 can be configured to meet custom I/O
6902 Serial RapidIO® (SRIO) switch requirements with conduction-cooled PMC / XMC modules available from
card. This rugged 6U VPX board, avail- X-ES or third parties.
able in both air- and conduction-cooled For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-459
versions, combines Ethernet and SRIO
switching in a single slot for manage- Two-Slot OpenVPX Development Platform
ment, control, and dataplane switching Elma Electronic Systems Division (Fremont, CA) has released a
in high performance embedded military new two-slot VPX/OpenVPX test and development platform that
systems. Supporting both Gen-1 SRIO accommodates both 3U and 6U boards via a shelf divider. The new E-
(1.25, 2.5, 3.125 Gbaud) and Gen-2 SRIO (5.0, 6.25 Gbaud), the VPX6- Frame Series enables developers
6902 enables systems integrators to quickly and easily architect small to power up one or more VPX
to large high-performance systems that adhere to the VITA-65 blades under test and intercon-
OpenVPX™ systems specification. nect the J1 fabric connections to
For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-456 emulate the user’s application.
The use of a standard VPX RTM
6U OpenVPX Rugged Single Board Computer (rear transition module) plugged
GE Intelligent Platforms (Charlottesville, VA) has announced the into the back provides access to
SBC622 rugged 6U OpenVPX-compliant single board computer. At the J0, J2, J3, J4, J5 and J6 con-
2.53GHz, the SBC622’s Intel Core i7 processor is 30% faster than its nectors, while simultaneously
predecessor, with up to 8 GBytes of soldered accessing high-speed signals in the J1 connector, routed out the side
DDR3 SDRAM with ECC and a high band- of the backplane. Each slot’s J1 “A” channel is broken out into 16 SMA
width 10 Gigabit Ethernet I/O fabric sub- connectors and the “B”, “C” and “D” channels into four SATA2 cable
system. Customer flexibility to configure headers (12 total per slot).
the SBC622 according to the precise For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-460
requirements of the application is delivered
via two onboard PCI-X® PMC/XMC mezzanine IPv4/IPv6 Gigabit Ethernet Switch
expansion sites. Provision for a higher degree of failsafe operation is The new Kontron (Poway, CA) Gigabit Ethernet Switch VX3910 offers
delivered through the SBC622’s onboard BIOS flash which can be 3U VPX (VITA 46.x) and OpenVPX™ (VITA 65) platforms enterprise-
optionally backed with a second flash device. class switching functionality with a total of 28 Gigabit Ethernet ports
For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-457 and advanced management features.
The non-blocking fully man-
6U VPX Load Board aged L2/L3 Gigabit switch,
Elma Bustronic Corporation (Fremont, CA) has Kontron VX3910, with its 20x
introduced a new 6U VPX Load Board that helps Gigabit ports to the backplane,
confirm the chassis meets the VITA 46/48 power offers the highest port density
specifications for VPX and aids in locating hot for the implementation of various net-
spots within the enclosure. The 6U VPX load card work topologies in 3U appliances. Four
features a microcontroller-based stepped load additional 2.5-Gigabit ports to the back-
control to 100W maximum. Go-No-Go indicators plane simplify a redundant system architec-
are present for 3.3V, 5V, 12V, +12V_Aux, -12V_Aux ture with multiple switches with no single
and 3.3V_Aux. The rotary switch selects the volt- point of failure. The four 1000 Base-T uplinks on the front panel, one
age setting while pushing the ON switch will cycle dedicated for out-of-band management, expand the range to a total of
between different power levels shown on the LED 28 ports. The new Kontron Gigabit Ethernet Switch VX3910 is available
display. The set load power levels are saved in in an air-cooled version for ambient temperatures from 0°C to +55°C
EEPROM. Other features include a power reset button (to minimum and in a rugged conduction-cooled version for the extended tempera-
level) and a SYSRESET signal on the two test point outputs. ture range from -40°C to + 85°C.
For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-458 For Free Info Visit http://info.hotims.com/28057-462

OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010 www.embeddedtechmag.com 21

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White Paper Spotlight
Enabling Interoperability OpenVPX Backplane OpenVPX Enables New
in High-Performance Profiles: Making Sense Levels of High-
Embedded Applications - of System Interoperability Performance Video
An OpenVPX System For VPX Technology
Specification Primer OpenVPX has opened up new defi- Applications
With the advent of high-speed nitions for VPX backplanes and With powerful and mature
serial fabrics, the VME Parallel systems. This includes defined video technology applications
Bus proved insufficient for the Module Profiles, Slot Profiles, backplane & chassis available nowadays, two typical
needs of higher performance embedded systems. configurations, secondary expansion fabrics and bottlenecks still exist in actual
VPX, also known as VITA 46, is the follow-on to the control planes, and higher speed fabric options. Elma systems: data throughput in the gigabit/s range to
VME Specification for the next generation of high- Bustronic will provide some clarity for the new defi- support high-definition video standards, and sys-
speed interconnects for harsh environments. While nitions and what they entail. We’ll provide an tem component interoperability due to the inner
advancing the state of the technology, VPX pro- overview of the various elements involved, and complexity of high-performance video applications.
vides backwards compatibility to traditional include a couple of potential backplane configura- OpenVPX can reliably address both issues.
VMEbus through the use of specialized bridges. tions. The paper will include diagrams on module and
slot profile examples, illustrate signal changes for
Curtiss-Wright Controls existing VPX products, and configuration examples. Creative Electronic Systems (CES)
Embedded Computing Elma Bustronic
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Enabling High-Speed The Inner Workings of VPX: A Rugged Fabric

Data Rates in Solid State Flash: Architecture for the
Connectors for SLC versus MLC 21st Century
Commercial Aerospace Because all solid state flash The VMEbus architecture has
and Defense products are not created served military embedded com-
Applications equal and flash storage is puting applications well for
A new high-speed connector finding its way into more and over a quarter of a century. In-
system for aerospace and more embedded computing creasingly demanding applica-
defense applications builds on industry-proven applications, system design- tions, coupled with new tech-
technology to achieve new levels of ruggedness. By ers should understand the critical tradeoffs nologies such as serial switched fabrics, meant
combining the designs of cutting-edge high-speed between competing technologies when evaluating that a new derivative — VITA 46, now VPX — was
connectors with proven MIL-SPEC contacts, the new flash products. Two well-known flash storage tech- required that leveraged many of the familiar char-
Fortis Zd connector meets the demands of emerg- nologies, Single Level Cell (SLC) and Multi Level Cell acteristics of the VMEbus architecture but brought
ing military applications by enabling data rates of (MLC), offer distinct advantages depending upon a new levels of performance. While introducing
10 Gb/s+ while performing in military-level vibration user’s needs. some elements of incompatibility with what has
and shock conditions. gone before, VPX brings substantial improvements
in price/performance.
Elma Electronic
Tyco Electronics GE Intelligent Platforms
http://www.techbriefs.com/wp/8362 http://www.techbriefs.com/wp/8363 http://www.techbriefs.com/wp/8365

Deploying Ruggedized The Advantages of New! Software Defined

Systems in Unmanned OpenVPX Open Radio Handbook, 8th
Military Vehicles for Standard for VPX COTS Edition
Advanced Air-Sea-Land Equipment Suppliers The folks at Pentek, who wrote
Applications and System Integrators the book on software radio, are
Over the past decade, military The OpenVPX specification was pleased to announce their
platforms of all types and sizes created with a top-down, sys- recently released and expand-
have seen a dramatic increase tems-level view of performance ed 2010 Software Radio
in the use of sophisticated and interoperability. Addressing the architectural Handbook. Now in its 8th edi-
onboard electronic systems. This growing reliance issues required to define, implement, and deploy tion, the handbook shows how DDCs and DUCs, the
on small embedded, rugged computers and complex VPX-based systems from a broad choice of interop- fundamental building blocks of SDR, can replace
high-speed I/O requirements for “mission comput- erable, COTS hardware building blocks from multi- conventional analog receiver designs, offering sig-
ing” provides a wide range of real-time applications ple suppliers. This paper presents a specification nificant benefits in performance, density and cost.
to support both reconnaissance and war-fighting overview, as well as an application-specific example As such, it is a useful technical reference for engi-
activities on land, in the air and at sea. identifying the strategic benefits of the specifica- neers. It’s yours free, just click on the link below to
tion for embedded system development. download a copy.
Kontron Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. Pentek, Inc.
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Embedded Technology
Online
Simplifying Embedded FPGA www.embeddedtechmag.com
Development with BittWare’s
ATLANTiS FrameWork Methodology Feature articles, application notes,
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22 www.embeddedtechmag.com OpenVPX Design Guide, September 2010

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