VITA 66 & 67 Bringing Fiber Optic and Mixed Signal Capability to VPX

Today’s rugged embedded computing industry demands the best of technology and reliability. Driven by requirements for higher performance solutions, platforms continually evolve. Standards organizations, such as the VSO (VMEbus Standards Organization), are diligently working to bring the technology for these solutions to the mainstream. The VSO’s VPX architecture, based on Tyco Electronics’ MULTIGIG RT2 backplane connector as qualified to the VITA 46.0 standard, is the latest technology to be applied to rugged embedded computing. In addition to dealing with escalating processing, power, and cooling requirements of leading edge solutions, the VSO is now addressing the need to realize high bandwidth and high fidelity transmission via alternative media — e.g. fiber optic and coaxial wave guides. This technology is crucial in realizing the full potential of today’s cutting edge C4ISR gear, including RF intensive radar, SIGINT and IED defeat gear, as well as systems benefiting from fiber optics, including secure, long distance and high data rate communications lines.

Unlike prior generations of VME hardware, today’s VPX interconnect is a field of high density, carefully impedance matched contacts. These lines are ideal for high speed differential and single ended signals, and are supplemented with a number of heavier lines dedicated to providing power to the daughter modules. Prior versions of VME had 2nd generation optic and RF contacts. Today’s 3rd generation technology is both higher density and higher performance. Implementation of this technology, while greatly expanding the functionality of the VPX architecture, has brought multiple packaging challenges to the forefront.

As a result, the VSO has formally launched two draft VITA specifications to address the alternate media of optical fiber and coaxial connector/cable managed RF. Drafts of the two new specifications are under way, including

• VITA 66 Fiber Optic Interconnect (previously designated VITA 46.12) as led by The Boeing Company.
• VITA 67 Mixed Signal VPX (previously designated VITA 46.14) as led by DRS Signal Solutions and Pentek Inc. These two draft specifications are now firmly on their feet and accelerating toward implementation as part of the dramatic VPX evolution. Through the development of VITA 66, as initiated in November 2007, the VSO is giving designers a range of fiber optic solutions that will address virtually all applications inside, as well as getting to the outside, of “the box”. Enabled connectivity includes:
• daughter card to daughter card
• daughter card to backplane
• daughter card to chassis input/output (I/O)
• backplane to chassis I/O.
  
  «StartPrev1234NextEnd»