COTS Journal by RTC Media

August 2017, Volume 19 – Number 8 • cotsjournalonline.com

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing JOURNAL

Space Marvels and Innovations in Space Systems

EMBRACING OPENVPX – TRUE COMMITMENT TO INTEROPERABILITY COTS IN SPACE A GUIDE FOR MANAGERS VITA 76.0 CONNECTORS DELIVER MILITARY-GRADE PERFORMANCE

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The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing JOURNAL

CONTENTS

COTS (kots), n. 1. Commercial off-the-shelf. Terminology popularized in 1994 within U.S. DoD by SECDEF Wm. Perry’s “Perry Memo” that changed military industry purchasing and design guidelines, making Mil-Specs acceptable only by waiver. COTS is generally defined for technology, goods and services as: a) using commercial business practices and specifications, b) not developed under government funding, c) offered for sale to the general market, d) still must meet the program ORD. 2. Commercial business practices include the accepted practice of customer-paid minor modification to standard COTS products to meet the customer’s unique requirements. —Ant. When applied to the procurement of electronics for he U.S. Military, COTS is a procurement philosophy and does not imply commercial, office environment or any other durability grade. E.g., rad-hard components designed and offered for sale to the general market are COTS if they were developed by the company and not under government funding.

August 2017 Volume 19 Number 8

FEATURED p.8 Space Marvels and the NASA Connection

SPECIAL FEATURE Space Marvels and Innovations in Space Systems 08 12

Space Marvels and the NASA Connection John Koon, Sr. Editor

COTS in space - a guide for managers.

DEPARTMENTS 6 Editorial The Future of FPGA in Military is Bright

32 Products

George Romaniuk, Aitech Defense Systems

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT VPX Technology And Its Ecosystem Impact 16

VPX Hits Its Stride

Embracing OpenVPX – True Commitment to Interoperability 3U VPX moves into the HPEC world Technology Matched to the Application A Deeper Look at Areas of Growth VITA 47: An Objective Baseline for High-Level Ruggedization OpenVPX sets the stage for interoperability Knowing where VPX came from...and where it’s going

Jerry Gipper, VITA

VITA 76.0 Connectors Deliver Military-Grade High-Speed Signal Integrity for 10 GbE, USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 Interfaces Mike Southworth, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions and Ken Braund, Meritec

High-Performance Backplane Architectures: An Evolving Landscape Landscape for OpenVPX, CompactPCI Serial, and xTCA Systems Justin Moll, Pixus Technologies

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COTS Journal | August 2017

JOURNAL

The Journal of Military Electronics & Computing

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GUEST EDITORIAL Jerry Krasner

The Future is Now – Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality are Emerging to Dominate New Systems and Capabilities As Yogi Berra once observed, “making predictions is difficult, particularly if it involves the future.” But in this case, the future is now.

Consider the following scenario: The new and enhanced attack vehicle has just sustained an intense firefight. With the enemy in retreat the commander asks the system itself for a damage report. In a Siri-like voice, it responds that there was limited damage but that the vehicle can return to base but at a lower speed. The commander can see from the main display a 360 degree image with a virtual display of enemy resources ( from drone communications) superimposed. Central command also receives the images and directs the drone to oversee the egress with its missiles. Base maintenance crews have been alerted to the damage and have the replacement parts waiting. On return the vehicle system will guide maintenance to the location of the damage and illustrate how to reach it. The commander appears as a virtual image within actual Central Command and is debriefed while he is still in the field. The implications for space applications are staggering. Interactions between home based and space based activities - particularly for unmanned missions where the likelihood of experiencing unplanned events - are best developed by using AI (wherein the unmanned system learns from home based interactions) and with AR interactions wherein home based participants can experience the actual space experience. What I mean by AI learning might be explained by the following example. Have two different Google users Google the same question on their respective computers. What the search turns up will be different and each will be based on past inquiries. Does this sound like a battlefield of the future or a deep space program? Perhaps so. But the technology described herein is already available today. Changing and disruptive markets create threats and opportunities for those that develop and sell supporting technologies. Ultimately, the military and other COTS users are the beneficiaries of technologies that are driven by commercial successes. Let’s look at history. Forty years ago the most frequently dialed phone number was 411 – thousands of operators stood by to offer directory 6

COTS Journal | August 2017

assistance more than 1 billion times a year. If one traveled by car one had better have a good map – or even better a Rand McNally Atlas. As the cost of technology came down, new markets rose to meet the needs of a demanding customer base. Giant screen TVs and CD players (later to become DVD and beyond) were initially prohibitively expensive. But as demand increased, the price points came down to where such technologies gained commodity status. Back then, I had a built-in (non-portable) mobile phone – a monster compared with today’s equipment. It was costly ($6500 in 2017 dollars) plus one needed a satellite connection (again costly) but essential to my work. I only allowed a few people to have my direct number, so I relied on a pager to screen my calls. The pager industry was a very healthy and competitive one. Times have changed due to newer technologies, but today even the concept of what new products and capabilities is changing. In truth, possessing devices is no longer important. Just the technology that permits the acquisition. Why would one want to own anything when you can lease it? Why assume the responsibility to maintain and store something? Even more appealing is that service upgrades and multiple levels of information are available. That’s what made Cable subscriptions enticing. Unfortunately, you are stuck with the TV you already have. But that will also be changing. Look around and you will see that technology markets are moving to a subscription model away from a purchasing model. Today you don’t need a library of favorite music – you have Spotify the world’s largest collection of sreamable music. Same for Amazon Kindle which has a library of 900,000 titles. You can use Playstation games without owning any of them. Or play online against others.

Consider the following: Uber is the world’s largest taxi service yet doesn’t own a single vehicle. Using your smartphone it knows where to send your ride and can contact the driver closer to you. Regular taxi drivers need to buy expensive (and limited) tokens and were previously guaranteed a monopoly for their services. Netflix, and now cable services allow me to watch a movie without owning it (some cable providers allow one to record the movie). Once upon a time Blockbuster Video

allowed one to check out and rent from a huge selection of titles. The caveat was that you needed to visit the store. Online stores are beating out traditional brick-and- mortar stores with their high overheads. To be honest I only visit the actual stores if I need to touch and feel the actual product. Then I go home and buy online. How can such stores compete with Alibaba and their easy to use sales capabilities? Alibaba, notwithstanding their retail sales volume, carries no inventory. Arbnb, the world’s largest provider of room rentals, owns no real estate. Future consumer markets (including hand held, auto, communication, robotics, etc.) to which embedded developers will be concentrating their skills and to which users of such developments will be targeting their competitive efforts will be migrated away from product ownership to services that incorporate such products. Already we have AI deeply embedded in our products and technologies. Depending on the smart phone one subscribes to (in reality a smart phone is merely an advanced portable computer that happens to permit phone calls – most folks are using SMS instead) one can get information from Siri, Alexa, or Cortana, among other voice recognition technologies. Video cameras are everywhere – that’s how we caught the Boston Marathon bombers. Face recognition software is deployed in every airport and entry port of the US. It is claimed that Facebook has an AI capability that can view a photo of any person on earth and correctly identify them out of 3 billion people. Not having a top secret clearance I can’t say for sure, but I would be shocked if these capabilities aren’t already being incorporated into military systems. The newest and most impressive technology to find its way into the pantheon of commercial use, and thereby becoming a disruptive technology for today’s existing markets is Augmented Reality (AR). Unlike Virtual Reality (VR), AR creates images one can see within their own actual space. PTC for example, working with a motorcycle manufacturer, created a digital twin in parallel with the actual motorcycle. On the motorcycle is an icon which can be imaged to show the digital twin which contains the entire user’s manual and the ability to test the system and detect problems. The digital image (which is seen as part of the local environment) will also present a detailed guide for the user to take apart the machine to locate the problem area (such as a broken wire). Facebook’s AI group is said to be working on an AR capability that will allow virtual individuals in meetings across the globe to appear as if they were all together in your own office. EMF believes that AR apps will dominate the new world of technology by 2021. AR and AI are not stand alone concepts. Certainly MEMS, DDS, wireless technologies, storage and protocol analysis will find new requirements and opportunities for vendors as well as for the COTS developers that will be needed to integrate them for deployment. Every year we conduct the EMF Executive Survey of Embedded Developers which gives us an interactive ability to track what devel-

opers are using, what they think they will be using, and what makes live easier for them and what makes life more difficult for them. Over the past 3 years we have tabulated nearly 4000 responses. In addition, EMF is in touch with cutting edge developments that can have a disruptive impact on currently used (and sold) technologies. We believe that this will change the demands that will be made on embedded and COTS developers. Author Bio Jerry Krasner, Ph.D., MBA is Chief Analyst and Vice President of Embedded Market Forecasters. A recognized authority with over 30 years of embedded industry experience, Jerry was formerly Chairman of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, and Chairman of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He was President of Biocybernetics, Inc. and CLINCO, Inc., Executive Vice President of Plasmedics, Inc.and Director of Medical Sciences for the Carnegie-Mellon Institute of Research. He has published extensively in medical, business and engineering journals. He successfully filed and received more than eleven 510k applications. www.embeddedforecast.com

COTS Journal | August 2017

SPECIAL FEATURE Space Marvels and Innovations in Space Systems

COTS Journal | August 2017

SPECIAL FEATURE

Space Marvels and the NASA Connection John Koon, Sr. Editor

Beyond Eclipse 2017 is a very special year. We were able to witness the total eclipse of the sun. Figure 1. The next total solar eclipse in the USA will be April 8, 2024. For those who are fortunate enough to be able to view this spectacular phenomenon, they would tell you it is an experience of a lifetime. But have you looked at the sun from the space. Rob Gartner of NASA provided us with this. “A ground-based image of the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017 (gray, middle ring), is superimposed over an image of the Sun’s atmosphere, called the corona (red, outermost ring), as seen by ESA (the European Space Agency) and NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which watches the Sun from space. At center is an image of the sun’s surface as seen by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths of light. During a total solar eclipse, ground-based telescopes can observe the lowest part of the solar corona in a way that can’t be done at any other time, as the dim corona is normally obscured by the bright light of the Sun. The structure in the ground-based corona image — defined by giant magnetic fields sweeping out from the Sun’s surface — can clearly be seen extending into the outer image from the space-based telescope. The more scientists understand about the lower corona, the more they can understand what causes the constant outward stream of material called the solar wind, as well as occasional giant eruptions called coronal mass ejections.” https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2017/aug-21-solar-eclipse-fromground-and-space. Figure 2 is a view of the sun from space (the earth and the moon are not in this photo). Normally from earth we only see the sun as a bright spot (you are not supposed to look at the sun directly without protection!) This photo is a work of art. The big bright sun can be broken down into 3 regions as explained above. The brown area is the sun or sun surface as we know it. Because the sun/sun surface is so bright, we are not able to see the other regions with our naked eyes. The other regions (grey and red) can now be seen in this photo

COTS Journal | August 2017

SPECIAL FEATURE taken during the eclipse. The interesting fact is that without the eclipse the reflection from the sun is too much for the telescope camera. Thanks to NASA and the eclipse, now you can see the three regions of the sun.

Exo-Brake Slows Down the Speed of Nanosatellite as It Enters the Earth from Outer Space

Figure 1 This is the total solar eclipse as seen from earth on August 21, 2017. (Image courtesy of NASA).

On July 16, 1969. Apollo 11 blasted off to the moon. After four days, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. History was made. It is one of the greatest achievements we have. Almost 50 years later, not only we can go to the moon, scientists are able to design nanosatellites to return to earth. While this is beyond amazing, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is doing it all the time. Imagine all the scientific calculations that go into doing a project of going to space and return to earth. Most people are not even aware of all challenges one must overcome. Among them is the extreme heat

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SPECIAL FEATURE the nanosatellite has to endure while entering the atmosphere which can be as high as 5000-degree Fahrenheit. To alleviate the situation, NASA came up with the idea of Exo-Brake ‘Parachute’. For years, engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley have been testing the idea of a parachute attached to the spacecraft to slow down its speed of reentering the earth’s atmosphere. On March 6, 2017, NASA’s Technology Educational Satellite (TechEdSat-5), was deployed from the NanoRacks platform to enter the low-Earth orbit from space. The TechEdSat-5 was equipped with the ExoBrake. While it is orbiting around 250 miles above earth, the Exo-Brake, shaped like a cross-shaped parachute would open up much like a sky diver opens its parachute. This action will help increase the drag to slow down the speed of the nanosatellite, facilitating early re-entry. With that, engineers could guide the spacecraft to a desired entry point for future payload return missions, without the use of fuel. Marvelous maneuver!

Figure 2 This is a view of the total solar eclipse from space. It is a collaboration of multiple groups from the space-based telescope(s). (Image courtesy: Innermost image: NASA/SDO, Groundbased eclipse image: Jay Pasachoff, Ron Dantowitz, Christian Lockwood and the Williams College Eclipse Expedition/NSF/National Geographic, Outer image: ESA/NASA/SOHO. Aug. 22, 2017))

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COTS Journal | August 2017

SPECIAL FEATURE Space Marvels and Innovations in Space Systems

COTS in space - a guide for managers. The motivation (inspiration) to write this article came from recent discussions with traditional military and aerospace personnel and, to some extent, with commercial companies interested in flying commercially-available hardware in space. Its purpose is to shed some light on the reasoning behind the selection of hardware for space application with emphasis on COTS. Although the basic question these companies asked centered on whether a military grade single board computer (SBC) could be used for space missions, it was asked in different ways. George Romaniuk, Director, Space Product Management, Aitech Defense Systems

hat would it take to make my SBC space qualified? Let’s start with some clarification of commonly used phrases like “Space Grade” or “Space Qualified” hardware. It’s unfortunate that these phrases are oftentimes used universally, without thinking about all the issues and considerations associated with the application of hardware for a specific space mission. (Figure 1). Why are we talking about “Space Grade” parts to begin with? Sending hardware to space was—and is still—very expensive, so the objective is to maximize the mission’s success and lifetime. In order to achieve this, we need to look at the reliability of the parts we would like to use for the mission. (Note, we do not address the effects of radiation here, as it’s addressed later in the article.) The traditional approach to obtain Electrical, Electronic and Electromechanical (EEE) parts with desired reliability was based on parts that were well-designed both electrically and mechanically as well as manufactured using the same process and materials in quality controlled production lots. These parts were later subject to a screening process intended to identify and remove those few parts that exhibited infant mortality failures. An important aspect of the screening process is the electrical test performed at 12

COTS Journal | August 2017

Figure 1 The proper selection of electronics for space missions depends on strict criteria that is clearly defined. (Elements of photo furnished by NASA)

three point temperatures (minimum, ambient, maximum), since COTS parts are not typically tested at these three temperatures. Part failure is declared when, after exposure to temperature cycling and dynamic burnin, the electrical parameters exceed the range published in the data sheet. The electrical measurements are evaluated for parameter “drift” or changes that

occurred when parts were subjected to screening. The parameter drift has to be limited, otherwise one may extrapolate the drift and argue that the part will be out of specification within the expected lifetime. Parts with excessive drift are declared failing. There is a limit on the number of parts from the same lot that may fail the screening. If this limit is exceeded, the entire lot is dis-

SPECIAL FEATURE carded because this points to something having clearly gone wrong during the manufacturing process. The screening is not intended to find the few good parts, but to verify lot integrity and remove a few bad parts (typically we should see 1% to 2% failure rate). It’s often asked if the board can be screened, instead of the parts, but it is then impossible to perform parametric measurements of parts at the board level and calculate the drift. The testing at a board level can’t be compared to testing at the component level. Although board level testing may be an acceptable approach for certain missions willing to accept high risk, there are several critical parameters that can will be missed using board level screening.

Is the screening sufficient to use the part for my space mission? If the parts are determined to be free from infant mortality failures, but we still don’t know if they will meet the useful life expectations for a space mission, so we look to the qualification process by randomly select a small subset of parts and subjecting them to life tests. All parts must pass the life test. If one or more failure is encountered, the entire lot is discarded. NASA published a document titled “EEE-INST-002: Instructions for EEE Parts Selection, Screening, Qualification, and Derating” that classifies parts into three levels, based on their reliability: • Level 1 for missions 5 years or longer, • Level 2 for missions 1 to 5 years, • Level 3 (high risk parts) for programs less than 1 year to 2 years. This classification requires additional screening of military parts manufactured according to the MIL-STD-883 to meet even the requirements of Level 3. Therefore, some companies refer to Level 1, 2 or 3 parts as “Space Grade,” but it is evident these parts have different reliability bounds as well as preferred area of applications. It will be very risky to use Level 3 parts for an 18-year mission. When radiation effects are added to this mix of complexities, it’s clear why parts should be evaluated for each space mission rather than indiscriminately called Space Grade parts and use for every mission.

Figure 2 Space-qualified boards include parts that have been screened and tested for operation at altitudes greater than 100 km above the Earth’s surface.

Can we talk about COTS for space? Sure, COTS is truly amazing as far as the computational performance and functionality is concerned, and these parts are typically small and inexpensive. The reliability of COTS parts is getting better and better, mainly driven by automotive applications, so why aren’t they used in space? The big problem with using COTS EEE parts in space is that manufacturers don’t characterize parts sensitivities to radiation effects. First, let’s take a look at the big picture: an electronic system design for commercial, military and space applications. These are the “dimensions” of our activity: Table 1. The design activities for the COTS missions are practically independent, but this is not the case for a space system design, where radiation effects and mitigation of these effects form a common thread between all of the design activities. This common thread requires a good teamwork and agility in order to accommodate feedback from other members related to mitigation of radiation effects. A typical example is an increase in the wall thickness of the system chassis/enclosure to accommodate EEE part(s) with a lower total ionizing dose (TID). This, in itself, may cause an excessive increase in mass, so a more detailed radiation analysis will be required to provide new guidance for the parts placement, which may be in conflict with the optimal electrical or thermal placement.

COTS Journal | August 2017

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SPECIAL FEATURE

What are radiation effects? There are three broad classes of radiation effects to consider in evaluating the applicability of COTS for a space mission. 1. Total Ionizing Dose (TID) is related to damage of the device resulting from long-term exposure to protons, electrons and heavy ions. Some devices, like bipolar transistors, are very sensitive to ionizing radiation applied at a low dose rate (as is typically the case for most of space missions). The use of aluminum or other metals shield the EEE parts from the TID to a large degree. All EEE parts suffer from TID, but the smaller the device geometry, the higher the TID tolerance that should be expected, except for FLASH storage devices. 2. Displacement Damage (DD) is related

to the disruption in the crystal lattice structure of the semiconductor device. It is a non-ionizing damage. The DD mainly affects bipolar transistors, solar cells, LEDs, laser diodes and optocouplers. 3. Single Event Effects (SEEs) are related to direct or indirect ionization of a sensitive area of the semiconductor circuit. There is a long list of specific SEEs, but the most common to note are: a. Single Event Latch-up (SEL) causing high current flowing through the device b. Single Event Upset (SEU) causing aa change of state in flip-flop or memory cell

c. Single Event Transient (SET) occurring both in analog and digital circuits The typical design process with COTS EEE parts should start with a parallel evaluation of the parts’ reliability as well as checking for the presence of forbidden substances within a part and, last but not least, radiation testing of a candidate part. Radiation testing should characterize the part for sensitivity to TID, protons and heavy ions.

What do we expect from the proton test? Proton testing offers an easy way to look into device degradation as a function of TID, and evaluate the SEE in a limited range of ionizing energies. There are very good NASA and JPL guidelines for testing EEE parts with protons [1], [2]. Access to a proton beam is less cumbersome than access to a heavy ion beam, therefore it’s used as a first step in parts evaluation for space missions. We should expect parts failing the radiation test and bring few similar parts to the test and select the best one. The proton test may demonstrate several surprising results, including: • y our favorite switching power supply fails destructively after few seconds of exposure to high energy protons, • a newer microcontroller with a rich set of peripherals loses functionality after <400rads, • a n older microprocessor passes 100krads with minimal degradation. For the EEE part that survived the test without destruction or significant degradation, the vital statistics are the sensitivities (cross-sections) calculated as the number of observed SEE divided by the fluence of protons (typically 1E10 or 10 billion per square centimeter). The cross-section calculated from this experiment used to be fairly representative of the part sensitivity, but with smaller geometries, we‘re hitting lower and lower percentages of transistors with 1E10 protons/cm2. The detailed analysis of this underlying phenomenology is presented in [4].

What we do with proton testing results?

Table 1 Typical design considerations for different types of missions. 14

COTS Journal | August 2017

Hopefully after the proton test, we have parts that didn’t suffer from SEL and survived the expected TID within a reasonable margin. The testing with protons gives us visibility to the device sensitivity in a narrow range of

SPECIAL FEATURE

the Linear Energy Transfer (LET) spectrum, which defines the amount of energy an ionizing particle transfers to the material traversed per unit distance. The LET encountered in testing with 200MeV protons does not exceed the 15MeV*cm2/mg, but the mission may need characterization to LET of 35MeV*cm2/mg (the typical value for LEO missions) or higher. To perform such characterization, one needs to perform testing with heavy ions, which is more complicated than proton testing, mainly due to very low ranges of the ions in silicon. The proton test will most likely uncover SEFI (Single Event Functional Interrupt) in the candidate parts and, with well-designed test boards, ways of mitigating them (reset, power cycle) will be determined. Electrical designers use this information to design the circuits and, in the reliability analysis, to predict system availability values or upset rates. The SEU sensitivity allows upset rate calculations for the mission and establish the proper mitigation, such as memory scrubbing, ECC (Error Check & Correct), TMR (Triple Module Redundancy), etc.

Are these radiation tested parts good for my space flight? The radiation test and the analysis will determine the TID as well as find if the part is free from SEL in the LET range specified for the mission and will establish modes and frequencies of SEE and SEFI. The information about SEE and SEFI will be used by the electrical and software design teams to find mitigation means. Some SEFI modes may prevent the part from being designed-in and the same applies to SEE, but to a lesser extent, particularly to SETs on the outputs of the voltage regulators. The part has to be approved by the reliability team for its expected failure rates. This assessment is based on the available qualification data from the manufacturer (not all parts have this information available) and on the construction analysis (also known as Destructive Part Analysis). All these tests and evaluations take some time. Once you are satisfied with the results and ready to purchase parts for screening, you need to recognize and address some other design issues, like making sure the radiation tested parts are the same as parts procure for screening. Manufacturers tend to perform die

shrink, which changes the radiation performance of parts. Some manufacturers fabricate the part in a few locations around the world, with each location using a slightly different process. So, parts from multiple locations are packaged in one facility and marked the same way, but most likely, will have different radiation performance. During the screening process parts are subject to electrical test. The data sheet for simpler parts may not even show an equivalent electrical circuit, only a block diagram, yet the part typically has lot more functionality than what is depicted. (Figure 2). For example, some memory ICs have built-in ECC not mentioned in the data sheet or redundant circuits inserted to improve the yield. These circuits may mask the degradation of the device during the screening. It is good to inform the component manufacturer of your intentions and ask for suggestions; you may learn a lot from them.

When would you use COTS for space missions? As we have shown, getting COTS EEE parts to level 1 or 2 is quite expensive, time consuming and still risky (candidates may fail). The best use of COTS in space is if components offer a performance level or functionality not available from the existing portfolio of high-reliability, radiation characterized parts. No matter how the question is asked, the proper use of COTS requires a critical look at the mission itself, and how the parts are expected to perform. 1. Proton Single Event Effects (SEE) Guideline, Kenneth LaBel 2009 2. Proton Test Guideline Development – Lessons Learned, NEPP 2002 3. Guideline for Ground Radiation Testing of Microprocessors in the Space Radiation Environment, Farokh Irom JPL 2008 4. Proton Testing: Opportunities, Pitfalls and Puzzles, Ray Ladbury, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT VPX Technology And Its Ecosystem Impact

VPX Hits Its Stride Market research on both VME and VPX technology differs depending on whose analysis you are utilizing. In VME, for example, the difference in growth projections can range from a -6% CAGR to over 10% plus. On the VPX front, the research is a bit more consistent, with revenue growth forecasts ranging from 12% to 19% over the next five years. The VPX continues to evolve and innovate. Jerry Gipper, Executive Director, VITA

ake a look at each technology, and the reasons for the discrepancy is clear. VME and VPX each serve a different set of applications. For over 30 years, VME has been a viable solution to many embedded computing platforms with a high degree of system control and I/O with a moderate amount of data transfer. These types of applications will continue to exist, with a large installed base in a market that expects products to operate in excess of 15 years. It is no surprise that there is still a strong demand, yet a tentative approach to long term growth. But upgrades and replacements can keep the market for VME products solid for many more years to come. Throw in the occasional new design win, and you may realize some growth. On the other hand, being a more modern architecture that supports high speed serial switched fabrics that support high data bandwidth, VPX offers the potential of significant and steady market growth in a new class of high performance embedded computing. News of design wins from suppliers around the globe confirm the growth predictions of the industry forecasters. Interest in VPX has always been strong from the US defense market, but is also showing a spike in interest from Europe, where VPX was slow to be accepted, and from several locations in Asia.

Growing Industry Collaboration Even more interesting are initiatives

COTS Journal | August 2017

launched by US defense agencies to work together to define critical embedded computing architectures based on open standards that can be used in platforms across all of the agencies. The VITA community has seen a shift in the importance and use of modular, reusable open system architectures. Working groups from HOST (NAVAIR), MORA (Army), SOSA (Air Force), VICTORY (Army), and other initiatives have been meeting to discuss and develop a common strategy. These initiatives are studying several different open system architectures for board and system form factors, but they see many different approaches as appropriate (not conflicting), as there is no “one architecture to rule them all” on architecture that is common to these initiative is VPX. What is driving this interest? From a user viewpoint, they are excited about VPX’s open framework, which is defined well enough to be a standard architecture, but open enough that each can add their ‘special sauce’ as required. VPX provides the flexibility and performance to address the design challenges of many applications. The working groups are pulling suppliers and users together to further refine the standard to meet their specific platform needs. Platforms from ground vehicles to satellites are driving specific VPX profile requirements through the OpenVPX systems architectural framework, and ensuring interoperability between systems.

Reconstruction Across the Supply Chain While efforts at various levels in the past have been attempted, this is the first time that I have ever experienced the determination of the entire supply chain to make this a success. Today’s computing technology has become so complex that it is very difficult and expensive to go at it alone; systems must be decomposed into interacting elements, implemented separately, and then integrated. A strong ecosystem with the proper guidance is absolutely necessary to define a viable solution. VITA is instrumental in playing a keystone role in providing that supportive, growing ecosystem of suppliers, users and technology to make this a success. There is still a long road ahead, but the modularity and open interoperability of architectures, like VPX, will get us several steps closer to the number one goal: Be able to simplify systems into elements, assign functionality, define interfaces and then have the elements work in the expected way when those elements are put back together. VPX suppliers are winning substantial programs. Opportunities are emerging in many areas as demonstrated by their observations. We asked a few association members for their perspective:

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

1. Embracing OpenVPX – True Commitment to Interoperability Valerie Andrew, Marketing Manager & VPX Marketing Alliance Chair, Elma Electronic Inc. In many ways, it’s unbelievable that VME is still so widely used in defense programs today. It’s a testament to not only the robustness of the standard and its ability to evolve, but to the fact that it’s such a well-supported open architecture, with a large ecosystem of suppliers. VME does have its computing limitations however, so the same community (VITA) put their heads together to develop an entirely new architectural framework, the family of standards around VPX (VITA 46), and its architectural framework, OpenVPX (VITA 65). It’s been a gargantuan undertaking, with a steadfast commitment from an ecosystem of vendors and users to ensure it retains one of the most important aspects of its predecessor – interoperability. This has created an architecture that offers innumerable applications for the user community based on a healthy selection of products

2. 3U VPX moves into the HPEC world Mrinal Iyengar, Vice President, Boards & Services, Abaco Systems Traditionally, systems designers have adopted 6U VPX for HPEC applications – but platforms are getting smaller, and vendors are being challenged to provide similar levels of performance in the smaller 3U form factor as the size, weight and power available to embedded computing in military applications diminishes. 3U VPX can deliver significant compute capability – more than 1 TeraFLOPS of throughput – in an enclosure measuring just 6” x 5” x 3” and weighing less than six pounds. The ideal design approach is, increasingly, to configure multiple 3U VPX boards of various types within the system. The challenge here, however, is the interconnect between the boards: too slow, and it will tend to ‘throttle’ the performance of which the system could be capable. Over the past few years, military systems designers have increasingly turned away from switch fabric solutions such as InfiniBand and

from a wide ecosystem of vendors. To date, there are over 45 companies offering standard VPX-compatible products, and several prime contractors who are also designing boards and making them available to outside customers. Elma has been involved in these efforts from the beginning. Several members of our team actively participate in the standards committees to help with the development, writing and promotion of the VPX family of standards. From experience, we know the importance of interoperability to the success of the companies in this ecosystem, including our own. Most recently, the efforts being expended on CMOSS (C4ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards) have resulted in furthering the guarantee of interoperability for users across the spectrum. Due to the complexity of VPX, the entire community benefits from an educational approach. In the early years of the standard’s development, a marketing alliance comprised of early adopters set out to explain the architecture and its benefits to the world. We held several press conferences at major events and wrote numerous articles. We are still working on the educational component, working hard to create documents and media that describe the benefits of the architecture. This includes handy guides, FAQs and webinars explaining how the nomenclature is used by the standards – topologies, types of

PCI Express and towards Ethernet as a lingua franca in terms of connectivity – and are now seeing its potential as a backplane technology, with Ethernet switches available in both 3U VPX and 6U VPX form factors. The limited board real estate available in 3U VPX has, however, constrained what’s possible in Ethernet switching – a problem exacerbated by the typically much smaller power envelope required in small form factor systems. However: it’s not just processors such as Intel’s Core and Xeon ranges that leverage finer lithographies and increased functionality integration to deliver more performance while drawing less power. Switch fabric vendors are following a similar path, and that’s seeing the availability of SoC (system-on-chip) fabric designs that deliver more capability in a smaller footprint that consume less power – as little as 40 watts. That, in turn, is enabling 40 Gigabit Ethernet switching in the 3U VPX world, with switches capable of supporting up to eight 40 Gigabit ports (or 32 10 Gigabit ports) becoming available. Such switches promise to be transformative in terms of what can be achieved with the smaller VPX form factor.

profiles, planes and pipes. We believe, as a community, that VPX is the next-generation embedded computing architecture to support the needs of the defense and aerospace community for decades to come. And the more users know, the more likely they are to embrace it as well.

Figure 1 Reference guides and educational tools are helping to further build out the VPX landscape (photo: Elma Electronic)

Figure 2 3U VPX 40 Gigabit Ethernet switches are enhancing system performance (photo: Abaco Systems)

COTS Journal | August 2017

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

3. Technology Matched to the Application Doug Patterson, VP, Military & Aerospace Business Sector, Aitech Defense Systems VME is serving a different market segment than VPX. If your application needs to pass very high speed data across a backplane, then VPX is a good solution. But if you don’t need all that bandwidth, then VPX is like using a Rolls Royce to solve a VW problem. It’s more costly than VME, since it requires additional system integration based on the complexity of the system. And many of VME’s integration issues have already been resolved over the past several decades. With VME, the hardest decision you have to make is “how many slots do I need? Specifying a VPX backplane requires quite a

4. OpenVPX sets the stage for interoperability Shaun McQuaid, Director of Product Management, Mercury Systems, Inc. We believe that the primary driver of the success of VPX is the OpenVPX framework, which defines system-level interoperability across different module types, backplanes, and vendors in an integrated system. Without that set of system-level standards, the VPX modules would have devolved into proprietary variations under the guise of a standard. Instead, with OpenVPX we see an acceleration of adoption in aerospace and defense applications. One proof point is that OpenVPX and the associated VPX mechanical and system management standards are increasingly incorporated into higher-level governmentdriven system standards, such as VITA 84/ HOST, SOSA and VICTORY. Only a successful and accepted baseline could drive these levels of interoperability, and the rapid penetration of these standards into the DoDdriven requirements space is evidence of the increasing value and capability that OpenVPX brings to the embedded processing market. Expansion of the VPX standards to the 18

COTS Journal | August 2017

bit more input on the development side. Whether to select VME or VPX doesn’t need to be forced into an “either, or” situation. When evaluating the usability of both VME and VPX, take a look at which market sectors are actively using each for existing as well as new projects. For example, machine and process control systems work fine using VME, which accomplishes the needed computing tasks and is far easier to implement, keeping costs down. In the industrial sector, this is a pivotal decision point. For defense and aerospace applications, the same metrics should apply – “What’s the problem I’m trying to solve?” If you’re implementing a relatively simple process control function, like platform stabilization, missile fire control, AZ/EL “Slew-toCue” positioning, VMEbus products remain a cost-effective solution that offers plenty of processing and data horsepower. If you have “tons” of high speed data that needs to be passed from one card to another for up- or down-stream, pre- or post-

system level is a recurring theme of success that continues with the VITA 46.11 system management standard. Originally envisioned as a management standard for payload processors, system management in alignment with VITA 46.11 has expanded to chassis and power supply designs as well. This allows system-level architectures to deliver enhanced Built-In-Test and prognostics applications with a direct link to the critical sensor and state data that VITA 46.11 provides. The system management standard in OpenVPX has been so successful that it has spawned an entire market around chassis and system managers and embedded management controllers. This success of VPX and OpenVPX will be fleeting if the technology does not evolve. The innate ability of the OpenVPX standard to incorporate new profiles, updated protocols and faster data rates is what allows the standard to keep pace with the accelerating communication technology and application requirements. At the same time, the associated VPX mechanical standards (VITA 48) are evolving to take advantage of more advanced cooling technologies that allow better thermal management. For example, VITA 48.6 Air-Flow-By cooling enables a 33% increase in processor frequency with a 25% reduction in module weight in the same single-slot volume as compared to conventional conduction

Figure 3 Although high-speed systems benefit the most from VPX, performance requirements across many applications can still be met using VME-based computing. (photo: Aitech Defense Systems)

central command and control element. We are also seeing a trend for multi-processor board solutions where these are tightly coupled into a processing cluster for use in high performance computing applications.

Figure 4 VThis OpenVPX processing module incorporates the Intel 4th generation Xeon 12-core as well as Infiniband/ Ethernet (photo: Mercury Systems) cooling. Liquid-Flow-Through cooling can extend that cooling capacity further. These advances in thermal management have been critical to the active deployment of both true server-class x86 processors and GPGPU technologies onto the battlefield. Furthermore, the adoption of blind mate fiber optic and coaxial connectors into the standards base enables I/O management for the streams of data to and from these high performance processors, again covered by VITA standards (66 and 67 respectively).

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

5. VITA 47: An Objective Baseline for High-Level Ruggedization Aaron Frank, Senior Product Manager, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Every vendor of commercial-off-theshelf (COTS) products intended for use in the defense and aerospace industries claims their products are rugged. The need to withstand extreme environmental conditions and wildly varying temperatures is an everyday requirement. The real challenge is to make sure that COTS products can perform at the highest levels in the harshest conditions for years, or even decades. That means ruggedness alone is not enough, and long-term durability must also be demonstrated. To that end, the VPX community is concerned with far more than electrical and mechanical specifications. ANSI/VITA 47 is an American National Standards Institute standard that defines a rigorous test regime, enabling vendors to demonstrate to their customers that their VPX product is designed to perform optimally, while complying with specific environmental, manufacture, safety and quality criteria. VITA 47 testing/verification includes:

processing, VPX is definitely the way to go. Depending on the market sector, new design wins for VMEbus are now roughly neck in neck with VPX, so let the application dictate the solution.

6. A Deeper Look at Areas of Growth Nigel Forrester, Technical Marketing Manager, Concurrent Technologies Our focus is on providing processor boards based on Intel x86 architecture with associated software and hardware accessories to enable customers to build command and control solutions. We have a long history of providing VME boards for defense applications and, from our perspective, we are encountering some growth as our VME boards are being used in many technology updates for deployed solutions.

thermal, cooling, vibration, shock, humidity, altitude, rapid decompression, fungal resistance, ESD (including 2LM), corrosion resistance, workmanship (soldering, conformal coating and PWB fabrication), interchangeability, status lights, fans (including noise), safety (including materials, flammability and toxicity) and quality assurance. VITA 47 also includes tests for long-term reliability and durability. By formalizing this test regime in a standard, the VPX community ensures that test procedures and results are consistent and meaningful. For example, VITA 47 calls for 500 thermal cycles for long-term reliability/durability, including minimum dwell times, which means that performing just one of these tests can take over seven weeks! Due to cost, and perhaps a lack of infrastructure, required to complete the full test regime, some vendors may choose to only cite part of the VITA 47 standard, such as just the operational temperature ranges, rather than full VITA 47 compliance. When VITA 47 is cited for a particular product, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good idea to request a test report from the COTS vendor. The report should show that the module has been fully tested to meet VITA 47 and not just support partial compliance. Typically, the full regime of VITA 47 testing is only provided by larger vendors, particularly those that have in-house test facilities and the expertise to

VME is simple, widely used for low speed I/O based solutions and offers backward compatibility. This typically means that a VME system might comprise a Concurrent Technologies processor board with many I/O boards. As predominantly a processor board supplier, our total available market is roughly equivalent to the number of deployed chassis. VPX solutions, on the other hand, are far more likely to take advantage of the massive increase in bandwidth available on the backplane between boards. VPX boards usually have separate control and data paths for added security and it is common for the data path to offer around 4GB/s bandwidth between boards which can be further enhanced by using wider pipes. VPX based solutions also benefit from the ability to bring RF signals directly into the backplane, for rugged signal processing deployments. We see some VPX opportunities that use a single processor board as the

Figure 5 Example of a VPX card that has undergone full VITA 47 ECC4 testing to ensure the highest levels of ruggedization and reliability (photo: Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions)

not only perform the tests, but also to learn from failures and then implement changes to enhance their COTS ruggedization and reliability. The VITA 47 standard gives system integrators a baseline with which to objectively compare the ruggedization of COTS products from various vendors. Products that have passed the highest levels of the VITA 47 standard provide the highest level of reliability and long-term durability in the most extreme environments required for the defense industry.

Figure 6 VPX-based multiprocessor systems enable the needed processing power for high performance computing (photo: Concurrent Technologies)

COTS Journal | August 2017

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

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COTS Journal | August 2017

7. Knowing where VPX came from...and where it’s going Rodger Hosking, Vice President, Pentek Now with more than three decades of focusing on high-speed data acquisition, advanced DSP, and wideband software radio applications, Pentek clearly recognized the need for replacing the venerable VME architectures with something much faster. Although enhancements like VME64, VME320 and VXS offered limited performance boosts, it was quite apparent that such incremental gains would be overwhelmed by new devices and system demands within a year or two. After experiencing some legendary disappointments like Futurebus and Futurebus+, traditionally conservative government customers became even more skeptical of any new revolutionary “standard” without a proven track record of industry adoption and well defined specifications. This classic “chicken and egg” waiting game thwarted early progress in moving VPX forward as the next generation architecture for government and military embedded system designs. Fortunately, key vendors in the embedded community continued to advance the VPX story, knowing that unless it became successful, they would be left with no way to deliver systems to meet demanding requirements except as a proprietary, sole-source solution. Government mandates shunning such systems and natural customer caution for long term support made program wins a major uphill battle. Several important initiatives each played a vital role in turning the tide. Dedicated engineers in the VITA working groups of the original VITA 46 VPX document and subsequent extensions wrestled down specifications and achieved ratification to establish technical credibility. A major boost

Figure 7 As its ecosystem evolves, VPX will continue to expand in terms of functionality and performance. (photo: Pentek)

occurred with the VITA 65 OpenVPX specification, which defined backplane profiles and went a long way towards overcoming many of the concerns that there were too many disparate implementations. The VPX Marketing Alliance rallied key industry vendors to join in presentations at press conference events at trade shows to deliver strong messages of technical benefits and of commitment to rolling out VPX products. Embedded industry trade publications and marketing organizations published hundreds of articles and sponsored webcasts promoting VPX. Although rather slow to take off for all of the above reasons, VPX has delivered on the promise and is now widely adopted by vendors and customers alike, with very few lingering reservations about its longevity. Fortunately, its backplane topology and gigabit serial links are capable of supporting future growth in speed, density, and heat dissipation for the foreseeable future. Numerous extensions, such as RF and optical backplane I/O, will continue to emerge as technology and requirements evolve.

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SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT VPX Technology And Its Ecosystem Impact

VITA 76.0 Connectors Deliver Military-Grade High-Speed Signal Integrity for 10 GbE, USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 Interfaces For many years, the favored rugged I/O connector for deployed aerospace and defense subsystems, such as ATR boxes, has been the familiar MIL-DTL-38999 standard circular connector. Over the years, connectors have evolved to meet the demand of high-speed interfaces. Mike Southworth, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions and Ken Braund, Meritec

onnector is approaching its 80th year in service, the 38999 first emerged in the1930’s to address the need for higher bandwidth and greater survivability in high vibration military environments. Since then, the connector’s basic design has evolved to keep up with requirements for better EMI shielding, fluid resistance, and endurance to temperature, moisture and dust exposure. Today, the MILDTL-38999 variation found most frequently in embedded systems is the Series III type, which connects via a triple-start, threaded coupling. Over the last fifteen years, though, a dramatic increase in bandwidth requirements driven, for example, by Ethernet, DisplayPort, USB, SATA, and InfiniBand, has forced innovation, as the 38999’s familiar pin and socket contacts have proved inadequate to ensure signal integrity at the higher data rates at full cable length. With the emergence of a new class of processors that natively support higher bandwidth interfaces, such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, PCI Express and SATA 3.0, demand has emerged for a circular military grade connector that supports their higher data rates. In response to this requirement, VITA adopted the VITA 76.0 standard (“High Performance Cable – Ruggedized 10 Gbaud Bulkhead Connector for Cu and AOC Cables”) in 2015 to define a new 38999-style connector, one that marries a high-density, 24

COTS Journal | August 2017

Figure 1 VITA 76.0 connectors update the 38999-style circular connector to support the high-speed integrity required by 10 gigabit Ethernet and SATA 3.0

high-bandwidth mini-interconnect scheme and fits within the standard MIL-DTL-38999 circular shell. The new contact design was pioneered and first commercialized by Meritec of Painesville, Ohio. VITA 76.0 was ratified as an ANSI standard (ANSI/VITA -2016) in early 2016. Offering the same ruggedization and environmental ratings as the traditional D38999 series III (IP67; 175 degrees C; 500 mating cycles; 500 hour salt spray, etc), the VITA 76.0 connector embeds a “Hermi” contact system within a Qualified Production Listed (QPL) D38999 series III shellwork. Because it leverages standard, qualified circular shells, VITA 76.0 provides

designers with the flexibility to use readily available market-standard backshells and accessories with which they are already familiar. Driving the recent increase in demand for the VITA 76.0 connector is the challenge of ensuring exceptional signal integrity for high speed interconnects over maximum cable length on size, weight and power (SWaP) constrained ground, airborne and naval platforms. The problem is simple: the faster the signal and longer the cable, the greater the signal degradation, and critical applications can’t accept signal loss or distortion. The higher data rates supported by new high performance processors, such as Intel’s Xeon-D SoC, aren’t well suited for use with traditional pin and socket 38999 connectors since they severely limit cables to only a few feet in length. Consider that the 10GBASET standard (IEEE 802.3an-2006) supports 10 Gb/s connections over unshielded or shielded twisted pair cables over CAT 6A or CAT7 twisted pair with a maximum range of 100 meter (330 ft.). The VITA 76.0 connector has been successfully validated by Meritec to support the full 100 meter cable length of the 10GBASE-T standard. (FIGURE 1) Prior to the advent of VITA 76.0, system designers who needed improved signal integrity to support high-speed signals, but also wanted to stay with the traditional 38999 circular connector style, would turn

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT tor designs. This signal integrity challenge has limited the design options available to embedded system designers. For example, the popular 38999 connector isn’t validated to support 10 GigE in copper-based BASE-T copper configurations. Instead, designers have had to turn to significantly more costly fiber optic interfaces in order to support 10 Gbps I/O from their chassis. Another area of frustration has come from system designers

Figure 2

with requirements for video capture/encoders. The issue here is the recent growth in popularity of high-definition serial digital interface (HD-SDI) cameras, which were originally developed for the broadcast industry. Lately, they’ve been increasingly adopted for use in many deployed applications, such as on board helicopters or ground vehicles. The problem is that while HD-SDI cameras are designed to transmit over a coax line, 38999 connectors don’t traditionally sup-

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THE FIRST RUGGED SERVERS WITH SKYLAKE ARCHITECTURE to Quadrax connectors. The price of this alternative, though, was added SWaP and cost burden. The Quadrax contact provides increased bandwidth by rearranging the signal and ground contacts within the 38999 circular connector. Rather than re-designing the contact itself, as VITA 76.0 does, the Quadrax approach isolates the signals from each other to improve isolation from crosstalk. While increasing bandwidth capability, this design sacrifices pin count and pin density. For example, a 38999 size 23 shell can accommodate six (6) Quadrax contacts for a total of six bidirectional lanes each capable of approx. 2.5 Gb/s. This meant that four contacts were needed to support 10G Ethernet (2.5G x 4). In comparison, the VITA 76.0 connectors have been lab-proven to support 10Gbps data rates with differential pairs and grounds. Even better, with VITA 76.0 “Hercules” connectors, Meritec leverages shell work from QPL 38999 manufacturers and then integrates the Hermi contacts at substantially less cost than Mil-circular embedded Quadrax connectors. Until the emergence of VITA 76.0, system integrators who wanted to take full advantage of a contemporary processor’s ability to support 10 GbE, USB 3.0 and/or SATA 3.0 have had to choose between three less-than-desirable tradeoffs. Either they have chosen to stick with the familiar and proven 38999 and accept a reduction in speeds and/or cable length, or adopt the Quadrax approach and its SWaP and cost penalties, or they’ve selected non-standard, and less cost-effective proprietary connec-

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COTS Journal | August 2017

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT port coax. Instead, system integrators have had to use special inserts with their 38999 connector shells or use completely different non-military connectors in order to support such cameras. With support for up to 145 total contacts, 44 differential pairs, and special shielding for maximum EMI/RFI protection, the VITA 76.0 connector was designed to address signal integrity and high density interface issues while enabling the system integrator to continue to use the standard threaded-coupling 38999 circular shell. Given that VITA 76.0 connectors are optimized for use with 10 GbE copper interfaces, for example, and that industrial-temperature rated 10GBASET Ethernet transceivers are now available, it is anticipated that 10 GbE capable systems will begin to proliferate in deployed applications that have historically been dominated by optical architectures. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, since VITA 76.0 also supports coaxial interconnect requirements, the new connectors will also be utilized in video and RF applications. The new contact design used by VITA

Shell Size

Number of Pairs

Single Ended

Grounds

Total Contacts

Primary Usage

USB and SATA

SATA & MiniSAS

SATA, PCIexpress MiniSAS & 4x Infiniband (IB)

PCIexpress

145

PCIexpress & 12x IB

Figure 3 Four VITA 76.0 shell size variants are supported by Meritec, 23, 17, 13 and 9. The shell size 23 connector supports 145 total contacts for 22 bidirectional lanes at 10 Gb/s per lane and 44 differential pairs, each of which transfers 10Gbps.

76.0 connectors differs from traditional pin and socket designs in that it uses a flat hermaphroditic contact interface that is identical in both the cable plug and the receptacle. (FIGURE 2) When mated, the flat mating surface provides two points of contact. The wire termination techniques used by VITA 76.0 provide a virtually transparent signal impedance path. There are none of the electrical stubs typically found in pin and socket designs. And while many attempts have been made to embed commercial connectors such as Ethernet and USB within 38999 shells in order to make usable in rugged military environments, the new hermaphroditic contact design is a superior solution, both smaller and lighter, that delivers the bandwidth capabilities needed to accommodate the various protocols. 4.4 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches VITA 76.0 defines six shell size variants; 23, 17, >65 Teraops/sec 15, 13, 11 and 9, four of scalable 1-4 FPGAs which Meritec chose to installs in any PC or server tool - 23, 17, 13 and 9 - because the 11 and 15 shell made in the U.S.A. sizes did not offer significant advantages over the 9

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COTS Journal | August 2017

and 13 sizes, respectively (FIGURE 3). The shell size 23 connector supports 145 total contacts that will accommodate 22 bidirectional lanes at 10 Gb/s per lane for an aggregate bandwidth of 220 Gb/s per connector. It supports 44 differential pairs, each of which transfers 10Gbps. In comparison, the traditional 38999 connector in shell size 23 only supports 100 contacts and the slightly larger standard 38999 size 25 supports 128 contacts. With its 145 contacts, the size 23 VITA 76.0 can support 18x 10GbE lanes or an entire PCI Express x16 bus (82 contacts). The size 23 variant, with its smaller shell size, actually delivers 2.75x the differential pair density of Quadrax. Similarly, the shell size 17 VITA 76.0 connector provides 66 total contacts compared to the 55 supported by 38999 size 17. This enables the shell size 17 variant of VITA 76.0 to support 8 10G Ethernet ports or 18 differential pairs. The smallest variant of VITA 76.0, the shell size 9 connector, supports 8 total contacts, compared to the 6 supported by standard 38999 shell size 9, and is well suited to handle one port of 10GBASE-T Ethernet. Today, although Meritec is currently the only source of VITA 76.0 connector technology, multiple interested parties are working through licensing agreements, which will further accelerate implementation and geographic reach. Meanwhile, the status quo has not slowed adoption. VITA 76.0 has already been specified for use in major design wins by every major systems integrator. Having multiple vendors for the connector

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT in the near future will only further reinforce the VITA standard’s open architecture and will provide broader worldwide geographic coverage from a supplier standpoint. Curtiss-Wright’s recently introduced Parvus DuraCOR XD1500 Small Form Factor (SFF) <FIGURE 4> modular mission computer provides an example of a contemporary rugged embedded system that takes full advantage of the 100 Ohm impedancematched VITA 76.0 connector to ensure the superior signal integrity of its multiple, high-speed 10 GbE, USB 3.0 and other I/O interfaces. This rugged COTS system was designed to deliver ultra-rugged mission computer capabilities in the smallest, lightest envelope possible. It features a 12-core Xeon-class floating-point processing supported with up to 128 GB of RAM, the highest capacity memory architecture available for embedded systems. With VITA 76.0 interconnect support for not only a comprehensive set of native Xeon-D high-speed I/O, this system also provides 150+ spare pins for add-on expansion I/O functionality from its XMC and mini-PCIe sites for missionspecific avionics/vetronics payload interfaces. This modularity and scalability enables mission-tailored capabilities for C4ISR command and control, image processing, surveillance, virtual machine hypervisor, datacenter server processing and network functional virtualization (NFV) applications

in harsh deployed environments. Meanwhile, innovation in connector design continues apace: a field-replaceable version of the VITA 76.0 connector is scheduled for release in Q1 2018. The advantages to the VITA 76.0 contact design are numerous, including increased density, pin count, bandwidth per contact, and aggregate

bandwidth per connector. System engineers looking for SWaP improvements within their systems can use the VITA standard that has been utilized in many designs.

Are Your OpenVPX Handles Breaking?

Superior Rugged Metal Claw Figure 4 Curtiss-Wright’s Parvus DuraCOR XD1500 Small Form Factor (SFF) modular Xeon-class mission computer features an 100 Ohm impedancematched VITA 76.0 connector to ensure the superior signal integrity of its multiple, high-speed 10 GbE, USB 3.0 and other I/O interfaces.

If you are ready for a more robust handle/panel solution, come to Pixus! Our OpenVPX handles feature a metal engagement claw and rugged design that ensures the highest reliability. Ask about our new rugged horizontal extruded rails with thicker material for OpenVPX and high insertion force systems today!

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COTS Journal | August 2017

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT VPX Technology And Its Ecosystem Impact

High-Performance Backplane Architectures: An Evolving Landscape for OpenVPX, CompactPCI Serial, and xTCA Systems Once we think we have the backplane-based open standard computing architectures from PICMG and VITA figured out, the landscape changes for engineers. These architectures have inherent strengths for various industries, but the market demands have shifted the product landscape. Many engineers know the strengths of OpenVPX, particularly in the Mil/Aero market. We’ll take a look at where OpenVPX excels as well as the growing use of xTCA (AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA) and CompactPCI Serial in rugged designs. Justin Moll, Vice President, US Market Development, Pixus Technologies

Simpler Times

Mil/Aero Requirements

In the early development of specifications, they are sometimes designed for specific markets. There are often unintended as well as many intended feature-sets that allow the architectures to fit various applications. This is one of the benefits of open specification/standard groups such as PICMG and VITA. The knowledge and experience of dozens of engineers from a wide range of backgrounds helps ensure a robust specification applicable in multiple markets. Take AdvancedTCA (ATCA) for example, with features of 99.9999% uptime, full redundancy of all Field Replaceable Units (FRUs), highspeed serial fabrics, and integrated shelf management. It was geared to be the networking/telecom backbone workhorse, from applications in the Telecom Central Office to Access/Edge nodes. Over a decade later, the Telecom market began to shift to cloudbased solutions and low-cost “throwaway” servers. Gradually since its inception in 2003, vendors served their customers with ATCA solutions to meet other markets, including Mil/Aero and Physics, and modified iterations for Test & Measurement. Today, ATCA is growing much more rapidly in these other applications than in the Telco market it was originally designed for. This shift has applied to most architecture, but OpenVPX has less flexibility to stretch to other markets mainly due to its

At the time of its creation in the 2004/2005 timeframe, the timing was excellent for OpenVPX to gradually take over the Mil/Aero market for backplane-based computing systems. Legacy VME and CompactPCI were not able to handle many of the high-performance requirements around that time. AdvancedTCA was initially focused on Telecom and MicroTCA and CompactPCI Serial didn’t exist yet. Key board/system vendors such as Mercury Computer and Curtiss Wright aggressively marketed to their large Mil/Aero customer base. OpenVPX quickly was seen as the “VME replacement” architecture and grew somewhat organically therein. OpenVPX still dominates the Mil/Aero market. The reasons are many, including: • Maintains 3U and 6U Eurocard size options • Very flexible architecture for power, routing/pinout options, etc.* • Direct involvement of MIL prime contractors in specification development • Continued adoption of new ancillary specifications bolstering the options of OpenVPX, including the use of optical and RF connectors • “Focus” on largely one marketplace • Leveraging “best practices” in market, including adoption of shelf management implementation * The high flexibility initially created in-

COTS Journal | August 2017

Figure 1 This unfinished enclosure shows powerful 191 CFM hot-swappable fans that can be placed directly above the card cage for efficient airflow. The fans blow the exhaust air 90 degrees out the back for a front-to-rear airflow configuration.

higher costs. Some engineers have explored the architecture in High Energy Physics, Energy, Test/Measurement, and other applications. With a few exceptions, the price is often too restrictive. OpenVPX is still dominant in applications where the performance, reliability, ecosystem, and size are the primary considerations. This includes Mil/Aero and HPEC applications including Research/Lab requirements.

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

teroperability issues which have since been addressed by creating VITA 65 OpenVPX profiles that work together Some of the benefits of OpenVPX can somewhat be drawbacks as well, especially in comparison to the other architectures. For example, the focus on one marketplace is an advantage for rich feature-set and addressing niche requirements. However, the lack of reaching economies of scale with cross-use in higher-volume markets also holds OpenVPX back. MicroTCA for example is used in fairly high volumes in many Communications Test, Physics and other applications. This includes high-performance FPGAs, processor cards, and more…boards that can also be used in Mil/Aero. Thus, MicroTCA is typically more cost-competitive (more on this later). OpenVPX often has high power boards from multi-core processors to higher-end FPGAs, etc. This can necessitate the use of forced-air cooling. With the high temperatures, fans in some designs need to run high and fast, lowering MTBF. But, there are solutions to alleviate this potential problem. For example, with separately removable fans placed directly above the card cage, the airflow path is more efficient than fans pulling air from the rear of the enclosure. Figure 1 shows a unit with powerful dual 191 CFM/ each fans that pull air front the front of the enclosure and blow the heat 900 out the back. Even in high wattage systems, these fans can run at lower speeds, reducing acoustic noise and extending their life. This airflow configuration can be used for any 3U or 6U Eurocardbased system. OpenVPX has a dense connector that facilitates high-speed serial signaling including

plenty of options for fat pipes for the heavy traffic, control planes, expansion planes, management and utility planes, etc., and plenty of I/O. The drawback is that there can be very high insertion forces (HIF) to inject/ eject the board. The forces are so high that can bend or crack the rails of the enclosure frame. It is recommended to use re-enforced extrusions that can withstand these forces. Additionally, the HIF can cause problems with the injector/ejector handles. For example, many handles have plastic “claw” interfaces with the extrusion. As force is applied, this interface can crack or snap. More commonly, they wear down to a nub over time where they will no longer extract the board from the enclosure. Figure 2a shows a rugged OpenVPX handle/panel with a specially-shaped metal claw. The shape lets the board “rock” the board out when disengaging, making the ejection process smoother. For even better leverage, Fig 2b shows a long handle and allmetal body for extreme durability. Although this style helps with leverage in injection/ ejection the board, the long handle takes up panel space. This style is only recommended for boards with less I/O requirements out of the front panel (typically only 6U). Overall OpenVPX is very effective for Mil/Aero systems. But the other architectures have adapted since their initial adoption to meet various markets. One example is ATCA.

The ATCA Shift As alluded earlier, with the massive growth of AdvancedTCA in the late 2000’s, engineers in other applications such as Mil/ Aero began to see significant benefits in using the architecture:

• Proven design with tens of thousands of systems in the field • Open standard architecture with dozens of vendors • Large board real-estate for plenty of processors or I/O • Very high-reliability and fail-over protection • Large ecosystem of products and growing amount of options Over time, AdvancedTCA was chosen for programs such as the P-8 Poseidon Sub Hunter and many others. The architecture went through the military “barge” tests for shock/vibration and more ruggedized versions were developed. At the same time, more requests for specialty boards such as A/D converters, storage modules (often with AMC storage boards with the ATCA card acting as the carrier). Another marketplace to adopt AdvancedTCA was High-Energy Physics. This group needed higher performance beyond legacy VME. Some applications went to MicroTCA.4 (see more on this later), while others went with AdvancedTCA for Physics versions. With the development of ARTMs (AdvancedTCA Rear Transition Modules) and some minor modifications, the architecture was proven, simple, and very highperformance. ATCA can be a good fit in Mil/Aero where SWaP is not a primary concern or where the performance and board real-estate is an asset. From a throughput standpoint, there is no beating ATCA with its size and connectivity and a specification for 100G has been ratified (although 100G line cards are not commercially available yet). The 100GbE

Figure 2a & 2b 2a: The high insertion forces of OpenVPX put extreme pressure on the interface of the ejector handle and the enclosure. To resolve this, a rugged metal “claw” can be employed. 2b: For even more extreme requirements, a full-metal ejector can be used but panel space is sacrificed.

COTS Journal | August 2017

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

is not easy and the painstaking modeling, simulation, and characterization were completed by PICMG in just slightly over a year – an accomplishment that no other standards body has been able to achieve. As we have shown, ATCA systems have shifted dramatically from a Telecom focus to largely Mil/Aero and Research/Lab/Physics designs. With the popularity of ruggedized ATCA, there has been talk in the PICMG group of members in developing a rugged specification for ATCA. Another example of an architecture adapting is ATCA’s sister specification MicroTCA. With AMC modules about ½ the size and weight of 3U boards (or double modules that are about ½ of 6U cards), the architecture has SWaP advantages. It utilizes the same serial fabrics as OpenVPX and CompactPCI Serial (PCIe Gen3 and up to

40GbE most commonly). But it also has the advantage as mentioned earlier of some lowcost boards with economics of scale from use in other higher-volume markets. The inherent shelf management in the specification and 6-7 nines reliability are high-end features. But to adapt to new markets like Mil/Aero, MicroTCA vendors have created version with lower cost shelf management (or “AMC Systems” that forgo the shelf management all together) as well as ruggedized implementations. The small and power form factor has literally 100’s of different AMCs for high-end A/D, FPGAs, processors, graphics, storage, etc. It has been used in satellites, submarines, RADAR Systems (both ground and airborne), traffic control systems, railway, as well as various communications, medical, banking and other applications. These is also MicroTCA.4, which offers RTMs for MicroTCA for physics

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COTS Journal | August 2017

applications. It is deployed in several physics labs and other research applications where maximum SWaP and performance density is required.

The CompactPCI Serial Evolution CompactPCI Serial was another form factor that is currently evolving to meet rugged requirements. Actually, the specifications have most commonly been adopted in Railway, Industrial Automation, Railway and other rugged applications. As such, ruggedized CompactPCI Serial is common. Perhaps defense engineers will begin to see it as a viable choice. Actually, they already have started to adopt it. For example, rugged CompactPCI Serial has been used in at least one ATR enclosure application for a data recorder in a military vehicle. CPCI Serial shares the same 3U or 6U form factor of OpenVPX, but interoperability is simpler and it is more cost-effective. With cPCI Serial for Space and railway designs, there are already several large deployed programs using conduction-cooled, ruggedized modules. The wedge lock clamshells for conduction-cooling provide further stability, and the modules meet MIL specs such as MILSTD 810 and 901D for shock and vibration levels. The architecture was chosen for the OneWeb program, where it will be deployed in over 900 satellites. If rugged enough for space, then it is rugged enough for Mil/Aero applications. Using the same form factor as legacy VME and CompactPCI systems, there are virtually unlimited commercial and rugged chassis implementations available. Changing Landscape OpenVPX is the dominant high-performance architecture for embedded systems in MIL/Aero applications. With its wide-spread use and wealth of ruggedized board and enclosure solutions, it is a favorite of Defense engineers. But the xTCA systems have their benefits too and are continuing to grow in rugged markets. CompactPCI Serial is another alternative with a rapidly growing ecosystem of rugged cards and system solutions. We’ll have to watch and see if these other architectures reach critical mass in Mil/Aero and will enjoy widespread adoption in more of the rugged arenas.

Innovative-Interconnect Solutions

Backplane-Cabling Backplane Backplan e -Cabling System

Solving the th OpenVPX OpenVPX Multi-gigabit I/O Problem ®

The success of Meritec’s VPX+® cabling system has spawned a new cabling system that replaces the need for the Multi-Gig (TE TM) connector and it is field deployable. The new VPX+DA® (Direct Attach) cabling system (product currently in development) reduces weight and cost while improving performance. Preliminary VPX+DA® SI simulations are showing 25Gb/s performance. The VPX+DA® is an ideal solution for pulling various protocols from Slot to Slot and Backplane to I/O at higher speeds. VPX+DA® is the ideal SWaP solution. For development and demonstration applications, VPX+® Cabling is the obvious solution for multi-gigabit OpenVPX® I/O

and custom slot-slot backplane interconnect in lieu of using one or more Rear Transition Modules (RTMs).

For rugged deployment applications, VPX+DA® Cabling is the rugged solution to solve trace loss issues for today’s newest multi-gigabit OpenVPX I/O. As compared to VPX+® cabling, VPX+DA® Cabling directly replaces both the RTM backplane connectors and mating VPX+® connectors for both cost and weight reduction while realizing increased performance.

Contact a MERITEC Solutions Specialist or visit MERITEC.com to see our proven array of interconnect solutions. Meritec | 888-MERITEC (637-4832)

Contact: info@meritec.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Meritec/142140812492429 Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/meritec-inc.

COTS

PRODUCTS

FIND the products featured in this section and more at

intelligentsystemssource.com

LynxOS-178 2.2.4 to Speed Development and Reduce Cost of Safety Certifiable Systems Abaco Systems announced the availability of the LynxOS®-178 2.2.4 real time operating system from Lynx Software Technologies ( formerly LynuxWorks™) for Abaco’s DO-254 certifiable SBC 314 3U VPX single board computer (SBC). Because both the SBC314 and LynxOS-178 are true COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) products, customers can take advantage of the hardware/software combination to significantly accelerate a program start and ease their roadmap to certification - reducing risk, time and cost. LynxOS-178 is also aligned to the FACE™ (Future Airborne Capability Environment) standard which defines an open avionics environment for all military airborne platform types, and which is of importance to many of Abaco’s customers. With programs looking to leverage the time and cost benefits of COTS hardware and software products for safety certification, while COTS vendors seek program-specific funding to enable them to provide those benefits, Abaco has broken the deadlock by making a forward-looking upfront investment in developing the artifacts necessary to achieve DAL A DO-254 certification, considerably reducing the customer burden. Supported products include the SBC314, FORCE2 and RAR15-XMC dual avionics protocol interface. As well as supporting FACE, LynxOS-178 2.2.4 supports Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) and ARINC 653 APplication EXecutive (APEX), and offers true portability for safety-critical software designs. LynxOS-178 2.2.4 is also offered with a full set of DO-178C DAL-A certification artifacts for systems requiring the highest level of avionics safety certification. The SBC314 3U VPX rugged single board computer is available with either the Qualcomm ( formerly NXP/Freescale) QorIQ™ T2081 processor for maximum performance or with the QorIQ T1042 for applications where minimal power consumption is required. Abaco Systems, Huntsville, AL (866) 652-2226. www.abaco.com

Powerful, Fanless, rugged embedded computer for demanding military and industrial applications Crystal Group, a leading designer/manufacturer of rugged computer hardware, introduced the RE1112 Rugged Embedded Computer designed for applications where high performance and reliability are needed in demanding environmental conditions. The RE1112 Rugged Embedded Computer is designed for fanless operation over an extended temperature range from -40°C to +60°C, and its special aluminum housing with cooling fins serves as a heat sink for conductive cooling of the internal electronics. The chassis is built to withstand the harsh environments for storage operations from -45°C to +85°C. The unit mounts to multiple DIN rail options and operates from a wide voltage range of 18-36 VDC power input. The RE1112 Rugged Embedded Computer is powered by Intel® CoreTMi7 and is equipped with up to 16GB of RAM. The unit features one PCIe X16 low profile expansion card and offers on-board SATA2 and SATA3. The computer has two non-removable 2.5” SSD hard drives and supports Linux®, VMWare® and Windows® software. Crystal Group Hiawatha, IA (319) 378-1636 www.crystalrugged.com

COTS Journal | August 2017

New Line of PCI Express Mini Cards for Easy and Flexible Digital I/O Expansion ACCES I/O Products, Inc., has announced the release of a new family of mini PCI Express (mPCIe) digital I/O cards—the mPCIe-DIO Family with Digital Integration Features. These small, low-priced, PCI Express Mini cards feature a large selection of digital I/O functions for compact control and monitoring applications. Choose up to 24 channels offering various voltage, isolation, speed, and counter/ timer options. Easily integrate additional I/O functions in systems without board modifications or customization. This highly flexible and efficient design provides system integrators numerous off-the-shelf I/O configurations for new and existing embedded systems. All ACCES mPCIe cards offer high retention latching connectors for shock and vibration mitigation as well as an extended operating temperature of -40°C to +85°C. The cards have been designed for use in harsh and rugged environments such as military and defense along with applications such as health and medical, point of sale systems, kiosk design, retail, hospitality, automation, gaming and more. The small size (just 50.95mm x 30mm) allows for maximum performance in applications where space is a valuable resource. All the mPCIe-DIO cards share features such as memory mapped registers for low-latency operation. Output channels support pulse/train / PWM / frequency / and quadrature generation. Input channels support quadrature encoders, flexible measurement of pulse duration, frequency, and event counting, with optional debouncing, IRQ generation, and more. ACCES I/O Products, Inc. San Diego, CA (858) 550-9559 www.accesio.com

COTS PRODUCTS

Integrated 3U VPX VideoPaC Enhances Graphics Processing in Dense Computing Applications Aitech’s latest innovation, the CB912 VideoPaC, combines two powerful processing boards and advanced software bundles into an integrated platform that provides exceptional graphics computing in a single-slot, SWaPoptimized, rugged package. The new PowerPC-based VideoPaC pairs a 3U VPX singleslot SBC (single board computer) with a video/graphics XMC mezzanine that features the AMD E8860 Radeon GPU. This combination adds new dimensions to embedded data and graphics processing, such as offering an optional video imaging FPGA, which provides video input interfaces and additional output interfaces not natively supported by the GPU. To fully capitalize on the powerful processing of the hardware, integrated software bundles provide users with real-world solutions for their mission- and flight safety-critical, DO178 Level A imaging, high-end graphics and data processing applications. Software bundles include Wind River VxWorks and VxWorks A653, and GreenHills INTEGRITY and INTEGRITY-178 with tuMP (True Multi-Processing), coupled with CoreAVI’s FACE-compliant, OpenGL SC (Safety Critical) or Richland Technologies VIPUR/RTGL certifiable graphics/video software drivers. The qualified, fully-integrated and tested VideoPaC provides an improved heat dissipation solution for graphics-intensive display computing in harsh environments. Specific uses include glass cockpit displays and mission computers as well as situational awareness, C4ISR and EW systems. Aitech Defense Systems, Inc. Chatsworth, CA (888) 248-3248 www.rugged.com

New Server Blade brings Latest Processors to Military, Aerospace and Government Networked Systems Artesyn Embedded Technologies launched a powerful new packet processing and high performance server blade, the ATCA-7540, based on dual Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors (codename Skylake), which were recently announced. The ATCA-7540 provides a migration path and future-proof platform for defense applications in air/ shipborne data centers, ground control stations, network data analytics, ad-hoc mobile networks and other C4ISR tasks. The selected processor family combined with Artesyn’s engineering and supply chain expertise provides a performance and longevity-of-supply improvement over existing server blades. Artesyn expects its selected processors to have a 15-year life cycle. Designed for compute-intensive tasks such as deep packet inspection (DPI), firewalls, intrusion prevention and data encryption/decryption, the ATCA-7540 server blade targets high performance network requirements in commercial, government and defense communications networks. Built around commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies, the AdvancedTCA® (ATCA) bladed architecture follows the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) modular open systems approach (MOSA). With scalable performance, ease of maintenance, reduced cabling and multivendor interoperability, Artesyn’s ATCA technology has been selected for multiple applications in military deployments. Several DoD branches, prime contractors and system integrators have adopted the ATCA architecture for a range of centralized compute systems on board ships, aircraft or in transit cases for command and control tents. Artesyn Embedded Technologies Tempe, AZ (888) 412-7832 www.artesyn.com

COTS Journal | August 2017

COTS PRODUCTS

Dual-Processor Host Boards Support the Latest Intel “Purley” Platform of Xeon Scalable Performance (SP)

Latest 3U VPX Processor Board Based on Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1500 Concurrent Technologies is now shipping deployment quantities of the rugged conduction-cooled TR E5x/ msd-RCx processor board having passed all the prerequisite qualification tests. These include storage and operation over extreme temperature ranges, as well as reliable operation when subjected to threeaxis shock and random vibration tests according to the VITA 47 standard. As such, TR E5x/msd-RCx is available for use in the type of harsh environments encountered in some military, defense, transportation and industrial applications. TR E5x/msd-RCx is a 3U VPX board based on a quad-core device from the Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1500 v5 family and has 16GB of DDR4 ECC DRAM. This allows for high performance command, control, communicate and compute, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications. In addition to a wide assortment of on-board I/O interfaces, an XMC expansion site enables customers to add application specific storage and I/O with up to 24 single-ended and 20 differential pairs traced through to the backplane. Complimentary products are available from Concurrent Technologies including a Gen 3 PCI Express® switch, XMC carriers and mass storage boards, as well as software and firmware to help system integrators create class leading solutions. Concurrent Technologies Inc. Woburn, MA (781) 933-5900 www.gocct.com

Trenton Systems launched two new products based on the Intel® next-generation Xeon® Gold and Silver processors formally known as Skylake-SP “Scalable Performance” and developed under the family codename Purley. The Intel® Xeon® Gold and Silver processors are supported on the SEP8253 HDEC Series host board and the MSL8256 Modular Blade Card. The MSL8256 is a dual processor Modular Blade Card which can be deployed in either a 1U or 2U enclosure, resulting in a single board computer which can be scaled and customized to fit a variety of roles and deployment criteria. The new, Intel® Xeon® Gold and Silver processors are supported, for up to 40 processing cores per blade. Memory support is provided by 8, DDR4-2666 DIMM slots, providing a practical maximum of 1TB of RAM per blade card. Trenton Smart System Management implements IPMI remote management, monitoring and KVM console capabilities over a Gigabit Ethernet port; additionally, the MSL8256 supports dual 10GbE interfaces, and multiple USB 3.0 ports as well as VGA video. Redundant fan modules provide powerful, reliable cooling capability, even in high-temp environments and the onboard Baseband Management Controller automatically adjusts the fans to the optimal speed for keeping the onboard components at the proper operating temperature. A variety of riser card options allows for up to 4 M.2 NVMe or SATA storage devices to be utilized in 1U or 2U configurations, whereas the 2U blade can support up to 2 full-height PCIe 3.0 x16 cards in addition to 2 M.2 NVMe or SATA storage devices. Both the 1U and 2U blade enclosures are made from cold-rolled steel and lightweight, resilient aluminum to protect sensitive board components. Delrin blade guides along the whole of the enclosure chassis properly and gently align the blade into the proper plane, while also ensuring ease of insertion and removal. This, combined with ruggedized midplane interface connectors that have dual alignment dowels ensure a proper insertion every time and our unique, heavy-duty latching system results in the most ruggedized Blade server system available on the market today. The MSL8256 blades are hot-swappable and have multifunction LEDs and a Power/Hot Swap button Intel Internet of Things Solutions Alliance is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. PCI Express is a registered trademark of the PCI-SIG. All other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. on the rear fence which report system health status, provide module locate capability and graceful or immediate shutdown capability. The SEP8253 The SEP8253 is the newest System Host Board (SHB) in Trenton Systems’ HDEC Series® High Density Embedded Computing family of backplanes, host boards and rugged aluminum, 19” rackmount chassis. A drop-in replacement for the previous HEP8225, the SEP8253 brings support for dual Intel® Xeon® Gold and Silver processors and 8 DDR42666 memory DIMMs for up to 1TB of memory to the HDEC platform. Another addition to the HDEC Series is the addition of 8 more lanes of PCIe delivered to a compatible HDEC Series backplane, like the HDB8259, for a total of 88 lanes of PCIe 3.0 delivered directly from the processors to the backplane, for the ultimate in high-performance, flexible embedded computing design when utilizing today’s COTS FPGA and GPU coprocessors, fabric interfaces like 50 or 100GbE, Infiniband or NVMe storage. The SEP8253 can be deployed into any current or future HDEC Series compatible chassis in sizes ranging from 2U to 5U. Onboard interfaces include 4 USB 3.0, 2 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 2, 10GbE interfaces, VGA and Serial COMM support, with 6 additional USB 3.0, 6 SATA/600 and various serial, USB 2.0, GPIO, fan speed monitoring and I2C bus signals passed to the backplane. A full-length aluminum backerplate aids in board rigidity and protects sensitive surface mount components while screw-down mounts at the front and rear of the board ensure a secure host board to backplane connection, even in high vibration or shock environments. Trenton’s Smart System Management IPMI implementation provides out of bounds management and monitoring as well as KVM console support. Trenton Systems, Inc. Lawrenceville, GA (770) 287-3100 www.trentonsystems.com

COTS Journal | August 2017

COTS PRODUCTS

New E-Disk® Altima™ II Line of U.2 NVMe SSDs for Industrial and Military Applications

Rugged Ethernet Switch and High-End Ethernet Switch Core Modules with PTP Support Kontron has released a new high-end Rugged Ethernet Switch (RES) in a 19-inch 1U housing and two cutting-edge, fully managed Ethernet Switch Core Modules (ESC). The RES2404-PTP switch as well as the ESC1600-PTP and ESC2404-PTP modules expand Kontron’s portfolio of rugged switching devices for harsh environmental conditions with Precision Time Protocol (PTP) enabled solutions. The PTP protocol for the precise synchronization of clocks throughout a computer network in accordance with the IEE 1588 standard is especially important for decentralized systems in automation technology. The Kontron RES2404 is a cost effective, fully managed 19 inch 1U ethernet switch for industrial and military applications. The RES2404 can be monitored remotely via SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), command line or web interface. The L2/L3 switch with IPv6 support is available in two versions. The RES2404-PTP features 24 Gigabit Ethernet (1 GbE) and four 10 Gigabit Ethernet Ports (10 GbE), the RES2404-PTP-POE comes with additional 24 Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) ports with up to 150 watts in total, with a 30 W maximum per single port. Thanks to its extremely robust mechanical design features it is suitable for use in production facilities, naval and military applications alike. The RES2404 is highly resistant to shocks and vibrations, and suitable for use in a wide temperature range from -20°C to +50°C. The ESC1600-PTP and ESC2404-PTP L2/L3 1/10GB Ethernet Switch Core modules by Kontron form an ideal basis for robust high-performance Ethernet switching devices. Thanks to their scalable number of interfaces, both boards provide a rich and versatile feature set on a custom base board design. This helps reduce development cost and enables fast lead times for customer specific devices. Both modules support the IEE1588v2 PTP standard for time-sensitive applications. This is especially important for automation, metrology and security purposes as well as specific use-cases in the automotive and defense industry. The Kontron ESC1600-PTP and ESC2404-PTP feature up to four 10GbE and 24 1GbE ports, with the option of up to 32 1GbE ports on special request. Both modules are extremely rugged, with high tolerance against shocks and vibrations, and are fully operational even in temperature ranges from -40°C to +80°C. Remote management is supported via SNMP, command line and web interface. Kontron’s RES2404-PTP, ESC1600-PTP and ESC2404-PTP are available immediately. Kontron America, Inc. San Diego, CA (888) 294-4558 www.kontron.com

BiTMICRO® Networks, Inc. announced the availability of its new E Disk Altima II line of industrial and military grade U.2 NVMe 2.5” SSDs. The new E-Disk Altima II line offers BiTMICRO’s PowerGuard and SecureErase Technology. PowerGuard technology ensures that all data in the SSD cache are stored onto flash memory without being lost in the event of power fluctuation or ungraceful shutdowns. SecureErase technology erases all data in the SSD quickly and irretrievably. Erasure of data can be done automatically via a command through the system interface or manually through external jumpers. The SecureErase feature can also be configured so that data is completely erased from flash memory in the event of external power degradation or loss. The new line is TCG Opal compliant, provides AES-256 encryption and meets most military specifications. The E-Disk Altima U.2 NVMe SSD has the performance you would expect from an NVMe device. Unlike M.2 NVME SSDs, U.2 NVME 2.5” SSDs are usually installed in drive bays on the front of the host for simple maintenance and do not require any motherboard space. They can be stacked in rows or vertically mounted in one or two drive banks to deliver up to 96TBs of raw capacity in a 2U enclosure. Power consumption and weight are also very low to promote operational efficiency and portability for military and industrial applications.The E-Disk Altima II U.2 NVMe SSD is available with MLC or pSLC flash. It is available in various capacities. Maximum pSLC is 1TB and Maximum MLC is 2TBs. It supports a temperature range of -60 to 95 degrees Celsius, an altitude of up to 120,000 feet and 1500 G of shock. BiTMICRO Networks, Inc. Fremont, CA (888) 723-5274 www.bitmicro.com

COTS Journal | August 2017

COTS PRODUCTS

New Scalable CNS4-FC Compact Network Storage System Modernizes FC-Based Systems with Flexible I/O, Encrypted Data Recording and Removable Storage in a Single Compact Unit Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division introduces the industry’s first rugged data recording system designed to support legacy sensor systems based on the Fibre Channel (FC) data communications protocol and to bridge that data to Ethernet networks. The CNS4-FC Compact Network Storage subsystem combines four-channel data recording, encryption and removable storage in a single rugged chassis. It provides system designers with a modernized solution for high-speed data recording, cryptography, and removable storage while protecting their investment in previously qualified FC-based sensor and client system architectures. The CNS4-FC provides a no-compromise solution for system designers seeking a high capacity FC recorder solution that is capable of bridging the FC protocol and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The CNS4-FC ensures the integrity of critical data in demanding military environments, such as those endured by transports, helicopters, unmanned platforms and mobile radar systems. With its high-density storage capacity, broad support for multiple network protocols, and encryption capabilities, the CNS4-FC enables system designers to address all of their data recording requirements with a single solution. For applications that require security for data-at-rest, the recorder also provides support for NSA Type 1 encryption. To make accessing legacy FC data seamless, the CNS4-FC stores FC block data in a single large file. This enables CNS4-FC users to access data using a normal client via NFS or CIFS file server protocols. The recorder also supports iSCSI, which means that modern Ethernet-based clients can access the stored FC block data exactly as a legacy FC client would. This unique feature bridges FC and Ethernet systems. To support contemporary avionics and sensor management systems, the CNS4-FC supports a wide variety of I/O interfaces. In addition to its four built-in GbE ports and two FC ports, it also provides a 3U VPX slot for additional I/O expansion. An optional Universal Capture Card (UCC) XMC module can also be used to record multiple streaming channels of sFPDP, GbE and 10 GbE data. In addition, when combined with a VPX carrier card, the CNS4-FC can host a wide-range of XMC I/O cards to support the capture of legacy protocols such as MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC-429. The CNS4-FC can be configured with up to four Curtiss-Wright Flash Storage Modules (FSM-C) in its fully rugged convection-cooled ATR chassis. These modules feature a 100,000 insertion cycle connector, which is critical for long-term life in mobile applications such as Mission Recorders, Unmanned Vehicle Data Loaders, Mobile ISR Systems and Ground Vehicles. In addition to its VPX I/O expansion slot, the CNS4-FC chassis also accommodates a 3U VPX inline media encryptor (IME) which is certified for Secret and Below Information (SABI) in attended systems. A Crypto Ignition Key (CIK) and DS-101 key fill port are mounted on the chassis’ front panel when this IME is used. Additional encryption options are available. Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions Ashburn, VA (703) 779-7800 www.curtisswrightds.com

COTS Journal | August 2017

Magma ExpressBox 3T-V3 with Thunderbolt™ 3 Connectivity One Stop Systems, Inc. (OSS), a leader in Thunderbolt™ based expansion technology, introduced the ExpressBox 3T-V3, an expansion chassis with three full length PCIe slots. The EB3T-V3 is fully Thunderbolt™ certified and features easy plug and play installation and can support any combination of x1, x4, x8 and x16 PCIe cards. The chassis features a hot-swappable cooling fan and users can control fan speed and noise. The EB3T-V3 can provide up to 300W of power.

The Magma ExpressBox 3T-V3 features a new PCIe Gen 3 backplane to better match the throughput available with Thunderbolt™ 3 and the majority of PCIe cards on the market today. The expansion chassis contains three PCIe slots connected to the computer through a Thunderbolt™ 3 cable. Add up to three PCIe cards to Magma ExpressBox 3T-V3 and your Thunderbolt™ 3 equipped computer turns into a powerful audio/video editing or scientific workstation. Magma is a brand of One Stop Systems and includes various Thunderbolt™ Expansion products. Our Thunderbolt™ products are platform independent, and are used in a variety of industries including audio and video production, test and measurement, medical imaging, surveillance, aerospace and defense, telecommunications, data acquisition, and high performance computing. One Stop Systems, Inc. Escondido, CA (760) 745-9883 www.onestopsystems.com

COTS PRODUCTS

Five new MIL-COTS parts help simplify designs and optimize SWaP-C attributes Vicor has introduced the VIA DCM family of MIL-COTS DC-DC converters. The VIA DCM’s are ruggedized modular DC-DC converters in a thermally adept, low profile (9.3 mm) VIA package, with wide input voltage range specifications and isolated, regulated high efficiency outputs. This new DC-DC converter family, features enhanced functionality and performance, including EMI filtering, transient protection, inrush current limiting, as well as a secondary-referenced control interface for trim, enable and remote-sensing. Vicor’s new solutions are approximately 2.5X more power dense by volume and approximately 3X more power dense by weight than the closest competitor. Designers can expect better thermal performance and a more comprehensive range of transient and EMI spec compliance. By providing brick-like modularity and ease-of-use in a smaller form factor, the new VIA DCM and MFM modules enable system designers to develop extremely dense, low profile, high performance products fast. The new solutions help you get to market faster by eliminating many of the uncertainties and compliance problems traditionally associated with military application power design. Four new MIL-COTS (M-Grade) versions are available now, providing operation down to -55°C, in the 28V (16 – 50 VDC input voltage range) 3414 VIA DCM family with nominal output voltages of 5V, 12V, 24V and 28V and up to 320 Watts of output power. Complementing these MIL-COTS VIA DCMs is a new MFM 28V filter module (MFM filter) This extremely dense, low profile filter provides front-end transient protection and EMI filtering when used with any Vicor M-Grade 28V 3414 VIA DCM module. This combination enables power engineers to rapidly meet conducted emissions and conducted susceptibility requirements per MIL-STD-461E/F and input transients per MIL-STD-704A/E/F and MIL-STD-1275D/E. The MFM 28V filter module is housed in a 1714 VIA package (size: 1.76” x 1.40” x 0.36” / 44.6 mm x 35.5 mm x 9.3 mm), accepts an input voltage of 16 – 50 VDC and can deliver up to 350 Watts of power. Vicor Corp., Andover, MA 978-470-2900. www.vicorpower.com

Boost in Bandwidth for Record and Playback of Talon Rugged Series Recorders Pentek, Inc. introduced a new addition to the Talon® Series of recorders, the Model RTR 2745 rugged rackmount recorder. This new recorder, optimized for rugged operating environments increases the bandwidth for record and playback of the Talon Rackmount Series with capability to capture and reproduce signal bandwidths up to 560 MHz. The RTR 2745 is a turnkey, wideband recording and playback system that provides real-time capture of RF and IF signals. With two 3 GHz 14-bit A/D converters and built-in digital downconverters (DDCs), the system is ideal for capturing the IF outputs of RF downconverters with bandwidths as high as 600 MHz. Selectable DDC tuning frequencies allow the RTR 2745 to accommodate a broad range of IF outputs. The DDCs provide a fixed decimation of 4 with selectable tuning frequencies to fs/2. This provides excellent flexibility when trying to match the IF of a selected wideband RF downconverter. Two output channels with 2.8 GHz 16-bit D/As and matching digital upconverters (DUCs) provide a fixed interpolation of 4 to allow for precise signal reproduction of recorded signals. The 3 GHz A/Ds can operate without the digital downconverters to provide an extremely wide baseband capture. The system offers flexible sample rates ranging from 1.5 GHz to 3.0 GHz. The RTR 2745 offers a storage capacity up to 61 TB, utilizing up to 32 hot-swappable solid-state drives (SSDs) that can be easily removed or exchanged during a mission to retrieve recorded data. All Talon recorders are built on a Windows 7 Professional workstation and include Pentek’s SystemFlow software, featuring a GUI (graphical user interface), signal viewer, and API (Application Programming Interface). The GUI provides intuitive controls for out-of-the-box turn-key operation using point-and-click configuration management. Configurations are easily stored and recalled for single-click setup. User settings to configure data format for the signal viewer provide a virtual oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer to monitor signals before, during and after data collection. The C-callable API allows users to integrate the recorder control into larger application systems. Enhancements to the GUI allow more efficient configuration of the recording channels. The data format used for storage follows the NTFS standard, allowing users to remove drives from the instrument and read the data using standard Windows-based systems, eliminating the need for file format conversion. Pentek, Inc., Upper Sadddle River, NJ (201) 818-5900. www.pentek.com COTS Journal | August 2017

POWER COMPONENT DESIGN METHODOLOGY

Solving the Power Challenges of SWaP-C Requirements for MIL-COTS Applications Application Examples using the Power Component Design Methodology See examples of how using Vicor components help meet SWaP-C requirements Avionics Computer Challenges Low profile components (8 mm), facilitate a redundant compact solution and meet high temperature (125Â°C) requirements. Learn more about solving the challenges in Avionics Computer >

28V

DCM

12V

ORing

12V

ZVS Buck

28V

DCM

12V

ORing

12V

ZVS Buck

3.3V

28V

DCM

12V

ORing

12V

L3 12V

Communications Equipment Challenges The DCMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fixed switching frequency (750 kHz) enables a compact EMI filter to meet stringent conducted noise specifications.

EMI Filter

28V

DCM

28V

48V

Learn more about solving the challenges in Communications Equipment > (8)

Airborne Equipment Challenges Scalable modular DCM based design, enables high power, regulated outputs with up to 200 mF of bulk capacitance.

Custom DCM

220V

182A (2)

Learn more about solving the challenges in Airborne Equipment >

Custom DCM

Jammers and Countermeasure Challenges

BCM

91A

(2) L1

High efficiency ZVS regulators (95%) enable high temperature operation with minimal power de-rating.

12V

Learn more about solving the challenges in Jammers & Countermeasure Equipment >

12V

3.3V

ZVS Buck (2)

L2 3.3V

ZVS Buck (2)

L3 12V

3.3V

ZVS Buck

UAV Challenges

L1 300V

DCM

24V

300V

DCM

24V

300V

DCM

24V

300V

DCM

24V

300V

DCM

24V

300V

DCM

24V

Lightweight DCMs (29.2g) enable a scalable high density power design. Learn more about solving the challenges in UAV Equipment >

300V

Tether L4

Expanding the Family of MIL-COTS Products MIL-COTS Isolated Regulated Converter Modules

MIL-COTS Isolated Regulated Converter Modules

MIL-COTS DCM™ DC-DC Converter Modules in a ChiP Package >

MIL-COTS DCM™ DC-DC Converter Modules in a VIA Package >

Input Voltages:

9.0 – 50 VDC, 16 – 50 VDC, 160 – 420 VDC

Output Voltages: 3.3V, 5V, 12V, 15V, 24V, 28V, 48V Output Power:

3623 ChiP: Up to 320W 4623 ChiP: Up to 500W

Efficiency:

Up to 93%

Dimensions:

3623 ChiP: 38.7 x 22.8 x 7.3 mm 4623 ChiP: 47.9 x 22.8 x 7.3 mm

16 – 50 VDC, 160 – 420 VDC

Output Voltages: 5V, 12V, 15V, 24V, 28V, 48V Output Power:

3414 VIA: Up to 320W 3714 VIA: Up to 500W

Efficiency:

Up to 93%

Dimensions:

3414 VIA: 89.5 x 35.6 x 9.4 mm 3714 VIA: 95.3 x 35.6 x 9.4 mm

MIL-COTS PI31xx DC-DC Converter Modules > Input Voltages:

28 VDC (16 – 50 VDC)

Output Voltages: 3.3V, 5V, 12V, 15V Output Power:

Up to 50W

Efficiency:

Up to 88%

Dimensions:

22.0 x 16.5 x 6.7 mm

Point-of-Load Regulators (MIL-COTS Compatible) Cool-Power® ZVS Buck Regulators > Input Voltages:

12V nominal (8 – 18V) 24V nominal (8 – 36V) 48V nominal (36 – 60V)

Output Voltages: Wide output range (1 – 16V) Output Current: 8A, 9A, 10A, and 15A versions Efficiency:

Up to 96.5% Light load and full load high efficiency performance

Dimensions:

LGA SiP: 10 x 14 x 2.56 mm LGA SiP: 10 x 10 x 2.56 mm

MIL-COTS Filter Modules MFM DCM Filter > n Provides MIL-STD-461 EMI filtering and MIL-STD-704 and MIL-STD-1275 transient protection n For use with 28V and 270V nominal input voltage DCM products

MQPI Filter > n Provides MIL-STD-461 EMI filtering n For use with MIL COTS PI31xx regulators

Cool-Power® ZVS Buck-Boost Regulators > Input Voltages:

8 – 60V 16 – 34V 21 – 60V

Output Voltages: 10 –50V 21 – 36V 36 – 54V 12 – 34V Output Power:

Up to 240W continuous

Efficiency:

Up to 98% efficiency at >800 kHz FSW

Dimensions:

LGA SiP: 10 x 14 x 2.56 mm

Design your Power System in 90 seconds using the Power System Designer Tool. Learn how to get to market faster with 4 easy steps: www.vicorpower.com/video/psd

COTS

ADVERTISERS INDEX GET CONNECTED WITH INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS SOURCE AND PURCHASABLE SOLUTIONS NOW Intelligent Systems Source is a new resource that gives you the power to compare, review and even purchase embedded computing products intelligently. To help you research SBCs, SOMs, COMs, Systems, or I/O boards, the Intelligent Systems Source website provides products, articles, and whitepapers from industry leading manufacturers---and it's even connected to the top 5 distributors. Go to Intelligent Systems Source now so you can start to locate, compare, and purchase the correct product for your needs.

Index

intelligentsystemssource.com

Company Page# Website

Aitech Defense Systems, Inc................2...............................www.rugged.com

PICMG.................................................11.................................www.picmg.org

Elma Electronics.................................15................................. www.elma.com

Pixus Technologies..............................27.............www.pixustechnologies.com

Intelligent Systems Source................5, 30.... www.intelligentsystemssource.com

SkyScale........................................... 22-23.........................www.SkyScale.com

LCR Embedded....................................10........ www.lcrembeddedsystems.com

Star Communications Inc....................26......................www.starcommva.com

Meritec................................................31............................. www.meritec.com

SynQor.................................................42...............................www.synqor.com

New Wave DV.......................................20.......................www.newwavedv.com

Themis................................................25.........................www.hyperunity.com

One Stop Systems...............................41................www.onestopsystems.com

Vicor Corporation.............................38-39...................... www.vicorpower.com

Pentek.................................................21.............................. www.pentek.com

VPT......................................................13...........................www.vptpower.com

Phoenix International...........................4............................ www.phenxint.com

COTS Journal (ISSN#1526-4653) is published monthly at 940 Calle Negocio, Suite 230, San Clemente, CA 92673. Periodicals Class postage paid at San Clemente and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to COTS Journal, 940 Calle Negocio, Ste. 230, San Clemente, CA 92673.

COTS Journal | August 2017

Flash Storage Array with 200TB capacity in four removable canisters

50TB data in each 7 Lb. removable canister

• 100Gb Inﬁniband or Ethernet connections • MIL-STD 810 and 461 tested • Two versions: airborne and ground • 4U rackmount unit

(877) 438-2724

www.onestopsystems.com

3-Phase EMI Filter & 3-Phase PFC Rectifier 3-Phase emi FiLteR

3-Phase PFC ReCtiFieR

270VDC OutPut 3-Phase aC inPut 115 VRms L-n

 High efficiency: 94% at full load  3-Phase AC input 45–800 Hz, 115 Vrms L-N  1.5 kW power available at 100°C Baseplate  Fixed frequency switching for predictable EMI

 Drawing nearly perfect sinusoidal current from each of a 3-Phase AC input (1.5% THD)  MIL-STD Compliant  1500 W 3-Phase Filter/PFC System S-Grade Evaluation Kit  Parallel version now available

 Semi-Regulated output: 270 Vdc

Made in the USA

1-978-849-0600