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VITA Standards Organization
Update
The VITA Standards Organization (VSO) met on May 8-9, 1996 at the Regal McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. VITA received accreditation from ANSI as a Canvass Ballot Standard Development Organization (SDO) in June of 1993 and its members are involved in a variety of standards developments. Current activities include: VME64 extensions, Board-Level Live Insertion, High Availability VME (H.A. VME), Autobahn, RACEway, SCSA, IndustryPack, QuickRing, SkyChannel, Heterogeneous InterConnect (HIC), M-Modules, MVIP, Front Panel Data Port (FPDP), CCPMC, BusNet, and VMEbus on SEM-E. Standards activities take place in study groups and task groups within the VSO.
If you are working on a technology that fits within the scope of the VSO and feel that the standardization of that technology would be of benefit, please contact John Rynearson, Technical Director for more information about the VITA Standards Organization.
The next VSO meetings are scheduled for July in Ottawa, Ontario, Sepember in Phoenix, Arizona, and November in Del Mar, California.
CANVASS BALLOT STATUS
VITA has received ANSI recognition of four specifications to date. These specifications are "ANSI/VITA 1-1994, VME64", "ANSI/VITA 3-1995, Board Level Live Insertion", "ANSI/VITA 5-1994, RACEway Interlink", and "ANSI/VITA 6-1994, SCSA". All of these standards are available from the VITA office.
Three VITA specifications are currently in the American National Standards Canvass Ballot process. One specification, VITA 10-1995, SKYchannel, completed first ballot in November 1995 and is currently in negative ballot review. Two other standards VITA 4-1995, IP Modules, and VITA 13-1995, Heterogeneous Interconnect on the VMEbus, have completed the initial canvass ballot and are in ballot review.
ANSI/VITA 1-1994, VME64 The VME64 Specification brings a number of new features to the VMEbus, such as 64 bit data transfers for 6U modules, 32 bit data transfers for 3U modules, rescinding DTACK, lock commands, RETRY signal, auto slot identification, auto system controller enable, and configuration ROM (CR) and control/status registers (CSR).
This specification was officially recognized as an American National Standard on April 10, 1995 and is available from the VITA office.
ANSI/VITA 3-1994, Board-Level Live Insertion for VMEbus The Board-Level Live Insertion (BLLI) specification is a recommended practices document for live insertion of VMEbus modules. This document identifies a standardized methodology through which a faulty board can be removed from a system and a replacement board can be inserted while the system continues to operate. The intent of this standard is to provide a methodology that will work with currently existing boards. Bob McKee, MITRE, was the task group chair of this effort.
This specification was officially recognized as an American National Standard on January 12, 1996 and is available from the VITA office.
ANSI/VITA 5-1994, RACEway Interlink RACEway is a standard for a parallel-bused cross-bar switched interconnect on the P2 connector of the VMEbus. Data rates for a single RACEway interconnect are 160 Mbytes/sec peak and 150 Mbyte/sec sustained. Bob Blau, Mercury Computers, served as the chair of the task group.
This specification was officially recognized as an American National Standard on July 31, 1995 and is available from the VITA office.
ANSI/VITA 6-1994, Signal Computing System Architecture (SCSA) SCSA stands for Signal Computing System Architecture and is used for processing digitized voice, video, and digital data in telephony applications. Lou Francz, Dialogics, served as the task group chair.
This specification was officially recognized as an American National Standard on July 24, 1995 and is available from the VITA office.
VITA 10-199x, SKYchannel Packet Bus, Electrical and Physical Layers, Draft 2.3, 31 May 1995- SKYchannel is a high performance 320 Mbyte/sec packet switched architecture being proposed as a P2 subsystem bus. The SKYchannel specification is available from the VITA office. Richard Jaenicke, Sky, is the task group chair.
SKYchannel completed a successful task group ballot earlier in 1995 and was moved to the Canvass Ballot process. The initial ballot closed in November 1995 and the negative ballot review committee is currently reviewing comments.
TASK GROUP ACTIVITIES
Standards within the VSO are developed in task groups. The formation of a task group requires at least three companies that are VITA members and the proposed work must fit within the defined scope of VITA's accreditation with ANSI. Non VITA members may serve on task groups with the approval of the chair and the task group. Currently there are task groups working on a variety of open technology standards.
VITA 1.1-199x, VME64 Extensions, Draft 1.1, April 25, 1996- During the development of the VME64 specification a number of proposals were discussed. In order to complete the VME64 specification in a timely manner, certain proposals were put into the category of VME64 extensions to allow more time for investigation and discussion.
This investigation and discussion is currently underway and a number of exciting proposals are being addressed that will pave the way for VME64's use well into the 21st century. Wayne Fischer, chair of the VME64 extensions task group, has prepared a draft document that addresses the following areas: Geographical Addressing, Enhanced Transceiver Logic (ETL), Extended Backplanes, EMC Front Panels and Subracks, Injector/Extractor Handles, and ESD Protection.
In addition task group members are working on an enhancement data transfer protocol called 2eVME for 2 Edge VMEbus Protocol. This protocol would clock data on both edges of a data strobe signal thus providing up to 160 Mbytes/second data transfer rate.
A task group ballot was completed in January 1996 and the draft document is being revised. Another task group ballot will be held in the summer. Copies of the latest draft of VME64 Extensions are available from the VITA office.
VITA 1.x-199x, High Availability VME (H. A. VME), Draft 0.2, Nov 9, 1995- This work is a result of the work started as VMEbus System Level Live Insertion. At the Orlando VSO meeting in March 1995 a special meeting was held to discuss High Availability VMEbus (H.A. VME) requirements. The purpose of this group is to develop a standard based on VME64 and VME64 Extensions that provides Scaleable Fault Management and Dynamic Configuration in Live Systems. Issues to be addressed include: fault detection, fault isolation, fault repair, and live insertion. It was realized that not all applications require all the features and that scalability is an important issue.
Contact the VITA office if you want more information on this effort.
VITA 1.x-199x, 9U x 400 mm VMEbus Form Factor, Draft 0.3, September 25, 1995- The purpose of this group is to standardize a 9U form factor for use in VME. A draft document is available from the VITA office. Bob Downing, Univ. of Ill., 217-333-4175, is the task group chair.
VITA 6.1-199x, SCSA Extensions, Draft 4., March 19, 1996- The purpose of this task group is to define the J2/P2 pinout and operating modes of additional SCbus controls. This document provides several nested levels of capacity with increasing redundancy features, each of which is oriented towards specific segments of the computer telephony market. Lou Francz, Dialogic, is the task group chair. Contact Lou at 201-993-3000 for more information. A copy of this specification is available from the VITA office.
VITA 11-199x, AutoBahn, Draft 1.0, January 12, 1996- AutoBahn technology promises high speed bused and point to point datalinks with data rates of 200 Mbytes/sec. In its initial implementation existing VMEbus protocols would be used to set up AutoBahn data transfers which could take place concurrently with VMEbus activities. Current AutoBahn chips have demonstrated data rates of 50 and 100 Mbyte/sec. The AutoBahn draft specification is available from the VITA office.
Contact Hermann Strass, Technology Consulting, PH: +49 89 601 34 99, FAX: +49 89 601 23 29, for more information regarding this effort.
VITA 12-199x, M-Modules, Draft 0.3, April 2, 1996- M-Modules is a mezzanine bus specification that was started by MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH in the late 1980's. The development of M-Modules as a standard is supported by the members of the European MUMM Association which promotes the use of M-Modules worldwide. The M-Module specification has been reworked to put it to the required form for submission to ANSI.
VITA 12-199x, M-Modules, underwent its second task group ballot and the document has been revised. At the March VSO meeting VITA 12-199x was accepted as a standard and moved to ANSI Canvass ballot. Individuals that are interested in being part of the canvass ballot should contact the VITA office.
Draft copies of the M-Modules specification are available from the VITA office.
VITA 14-199x, CXC and ModPacks, Draft 2.5, January 12, 1996- CXC is based on the 68302 controller bus and ModPacks are used to add functionality to the CXC base module. This document will be used to standardize an existing industry practice originally developed by PEP Modular Computers. An initial task group ballot was completed in April.
Contact Hermann Strass, Technology Consulting, PH: +49 89 601 34 99, FAX: +49 89 601 23 29, for more information regarding this effort.
VITA 16-199x, MVIP, Draft 0.2, 28 August 1995- MVIP stands for Multi Vendor Interface Protocol and is a telephony standard for voice and data call processing utilizing the VMEbus P2 connector. Xircom and Ariel have agreed to support the standardization of MVIP on the VMEbus in the VSO. Charlie Snell, Xircom, is the task group chair. The second draft is now available and a task group ballot was completed in December 1995. The draft is currently being revised based on input from the task group ballot.
Contact Charlie Snell, Xircom, (603) 898-1800, if you would like more information on this effort.
VITA 17-199x, FPDP, Draft 1.1, 20 October 1995- FPDP stands for Front Panel Data Port and is a proposed standard being put forth by Interactive Circuits and Systems, Ltd. with support provided by Sky Computers, Ixthos, and CSPI. Task group status was granted at the January 1995 VSO meeting.
FPDP is an existing industry practice specification developed to provide high speed data transfer using front panel data ports. Data transfer rates of 80 Mbytes/sec are possible using the FPDP interface and 160 Mbytes/sec are possible using the FPDP2 interface. A task group ballot will take place after a timing study is completed.
Contact Jonathan Jones, ICS, (613) 749-9241 if you are interested in FPDP.
VITA 18-199x, VMEbus on SEM-E, Draft 0.4, 5 November 1995- SEM-E has been a popular form factor used in the military for a number of years. It is based on conduction cooled technology, a small form factor, and a blade & fork style connector that provides high reliability in high shock and vibration environments. Mary Mosier, Naval Air Warfare Center, has asked the VSO to create a task group to standardize the VMEbus on the SEM-E form factor. During the January 1995 VSO meeting MITRE and Hughes Processor Division expressed interest in supporting this effort. At the May 1996 VSO meeting more than the required three VITA member sponsors agreed to support the development of VITA 18. Thus VITA 18 was granted task group status. A draft of this document is available from the VITA office. Currently optimal pin assignments are under investigation.
Contact, Mary Mosier, Naval Air Warfare Center, (317) 353-3807 if you are interested in this effort.
VITA 19-199x, BusNet, Draft 1.4.2, 18 August 1995- BusNet enables multiple CPU boards (and/or intelligent controller boards) to communicate across a backplane as if it were an Ethernet network. This allows system configurations consisting of UNIX, real-time or mixed UNIX/real-time computing nodes within one single chassis. The chair of this activity is Paul Fischer, FORCE Computers. For more information contact Paul at pfischer@force.de. A revised draft should be available at the end of May.
VITA 20-199x, Conduction Cooled PCI Mezzanine Card- The purpose of this effort is to develop a standard for a conduction cooled PMC card based on IEEE 1386 and IEEE 1386.1 for conduction cooled VMEbus boards. This group was granted task group status at the January 1996 VSO meeting. Contact Bob McKee, MITRE, 703-883-5484 or Jing Kwok, DY4, 613-596-9911 for more information about this effort.
STUDY GROUPS
QuickRing - Physical and Data Link Layer Specifications Compatible with VMEbus, Draft 0.9.2, May 21, 1995- Dennis Terry, Heurikon, was named chair of the task group at the January 1996 meeting. Because one of QuickRing's sponsors left the committee, a new sponsor is being sought. Please contact Dennis Terry at 608-828-3412 if you are interested in supporting QuickRing on VMEbus.
Software Standard Activities
ESSE Update- Embedded Systems Software Environment (ESSE) is an effort within the VSO to develop consensus regarding embedded software standards. Initially three areas are being studied: tools, osapi, and I/O drivers. At the January 1996 VSO meeting, members of the ESSE subcommittee agreed to adopt the VSO Rules with two modifications: they chose to vote by company not individual, and to waive prior attendance requirements.
The ESSE Tools Working Group had a joint meeting with the PowerPC EABI working group in April at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston. A number of issues were discussed and several action items were assigned. See VITA's web site (http://www.vita.com/) for complete minutes.
Mark Edwards, Motorola, proposed to the PowerPC EABI working group that it move to the ESSE subcommittee. The proposal was accepted.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, Sept.17, 1996 in San Jose, California (in conjunction with Embedded Systems Conference).
Contact Mark Edwards, Motorola, rl2518@email.sps.mot.com or Kim Clohessy, OTI, Kim_Clohessy@oti.com for more information regarding ESSE.
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