Friday, March 27, 1998
CERN - Director's Conference Room
Draft 0.2
Bob Downing, VSO Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:10 AM and introduced Francois Bourgeois, head of the CERN Industry and Technology Liaison Office, who welcomed members to CERN. Francois stressed the importance of standards to CERN and wished members a productive meeting. Bob thanked Francois for his kind words and asked members to introduce themselves. See VSO attendance list.
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved as written.
The agenda was reviewed and several changes were made to accommodate members schedules and the absence of other members.
Bob reviewed the VITA patent policy and asked if anyone had a patent to disclose. Mike Thompson, Schroff, indicated that he had a patent to disclose and would do so during the VITA 1.4 live insertion report. No other patents were disclosed.
The next item on the agenda was the election of officers. John Rynearson noted that VSO Policies and Procedures required an election at the March meeting. John stated that during the January meeting the nominations committee consisting of Mike Thompson, Elwood Parsons, and Wayne Fischer had submitted the names of Bob Downing and Jing Kwok for the positions of chair and vice chair respectively. No other nominations were received. John noted that at the January meeting the membership had adopted a method of absentee voting via email.
John presented the list of members eligible to vote in the election and distributed ballots to those present who had not voted via email. No one who voted via email and was present wished to rescind their ballot. The ballots were counted and John announced the results. Twenty-one (21) ballots were cast. For the position of chair Bob Downing received 20 votes, and Elwood Parsons of AMP received one (1) vote as a write-in candidate. For the position of vice chair, Jing Kwok, Nexus, received all 21 votes. Given the results of the balloting, Bob Downing was elected chair and Jing Kwok was elected vice chair for the coming year. John congratulated the candidates and thanked the members for participating in the election.
John presented the canvass ballot reports..
Chris Parkman, CERN, noted that the ANSI/VITA 1-1994, VME64 standard had been approved by the IEC.
John gave task group and study group reports for the following chairs who were not in attendance.
VITA17, FPDP, Chair - Jonathan Jones, ICS
The status on VITA-17, FPDP, is that we are still addressing some residual issues raised as a result of the Task Group ballot - we are on the second round of recirculation. I expect to have Rev. 1.6 available next week, and the Canvass Ballot process could start then.
VITA-20 CCPMC, Chair - Doug Patterson, DY4
Work is progressing by members of the group on evaluating a proposal for a secondary thermal interface to boost thermal performance. By the May meeting, we should be in a position to have completed our technical feasibility evaluations. By that time, we will also have made recommendations for modifications and have decided on its inclusion into (or exclusion from) the spec.
VITA 28, vPCI, Chair - Rick O'Connor, Tundra
Rick will update the status of vPCI efforts at the May VSO meeting.
VITA 30, 2mm Connector Practice, Chair - Elwood Parsons, AMP
This is a new activity to develop a mechanical standard for 2mm connector on the Eurocard form factor. The initial draft is being developed.
IEEE 1101.x Report
John reported that Eike Waltz had told him that the IEEE 1101.11 draft standard had been submitted to the IEEE Standards Board for their review.
VITA 1.6, Keying for Conduction Cooled VME
Holly Sherfinski reported that VITA 1.6 had passed its 75/75 requirement in January. The task group reviewed comments from that ballot and is currently revising the draft. When completed a recirculation ballot will be held.
160 Pin Connector
Holly Sherfinski, Harting, introduced Mr. Harald Juerschik from Harting who gave a report on the 160 pin connector. Early users of the connector have in some cases noted high insertion forces. Harting has just completed an extensive study of the problem and presented a report on their finding. See attachment. As a result Harting has made certain changes in their connector to reduce insertion forces and to accommodate the wide variety in connector pin shapes that they encountered during their study.
VITA 1.4, VME64x Live Insertion
Mike Thompson, Schroff, presented a preliminary German patent disclosure that he recently discovered involving electrostatic discharge. See attachment.
During the development of the draft standard several members noted that many aspects of live insertion are covered by patents.
Wade Peterson spent a lot of time researching this issue and reported his finding to the VSO. See attachment. Much discussion regarding various members experience with patents ensued.
Based on Wade's recommendations and input from the VSO membership John Rynearson will develop a strategy and pass it by both ANSI and VITA legal counsel. Based on this review a proposal will be presented at the May VSO meeting.
VITA 1.5, 2eSST Discussion
Chris Parkman, CERN, introduced Joel Bovier, Technical Director of Creative Electronic Systems, who presented a proposal at CERN's request for adding a broadcast capability to the 2eSST protocol. Much discussion ensued regarding the best approach for adding this capability.
Chau Pham, Motorola, discussed CERN's request and also his desire to simplify the current protocol. See attachment. All agreed that features currently available in existing protocols did not need to be duplicated in 2eSST. Also, most felt that since 2eSST was a high performance protocol, it did not need features that allowed it to run slower. Currently existing protocols should be used if a board could not sustain 2eSST rates. Chau will work with Mac Rush, 2eSST draft editor, to put Chau's proposals into the next revision. Chau will also incorporate the CERN/CES proposals made by Joel Bovier on broadcast and selective broadcast (multicast) into the 2eSST specification. The concept of "participating" and "responding" slaves will be eliminated to allow all slaves to be identical (the master asserts DTACK* in the address broadcast) and to include the selection of broadcast transactions using an XAM code rather than specific address ranges. The goal will be to have the revision done in time for a 30 day task group ballot before the next VSO meeting.
Backplane Signal Integrity
Andreas Lenkisch, Trenew, presented results from a recent study he had done showing that a reduction in trace impedance improved signal waveform to allow for higher speed transfers. See attachment.
*** LUNCH ***
VITA 27, P2CI
Serge Tissot, CETIA, gave a report on the status of VITA 27, P2CI. See attachment (pdf 2.5MB). A six slot and a three slot P2CI backplane are being prepared. The current draft of VITA 27 is 0.2 and a copy can be accessed from the CETIA web site . Simulations are being run to determine signal integrity. Initial simulation results indicate crosstalk values in the range of 0.45V-0.8V, with worst case PCI driver assumptions. More precise simulations are needed to determine if real world results would be the same. Harting has presented a proposal to fund further simulations. Interested companies should contact Ulrich Wallenhorst, Harting, ulrich.wallenhorst@harting.com for more information. The task group will continue to work on the draft standard and will compare real world measurements against the initial simulation.
VITA 28, PC*MIP
Hermann Strass reported on the current status of PC*MIP. See attachments. Currently the task group is requesting input regarding the need and implementation specifics for front panel mechanics for PC*MIP. Hermann showed information and drawing regarding recommended connectors and a front panel flange for EMI protection. Input regarding front panel mechanics can be sent to Kim Rubin kim@greenspring.com.
TEMPE
Jim Botte, Nortel, was not able to attend the meeting. Holly Sherfinski, Harting, read an email she had received from Jim regarding his intentions for the May meeting and the future of TEMPE. See attached email excerpt.
Hermann also noted a recent VMEbus article that he had written for M&T and a presentation that he had made at "Embedded Sindelfingen".
Plenary
John Rynearson asked members to see the VITA web site for dates of future VSO meetings. Hotel arrangements for all meetings through November 1998 have been completed. Meeting arrangements for January 1999 are awaiting decisions regarding arrangements for the Real Time Computer Conference.
John thanked CERN and Chris Parkman for their efforts in sponsoring the VSO meeting. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 3:30 PM.
Submitted by John Rynearson, VITA