VSO Minutes

Wednesday, May 12, 2004 (Revised June 7, 2004)

Resort Suites, Scottsdale, AZ

The meeting was called to order by Elwood Parsons, VSO Chair.  Elwood asked members to introduce themselves.  Elwood noted that Ray Alderman and John Rynearson were attending a VITA board of directors meeting and would not be present during the morning session.  The agenda was reviewed and revised to accommodate these changes and to address requests from the floor to add several issues.

The minutes from the previous meeting were approved.

New Standard Proposal

Tony Lavely, Mercury Computer, indicated that Mercury was willing to sponsor the development of a standard for Raceway++ as VITA 5.2. A signup list was circulated.

New Mezzanine Proposal

David Pepper, GE Fanuc, discussed a proposal for a new mezzanine standard.  The mezzanine would support PCI Express, be hot pluggable, and be similar in size to PMC. The connector envisioned would be a lower profile version of the Molex Harting flex file based live insertion connector being used on the PICMG AMC mezzanine standard. See presentation.  A signup list was distributed.

VITA 41 Report

Bob Tufford, Motorola, reported on VITA 41.  A summary of the VITA 41 Mechanical Plugfest was presented. The various suppliersπ components were successfully interchanged and intermated.  Backplane stiffeners are being designed because of excessive deflections found in certain areas. 

An associated effort, VITA 41.11, Rear Transition Modules (RTM) is progressing. Pass through signaling and connector alignment and keying are critical issues being worked on as well as an eventual rear cable assembly.  A ballot ready draft is anticipated in late May.  Designs for the keying and alignment modules needed for rear transition modules have been finalized.  Because of compliant pin requirements and the features of the keying and alignment devices, backplane thickness has been specified at 4mm +/- 10%.

Two new sublevel standards are being initiated.  VITA 41.3 will address 1 and 10 Gbit Ethernet and VITA 41.4 will address PCI Express.  Signup sheets for VITA 41.3 and VITA 41.4 were distributed.  See presentation.

VITA 41-9U

Andy Reddig, Tek Micro, is working on a 9Ux400 size version of the VITA 41 architecture.  No report was given at this meeting.

VITA 42, XMC (PMC and Processor PMC with Serial Fabrics)

Greg Novak, Motorola reported on VITA 42.  The main effort at this meeting was to determine the schedule for future activities and the coordination taking place with PICMG to avoid conflicts between similar standards being developed by both organizations.  The other primary effort was the definition of pin assignments for the second connector.  This effort is designated XMC.10. 

VITA 46

Stewart Dewar, Dy4, gave a report on VITA 46.  The working group for this standard has defined a power version of the MultiGig connector.  Tyco has also designed a wafer for carrying single ended signals.  This provides higher density than the wafers used for differential signals.  It has lines for 2 fixed grounds and 5 single ended signals but is not suitable for carrying power.  The VITA 46 design will use 3 wafer styles:  7 row differential wafers, 7 row single ended wafers and 7 row power wafers.  It also has a new keying alignment module that yields 5 keying positions and ESD protection.  In the case of the 3U cards, there will be two used (25 keying combinations) and on the 6U cards there will be three of them used (625 keying combinations).

Modeling and simulation requirements for VITA 46 are being developed and will be sent out for interest and quotes in the near future.

DY4 has started a communication and marketing activity for VITA 46.

Connector and module test plans have been developed and the Navy has agreed to perform most of the testing.

A connector test plan is being written for evaluation of the connector and module design.

There is a 3U PCI Express specification being developed in PICMG that may have a large commonality with this effort.  It was noted that if PICMG were to use the MultiGig connector, it would ease the coordination between PICMG and VITA 46. 

The draft standard is scheduled for release in June with validation testing, simulation, modeling and balloting to follow. See presentation.    

VITA 47 ≠ Other Requirements

Jim Robles, Boeing, gave a report on VITA 47.  VITA 47 is a specification being developed under the chairmanship of the Boeing representative to define a checklist document for environmental, design, construction, safety and quality parameters for system level (module) equipment.  This is a combination of commercial, military (and other) requirements that will be used in system level standards to provide common requirements for such issues.   A spreadsheet of the various conditions has been developed and a preliminary document is being finalized and a ballot is anticipated in the near future.  Much of this work is being done in weekly teleconferences.  At this meeting, a negative ballot review was conducted. 

VITA 48, ERDI (Enhanced Ruggedized Design Implementation)

Randy Banton, Mercury Computers, reported on VITA 48.  A detailed layout of the proposed module design has been developed.  Key to the initial design is the desire to have a common form factor for both air and conduction cooled modules.  The design has a slight reduction in board area from the original IEEE 1101.1 and .2 standards but has increased available component volume due to the increased module width.  It also has covers on both sides of the module to provide increased ruggedness, less static handling sensitivity and improved air flow for cooling purposes.  Additional work is needed on the liquid and spray cooled versions. 

John Rynearson, VITA, presented the VITA patent policy.  Randy Banton, Mercury, indicated that he would discuss certain Mercury patents during the continuation of his VITA 48 presentation.

John Rynearson discussed VITAπs new website design.  Members should revise any bookmarked pages.

*** LUNCH ***

John Rynearson discussed the VITA business committee and urged members to have appropriate people from their companies become involved in the business committee.  See presentation.

John Rynearson discussed an email he received from Scott Unietis, Raytheon, re: a request to allocate a pin on VME for a ≥fast boot≤ capability.  Discussion followed.  This issue will remain open.  Members will determine if they would like to support a proposal to allocate a pin for a ≥fast boot≤ capability.

John Rynearson presented the results of the VITA 1.1R 7 Row DIN Proposed Connector Survey.  See attachment.  The VITA 1.1R working group will determine the next step for this effort based on the results of the survey.

Randy Banton, Mercury, finished his presentation for VITA 48 and discussed certain Mercury patents.  See presentation.

The VSO meeting was adjourned for several working group meetings.

VITA 47, Requirements, Jim Robles

VITA 46, Stewart Dewar

VITA 42, XMC, Greg Novak

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Elwood called the meeting to order at 8:35 AM.  No announcements were made.

Ray Alderman, VITA, reported on VITA activities.  Bus&Board 2005 is being planned.  Contact Ray if you want space.

VITA Reports

VITA 1.1 Revision

Working group will decide next step.

VITA 17.2 10 Gbit Serial FPDP

Working on initial draft.  Set up reflector.  Look at possible expansion beyond 10 Gbit. 

VITA 20R

Hope to go to ballot by July.

VITA 31.2, Starfabric VME64x form factor

Bob Sullivan reported on this effort.  See presentation.

VITA 34

No report.

VITA 41

No report.

VITA 42

Greg Novak.  Power and signaling, PICMG input.  Will be balloting soon.

VITA 46

No report.

VITA 47

No report.

VITA 48

Nothing new.

VITA Marketing Group

Tim Warland, Tundra, gave a review of goals and objectives for the business/marketing committee.  Attached is a presentation prepared by Valeria Andrews about the committee.

2eSST Plugfest

Tim Warland, Tundra, discussed the 2eSST plugfest.  Originally the plugfest was scheduled for the July VSO meeting.  Tim suggested that the event be delayed until either the September or November VSO meetings to allow more time for manufacturers to prepart products.  Timπs suggested was accepted.

Other Business

No other business was discussed.

Future meetings

Dick Somes, Force Computers, noted that the September VSO meeting was in conflict with the East Coast Embedded Systems Conference.  John Rynearson said that he would investigate moving the VSO meeting to the next week.  [Note:  The September VSO meeting has been moved from September 15-16 to September 22-23.]

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by:

/s/John Rynearson, VITA Secretariat
Thanks to Elwood Parsons for supplying the minutes for the Wednesday morning part of the meeting.