VSO Minutes – Thursday, May 18, 2006 – Revision 1.0 - Long Beach, CA

(Minutes taken by Elwood Parsons and edited by John Rynearson)

 

Subject

Presenter

Comments

Call VSO meeting to order

Introductions, Agenda Review

Announcements, Minutes Approval

Elwood Parsons, VSO Chair

SecretaryÕs Note: The VSO meeting was condensed into a long one day session because of schedule conflicts and the reluctance of members to travel on the weekend.  Elwood asked members to introduce themselves.  The minutes from the previous meeting were approved as written.

IP Issues

-           Patent Policy Review

-           Call for Patent Disclosures

Elwood Parsons, VSO Chair

Elwood reviewed the VSO patent policy procedure and asked for patent disclosures.  None were made.

Thermalworks Presentation - Composites

Kris Vasoya, Thermalworks

This was a shortened version of the Thermalworks presentation from the MEECC.  The technology described involves the insertion of carbon fiber layers in pc board fabrication in order to enhance heat transfer and increase the stiffness of the boards.  See presentation.

VITA 17.2, 10 Gbit Serial FPDP Report

Dean Holman, Mercury, for Ralph Barrera, Curtiss-Wright

This is an activity that will expand the earlier 17.1 one gigabit standard to higher data rates.  Four channels will be used to accomplish this but there is already anticipation of a 17.3 specification that will do the 10 gigabit rate on a single link.  A preliminary document has been sent out. Regular teleconferences have begun.  This standard defines three speeds (2.5, 3.125 and 4.25 Gbps), multiple lane options (1X, 2X, 4X, 6X, 8X and 12X) and XAUI compatibility on the front panel data port.  The document stands at revision 0.3. The next major task is to do the electrical transmit and receive characteristics tables.  The group is looking for volunteers to work on the electrical transmit/receive characteristics tables.  David Pepper of GE volunteered to check within his company for a volunteer.  See Presentation.

VITA 41.6, VXS Control Plane

Jerry Palmer, DRS-SS

Jerry is no longer with DRSS and Mike Bonato is replacing him.  Mike asked that he be forwarded information regarding the committee members and the status of the document.

VITA 41.7, Processor Mesh

Michael Monroe, Bustronics

Melissa Heckman gave a brief status report in Mike's absence.  Mike sent out the latest draft just today and is asking for comments. 

VITA 46, VPX Status Report

Stewart Dewar, Curtiss-Wright

Stewart Dewar presented the update.  The base document, VITA 46.0, is at draft 18 and the next version is in process.  The sublevel documents statuses were reported as: á    VITA 46.1 - The second ballot closed in December with 100% approval. This will be held until the base document is ready for ANSI submittal and both will be sent forward together.   VITA 46.3 - Serial RapidIO on VITA 46.  The latest draft of this, draft number 4, is out for comment. See Presentation. VITA 46.4 - PCI Express/ASI on VITA 46.  This document stands at draft 2 which was just sent out this month and the committee is awaiting comments.  VITA 46.5 - Hypertransport on VITA 46.  This is inactive and no further action is planned at this time.   VITA 46.9 - XMC & PMC User I/O Mapping on VITA 46.  Draft 0.1, dated may 2005, is outdated but Jing Kwok is reviving it.  The key appendices, B.4 (PMC/XMC) and C.2 (PMC/3U VPX) are much further along.   VITA 46.10 - Rear Transition Modules.  Ivan Strasnicky is editing this.  The initial draft is out and a new revision is in process.    VITA 46.20 - VPX Switch Slots.  The first draft is expected to be out in 2 to 3 weeks. The open issues on VITA 46 involve the testing of the 50 microinch gold plated connectors that showed no wear through improvement over the 30 microinch parts in vibration testing.  Tyco is evaluating the test samples, the plating choice for the alignment/keying modules which were recently tested for 48 hours salt fog exposure in an enclosed condition.  The initial 500 hour exposure was determined to be excessive.  The group also needs a solution for backplane I/O via direct attach cabling.  Tyco has promised to look into it, but has no product available at this time. VITA 46 has been the subject of significant industry communication and promotion.                  See Presentation.

*** BREAK ***

 

 

VITA 47 Revisions

Jim Robles, Boeing

Boeing is proposing a revision to the VITA 47 environmental standard.  They want to address more stringent environmental conditions for the smaller 3U high modules.  These include vibration and shock, higher edge temperatures for conduction cooling, spray cooling capabilities and corrosion resistance testing done on other VITA architectures.

VITA 48, ERDI

Mike Gust, Mercury Computer

The VITA 48 committee (REDI) has four standards in progress.  The base specification, and the air and conduction cooled preliminary sub-specifications have been balloted and the liquid cooled document is ready for its initial review.  Comments from previous ballots have been incorporated into the documents and another review is in process.  An update and editing session were part of this meeting.  Issues still plaguing the committee involve insertion/extraction mechanisms, guidance provided by the quick disconnect fluid connectors, flow rates in these devices versus the rates required by higher wattage modules, mixing different width modules in a cage, rigidity of cages and the ability of the system to accommodate high mating force modules without loss of electrical connectivity or leakage in the fluid connections.  Tolerance analyses of the conduction and liquid cooled systems were reviewed and there is some concern about the robustness of the MultiGig connectors since both cooling methods impart additional stresses on them.  Mercury is conducting an extensive series of tests on the Tyco MultiGig connectors to evaluate the limits of misalignment that can be tolerated during mating.  This is necessary because of the restraints imposed by the guide pin/fluid quick disconnect mechanisms.  See Presentation.

VITA 49, Digital IF

Bob Normoyle, DRS-SS

This is a data structure standard for passing a radio's digitized intermediate frequency data between system elements.  An update was given. The basic document will define the streaming data packet, context packet and definable context packet and was sent to the working group for review in December.  An initial working group ballot is anticipated in September.  See Presentation.

VITA 50, Cooling

Mike Benjamin, Parker Hannifin

The Cooling Practices Handbook effort (VITA 50) has not made much progress since the last meeting.  This has, however, taken on an increased urgency with the upswing in interest in VITA 46/48 and faster progress is promised. This is an enormous effort since the document is to be a guide to "what can be done, not how to do it" in cooling and will include the entire spectrum of cooling technologies.  The preliminary draft will emphasize liquid cooling techniques.  The document will also contain a section that allows designers to rapidly screen various cooling techniques and narrow the options to a select few by answering a very few incisive questions. The committee is looking for descriptive information on heat exchangers, fans, heat pipes, spray cooling, cold plates, pumps, fluids, etc. Technical details should be part of the information supplied.  Attribution of the contributing company would be included.  Examples of the type of information desired are shown on the VITA 50 website.  The format of the document may be changed to focus primarily on using internet search terms instead of actual lengthy content.  There will be three primary areas: components, systems and analysis. The ultimate scenario would result in system level descriptions that evaluate the cooling techniques in terms of watts/gram, watts/cc, watts of cooling power/watts of input power and watts/dollar.  See Presentation.

VITA 51, Reliability Prediction

Charles Falardeau, Curtiss-Wright

Elwood Parsons, Foxconn, for Lori Bechtol, Boeing. Reliability Prediction (VITA 51) is a committee working on a replacement for the no longer maintained Mil Handbook 217.  They are trying to produce a comprehensive resource that will allow systematic reliability projections for electronic equipment.  The original military handbook has not been revised in 10 years.  This new standard will update the methodology and techniques used in such predictions. Most of the activity since the last meeting on this topic has involved coordination with outside groups which are also working on reliability prediction.  This group is extremely active in both telecom working sessions and promotion of and coordination of the effort with other organizations.  They will hold their next working group session in September.  See Presentation.

VITA 53, Market Surveillance

Steven Cecil, CRANE

VITA 53 is attempting to develop a method to control obsolescence awareness of COTS material within the Department of Defense.  This committee is trying to provide a mechanism whereby suppliers can inform the buyer of their anticipated plans as regards product lifespan.  The buyers can then develop contingency plans to find alternate sources of these key systems or find replacement technology before the need becomes critical.  A draft of the standard has been prepared and the chair is requesting review and comments.  There are two sponsors for this activity and the chair is looking for the third in order to progress to working group status.  See Presentation.

VITA 55 Aurora on VME Report

Andy Reddig, Tek Microsystems, Inc.

No report was given at this meeting.           

 

*** LUNCH ***

 

 

Standards Report

John Rynearson, Tech Dir VITA

No report was given at this meeting.

VITA Report

Ray Alderman, Exec Dir VITA

Ray gave an update on the VITA Board of Directors meeting, especially as regards the proposed ex ante patent policy that the board is considering for VITA.

VITA 56, EMC

David Slaton, GE

VITA 56 is the live insertion mezzanine card standard, similar to the highly popular PMC card but front insertable.  A preliminary draft has been prepared.  Six different documents are currently anticipated.  Initial work is being concentrated on the ability of the connector to survive Telcordia GR-1217-CORE, Mil STD 1344A and VITA 47 environmental conditions.  There will be a number of sublevel standards.  Chris Eckert is resuming editorial duties for this effort. The group is considering removing the AMC board edge notches and several mounting holes and, in addition, is working on a generic connector description.  This will allow press fit and surface mount solder versions along with the current compression style.  The board size is smaller than AMC in order to fit onto VME boards.  Other issues under consideration are front panel, rail and board design, management schemes and I/O definition.  See Presentation.

VITA 57 Status

Neil Harold, Nallatech

This is a new mezzanine specification where the cards are designed to fit onto 3U and 6U VME, cPCI, VPX, ATCA, AMC and PCI/PCIe boards.  The initial premise involves 50 x 69mm cards on a 10mm stack height. Provisions for double size boards, 50 x 139mm are also included.  The connectors used are Samtec  SAM Array and Sea Ray 160 and 400 pin mezzanine style.  See Presentation.

VITA 58, Electronic Module Integration

Mike Humphrey, AP Labs

The VITA 58 committee, which addresses a modular electronic packaging practice, has generated an enormous following.  Initially envisioned as pertaining to the military, it is also seen as being applicable to other environment applications.  In addition to such other industries as seismic exploration, industrial controls, transportation and medical, the linear accelerator work being done by Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) anticipates that this standard will be extremely useful in their DoD funded 50 kilometer collider.  The document will standardize real world field line replaceable modules that environmentally seal the electronics and allow easy module replacement in non-user friendly environments.  A great deal of controversy was apparent at this meeting.  This was primarily due to differing opinions about the desired end product.  The group decided to prepare a list of concerns to send to the requestors in an attempt to better understand the requirements.  See Presentation.

Other Business

Valeria Andrews

Valerie Andrews addressed the group about a request from the Open Group software organization for a VITA hardware liaison.  A volunteer is being solicited.  See Presentation.

Adjourn VSO Meeting

 

The main VSO meeting was adjourned at 2:10 PM.

VITA 46 Working Group Meeting

 

See VITA website for minutes of working group meetings.

VITA 48 Working Group Meeting

 

See VITA website for minutes of working group meetings.

VITA 58 Working Group Meeting

 

See VITA website for minutes of working group meetings.