Bob Downing called the meeting to order at 8:38 AM and asked members to introduce themselves. After introductions the minutes from the previous meeting were approved as written.
Bob asked for announcements.
Mike Thompson, Pentair - EP, submitted an email from Serge Tissot, CETIA, regarding the status of VITA 27, PCI on P2. In the email Serge reported on recent tests measuring crosstalk between PCI and VME signals on P2. He noted that crosstalk levels we not acceptable unless the PCI series resistance was changed from 10 ohms to 47 ohms. Unfortunately, this increases the propagation delay for PCI and limits the frequency to 25 Mhz. As a result CETIA has decided to cease work in this activity and asked that the VITA 27 task group be disbanded. Mike Thompson made a motion to disband the VITA 27 task group. A second was received and all votes were in favor of the motion with no negative votes. Therefore, the VITA 27 task group is disbanded. See attached email from Serge Tissot.
The membership discussed other efforts regarding the use of PCI on the P0 connector.
John Rynearson, VITA, reported that Dave Gustavson, former chair of the Microprocessor Standards Committee, had asked the IEEE to form a balloting body to reaffirm IEEE 1101.2. See attached email. John noted that members that wished to be part of the balloting body should contact the IEEE and request a ballot solicitation form. Balloters must be members of the IEEE Standards Association.
Eike Waltz, Rittal, reported on the grounding issue raised by IEEE 1101.11 and noted that it passed UL approval.
John Rynearson reviewed the ANSI and VSO patent policy. See attachments (pdf). John asked if members had any patents to disclose. No patents were disclosed.
Ray Alderman reported on a number of activities taking place at VITA. No further patent activity regarding Nortel has taken place. The JTC1/26 tag has been disbanded. The Bus&Board conference is scheduled for January 31/February 1. All sponsorships have been sold. Discount airfares are available. The keynote speaker is Joe Jensen from Intel's Appied Computing Group. Marcus Levy, EDN, is sponsoring an embedded systems benchmarking activity. See eembc.org for more details.
John Rynearson reported on the status of draft standards in the ANSI canvass ballot process. See attached overheads (pdf). VITA 35, PMC I/O Mapping, is in canvass ballot solicitation which will close on November 20. So far 10 balloters have signed up for the ballot which will begin in late November. Two draft standards are in canvass ballot: VITA 29, PC•MIP, and VITA 30, 2mm Connector Practice for Euroboard with respective closing dates of December 20, 1999 and January 22, 2000. Two ballots, VITA 1.6, Keying, and VITA 18, VME on SEME are in ballot review.
Wayne Fischer, Tahoe Embedded Computing, gave a report on the status of IEEE P1386. Wayne has revised both the P1386 and P1386.1 drafts and asked that the IEEE form a balloting body. Wayne discussed several other changes with members. Those interested in being part of the balloting body should contact the IEEE.
Ray Alderman noted that a number of infrastructure issues such as power dissipation need to be addressed by the bus and board industry and that VITA and PICMG were going to issue a press release in the near future stating that both organizations would work together to address these issues. Ray also discussed industry grow figures from 1998 to 1999 for VME and CompactPCI. VME grew from 1.25 billion to 1.36 billion. CompactPCI grew from 40 million to 81 million. Ray noted that a more detailed report will be given at the upcoming Bus&Board Conference.
The main meeting was adjourned to allow various task group meetings to take place.
VITA 31, Serial I/O on 2 mm Connectors
Mike Thompson reviewed the 0.5 draft. The task group discussed connector types and keying options. Mark Schell, FCI, gave a presentation on recent simulation work done on their 2mm connector. See attached presentations in pdf (type AB connector, vita 31 connector, simuations)
VITA 34, A New Format for Embedded Systems
Bob Downing called the VITA 34 task group to order. Ed Barsotti noted the need for technical experts to speak to the group on a diverse range of technical subjects. Ed circulated a sign up list on various subjects. Bob Downing presented some mock ups of his idea for a new embedded computing format. See attached photos (courtesy of Wayne Fischer).
These modules can be mounted together in a group in a standard panel rack (see pdf file) or mounted individually where required. Bob invited the group to brainstorm new ideas for modular packaging taking into account the needs of future embedded electronic systems. Bob stated that his ideas were generated when another VSO member, Mike Macpherson, Vista Controls, asked "Why do we need backplanes?". Bob discussed how his boxes could include inlets and outlets for fluid cooling. Bob showed some graphs (see attachments) that he had developed to determine the necessary cooling requirements for various heat loads. The VITA 34 task group adjourned for lunch and reconvened after lunch to continue discussions regarding connector types, cooling, mounting requirements, and interoperability requirements with current VME and cPCI modules. The important point to note is that this approach is a "standardize the box, not the board" approach. Bob stated that his boxes could contain a variety of electronics not just a single board. Bob listed a number of areas for members to investigate and provide input at future meetings.
Connectors
Jing Kwok, DY4, attended the recent Infiniband Trade Association meeting and he discussed their approach to these issues. The Infiniband presentation may be found at the following URL: http://www.sysio.org/events/index.html. The members asked Ray whether or not VITA could become a member of Infiniband. Ray stated that this was not possible because of the intellectual property restrictions imposed by Infiniband. Ray noted that it was not to Infiniband's advantage to have another trade association join rather than multiple individual members.
VITA 1.5, 2eSST
Mac Rush called the VITA 1.5 task group meeting to order and discussed the results of the latest task group ballot. After more discussion it was decided to eliminate appendix B from the draft and to change Rule 3.1 and to add a recommendation and an observation as shown below.
Rule 3.1
2eSST boards SHALL use, at a minimum, transceivers compatible with transceivers as specified in ANSI/VITA 1-1994, VME64 Specification.
Recommendation x.x
2eSST boards SHOULD use higher performance bus transceivers with improved drive current, skew, and tighter receiver thresholds on all address, data and control bus signal lines.
Observation x.x
Because the 2eSST protocol requires monotonic rising and falling edges of the bus signals at the receiver and low skew between the bus signals, only backplanes qualified by the manufacturer to be 2eSST compatible should be used.
In addition Ray Alderman suggested that the task group consider issuing VITA 1.5 as a "trial use" standard per ANSI procedures. After investigation, the group decided to issue VITA 1.5 as a trial use draft standard for a maximum of 30 months. On or before the end of the 30 months the group will make any necessary revisions and begin the ANSI canvass process.
Other task group meetings held during this time were:
VITA 32, Processor PMC, Greg Novak, Motorola
VITA 36. PIM, Greg Novak, Motorola
VITA 20, CCPMC, Mike Macpherson, Vista Controls
VITA 30.1, 2mm Conduction Cooled Euroboard, Elwood Parsons
VITA 30.2, Power Connector Equip. Practice, Elwood Parsons
Contact the respective task group chairs for results of their meetings.
Thursday, November 18, 1999
Bob Downing called the meeting to order and asked for announcements. No announcements were made.
VITA 2.1 Update, Bob Sullivan, Hybricon
Bob reviewed the purpose of the VITA 2.1 effort and presented the results of the latest simulations. He noted that the results look promising, but that more work needs to be done.
VITA 1.5 Report, John Rynearson, VITA, for Mac Rush, Motorola
John reviewed the results of the previous day's task group meeting. The draft will be updated and sent out for a recirculation ballot. Once approved the draft will be issued as a trial use standard for a period of 30 months.
VITA 27. This effort was officially cancelled.
VITA 30 is currently in ANSI canvass ballot.
VITA 30.1 Report, Jing Kwok
Jing noted that some of the 1101.2 dimensions may be changed to accommodate the different 2mm connector size.
VITA 30.2 Report, Elwood Parsons
Elwood noted that more connectors are going to be added to the draft. The group discussed whether or not to submit the draft to the ANSI process or to keep it as a VITA VSO standard.
VITA 32, Processor PMC, Greg Novak, Motorola
VITA 32 is currently in task group ballot.
VITA 33, Ron Taulton, Systran
Ron noted that the task group has agreed to change the designation of VITA 33 to VITA 17.1 to make it part of the FPDP family of specifications. Ron reported that the task group is revising the draft and hopes to issue it before the end of the year.
VITA 36, PIM, Greg Novak
Greg reported that the task group discussed a number of issues including voltages. Voltages other than 5 volts have to be derived on the module.
The membership discussed upcoming meetings. See the VITA web site for dates and places.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned by Bob Downing.
Submitted by
/s/ John Rynearson, VITA Secretariat