Editor’s note: This update is based on the January VSO meeting. Upcoming meetings are held bi-monthly through 2013. Visit the VITA website(www.vita.com) for details on upcoming VSO meetings.
VSO ANSI accreditation
Accredited as an Standards Development Organization (SDO) by ANSI, the VITA Standards Organization (VSO) meets every two months to address embedded bus and board industry standards issues.
VSO study and working group activities
Standards within the VSO may be initiated by a study group and developed by a working group. A study group requires the sponsorship of one VITA member, and a working group requires sponsorship of at least three VITA members.
VITA 38: Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) with VME
Objective: This specification is based on the PICMG 2.9 System Management specification and describes the additional requirements for implementing IPMI in a VME system. IPMI describes a hardware independent interface between chassis sensors and the operating system. IPMI is particularly useful for managing servers and High Availability systems.
Status: ANSI/VITA 38-2003 (R2008) is under public review to move to a stabilized maintenance status.
VITA 46.0, VPX Base Specification
Objective: Commonly known as VPX, this specification family defines entirely new high-speed connectors in part to carry mappings for popular switched serial fabrics including Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express, Serial RapidIO, InfiniBand, and Aurora. It also defines a new increased power envelope including a 48 V profile and additional cooling methods.
The base standard does not address the possible serial fabric configurations available in systems, which utilize the standard.
Status: ANSI/VITA 46.0-2007 completed its five-year review. Revisions have been made and comments close in January.
VITA 46.1, VPX: VMEbus Signal Mapping
Objective: This specification supplements the VITA 46 base specification with the definition for the VMEbus signals as mapped to a VITA 46 connector.
Status: ANSI/VITA 46.1-2007 completed its five-year review. The current specification was reaffirmed and submitted to ANSI on 1/8/2013.
VITA 46.6, VPX: Gigabit Ethernet Control Plane Signal Mapping
Objective: This specification supplements the VITA 46 base specification with the definition for the Gigabit Ethernet signals as mapped to a VITA 46 connector.
Status: VITA 46.6 is a new specification. Public review closed in January.
VITA 58.1, Line Replaceable Integrated Electronics Chassis Draft Standard, Liquid-cooled Chassis
Objective: The intent of this standard is to provide a line replaceable chassis, which accommodates VITA 46, VITA 48, and IEEE 1101 format plug-in boards. It also provides an upgrade path for older ARINC 404A, ARINC 600 applications. The modularity of the LRU sizing is based on those standards while adapting them to the VITA/IEEE board formats. The VITA 58 family of specifications is intended to address variations in envelope, cooling method, connectors, coolant couplings, and, in general, mechanical and electrical interface requirements. It is arranged as follows:
VITA 58.0 General specification for Line Replaceable Integrated Electronics Chassis
VITA 58.1 Liquid-flow-through-cooled enclosure
Status: VITA 58.1 is a new specification. Public review closed in January.
ANSI/VITA 66.2, VPX: Optical Interconnect On VPX – ARINC 801
Objective: The objective of this standard is to define an optical interconnect using the ARINC 801-style contact for use in VITA 46 plug-in modules and backplanes.
Status: VITA 66.2 is a new specification. Balloting has closed and public review comments are under consideration.
Copies of all specifications reaching ANSI recognition are available from the VITA website. For a list of current VITA specs and their status, go to:www.vita.com/home/Specification/Specifications.html.