Several working groups have current project work underway. Contact VITA if you are interested in participating in any of these working groups.
VITA 46: VPX
Several subgroups continue to complete development of various dot specifications related to VPX. Plus, work continues to make improvements to the original specifications as they go through reaffirmation.
VITA 47: Environments, Design and Construction, Safety, and Quality for Plug-In Units
Additions and modifications are under review as the specification goes through reaffirmation.
VITA 48: VPX REDI
The working group is completing updates to ratified specifications and preparing various dot specifications for approval.
VITA 51: Reliability Prediction
The working group has been focused on completing updates to ANSI/VITA 51.1, the MIL-HDBK-217 subsidiary specification.
VITA 57: FPGA Mezzanine Cards (FMC)
The VITA 57 working group is working on completing the VITA 57.2 specification that describes FMC XML metadata used to test functionality and compatibility of FMCs and carriers.
VITA 59: Rugged System-on-Module Express (RSE)
This specification describes a rugged COM Express type module. The working group has posted a draft and is seeking comments prior to completing the specification.
VITA 65: OpenVPX Architectural Framework for VPX
The OpenVPX system specification is a living document that is continuously being updated with new profile information and corrections. It is currently open for new submissions of profiles.
ANSI/VITA 66.x, VPX: Optical Interconnect on VPX
Several dot specifications have been ratified and work is nearing completion on the remainder of the projects.
VITA 67: Coaxial Interconnect on VPX
The working group is making solid headway on their way to completing the specification by the end of 2013.
VITA 68: VPX Compliance Channel
This specification defines a VPX compliance channel including common backplane performance criteria required to support multiple fabric types across a range of defined baud rates.
VITA 73: Small Form Factor (SFF)
The working group is preparing to move this specification to VITA Draft Standard for Trial Use.
VITA 74: Nano Small Form Factor (NSFF)
Work is nearing completion on the specification in preparation for final balloting.
VITA 75: Rugged Small Form Factor (RSFF)
The VITA 75 drafts are in trial use and are collecting comments from developers prior to moving to the ratification phase.
VITA 76: High Performance Cable
The working group is defining a standard cable for box-to-box interconnection. Testing is underway to verify various proposals.
VITA 77: vPXI
This is a new working group that is chartered with developing a 3U instrument standard based on VPX.
VITA 78-NGSIS: SpaceVPX
This is a new working group that is chartered with developing a standard for intra-satellite physical and logical interconnects that covers high- and low-data rate use cases.
VITA 79: Embedded Photonics
This is a new working group that is chartered with developing a standard based on work done by the JEDEC 13.6 subcommittee for photonics. This is the first step in preparing a series of projects to address using optical backplane technology in the future.
VITA 80: Interoperability
This is a new working group that is chartered with developing interoperability testing for products within the OpenVPX community. It is necessary that the interoperability test effort be an industry-wide effort where interoperability testing is conducted under the auspices of the appropriate organizations. For OpenVPX, it is VITA, specifically within the charter of the VITA 80 Interoperability Working Group.
VITA Standards Organization accreditation
Accredited as a Standards Development Organization (SDO) by ANSI (American National Standards Institute), the VITA Standards Organization (VSO) meets every two months to address embedded bus and board industry standards development and issues.
The VSO was accredited as an American National Standards developer in June 1993, and follows a process described in “”Procedures for the Development of American National Standards within the VSO.” (http://www.vita.com/home/VSO/vso-ansi-r1d3-final.pdf)
ANSI accreditation offers benefits to VITA members that many other SDOs do not. Most important is the rigorous independent auditing process that ensures specifications are developed according to documented policies and procedures. The VSO is required to complete and pass regularly scheduled audits in order to keep accreditation. VITA works diligently to ensure that all policies and procedures are up to date and accurately followed during the development of a specification.
Keeping specifications current is an ongoing challenge for SDOs. Under ANSI procedures, VITA can use both periodic maintenance and stabilized maintenance of specifications to be sure that they go through regular review of the relevance of the specification.
For standards eligible for stabilized maintenance, VITA may decide to move a standard to stabilized maintenance by a majority vote at a regularly scheduled meeting. Specifications are moved to this stage if there is no further development or changes expected. Older, very stable specifications are usually moved to this classification.
For standards undergoing periodic maintenance, VITA shall decide to revise or reaffirm an American National Standard before its fifth year anniversary by a majority vote at a regularly scheduled VSO meeting. Specifications that are still evolving remain in this classification as long as necessary.
The classification status of each active VITA specification is indicated in the chart of specifications available at the VITA website. (http://www.vita.com/home/Specification/Specifications.html)
The VSO Policies and Procedures (VSO PP) (http://www.vita.com/home/VSO/vso-pp-r2d7-final.pdf) describe the general operating policies and rules for the VSO, with the goal of serving both VITA members and VITA technology users. These policies and procedures have been treated like a standards document and have been constructed by the group as a whole. Any rights given to any individuals or associated organizations have been given by a majority ballot of the VSO membership. It is the philosophy of the VSO that it starts with all the rights, and then votes powers and rights away, shares rights, or maintains rights exclusively.
VITA is focused on developing open standards that open markets for critical and intelligent embedded computing platforms. Please contact VITA if you are interested in bringing a specification to the VSO or if you are interested in joining a working group.
Copies of all specifications developed by the VSO are available from the VITA website. For a list of current VITA specs and their status, go to vita.com/home/Specification/Specifications.html. Participating in these working groups is a great way to influence the direction of the next generations of technology.