Mike Walmsley, Industry Standards and Product Management, TE Connectivity

Industry standards are generally developed and ratified around existing implemented technologies, where there has been initial success in application and there is intent to build upon that success to open the market to new suppliers and wider adoption. In contrast, the next generation architecture for embedded systems has been evolving while defining under the VITA 100 set of standards. While there is risk in this approach, the benefit is that we bring innovation and broad industry consensus into system solutions that will be widely implemented for high speed embedded systems for decades to come.

OpenVPX architecture has developed into a formidable ecosystem for embedded systems, addressing the needs for higher speeds, more efficient cooling, and increased functionality over its predecessor VME. VPX was standardized within VITA almost 20 years ago and has evolved to address higher speeds, higher density coaxial and optical connectivity, higher voltage levels, more efficient plug-in-module cooling and increased SWaP.

With rapidly developing technologies and demand for higher data rates, more functionality, higher IO counts, increased power consumption, came the birth of next generation VPX. A full suite of VITA 100 dot standards is now being developed, to define all aspects of the VITA 100 architecture, as illustrated below:

These standards are closely tied together, defining for example: slot profiles, plug-in module requirements including cooling features, system management, power supply and distribution, and connectors. As we establish the VITA 100 architecture, design analysis and testing are still under way to validate the content for these standards.

Let’s take for example the VITA 100.30 connector development and standardization. The VITA 85.106 Study Group was formed in 2022 to get industry consensus in defining the next generation system requirements. The key results from that study group were a set of over 50 connector requirements and the selection of the connector system between plug-in module and backplane.

The selected connector and guides (TE’s MULTIGIG HD) were developed specifically to address the requirements from this study group. This allowed some design flexibility and innovation versus adopting an already-established connector design. Without qualified, production grade connectors being available, risks were mitigated through design analysis and prototype builds and testing. Proven design features in the existing VITA 46 VPX connectors were leveraged, while new technologies were implemented to achieve the increase pin density, higher data rates, and increased current capacity.

This connector, being standardized in VITA 100.30, almost doubles the pin density, offers 4X the bandwidth over each lane and double the current capacity over OpenVPX connectors.

VITA 100.30 connector delivers nearly 2X the pin density, 4X the bandwidth per lane, and 2X the current capacity of OpenVPX connectors.

The VITA 100.30 standard for the connectors is evolving and going through multiple ballots within the VITA Standards Organization (VSO) and targeted to finalize by end of 2025. After final ballot approval, along with other VITA 100 dot standards, it will be designated as a VITA Draft Standard for Trial Use (VDSTU). It will be balloted to become a published ANSI/VITA standard only after the connector is tooled for production and successfully passes qualification testing later in 2026.

With next generation VITA 100, standards are being developed as the technology is being defined and qualified. This innovative approach drives industry leaders to optimize and document a complete set of requirements for this new architecture. A wide range of use cases and technical considerations are being addressed at the front end of the standardization process. By establishing VDSTU standards, amendments can be addressed as needed after trial implementations - before the standards move to ANSI/VITA publication.