Elma Bustronic is your resource for the latest in the development of next-gen backplanes and systems. On a periodic basis, we will post news and advancements in the StarFabric (PICMG 2.17), Compact Packet Switching (cPSB, PICMG 2.16), Serial Mesh (PICMG 2.20), VXS (VITA 41), AdvancedTCA (PICMG 3.x), VME320, and optical backplanes.
Top News At the 2004 Bus and Board Conference, several companies participated in a PICMG 2.17 demo. Every product for a complete PICMG 2.17 system was represented -- including switch cards, backplanes, chassis, and accessories such as adapter cards and PMC modules. The demo illustrated StarFabric's flexibility in handling multiple classes of traffic. Voice, data, and video over StarFabric were all present in the "50-slot" networked demo. StarGen's SG3010 has been released. It enables system designers to scale to multiple H.110 buses and TDM buses over StarFabric. The StarGen SG3010 provides a level of system scaling unattainable with current standard off-the-shelf time division multiplexed (TDM) components. In addition, a PC/104 module with StarFabric interface have been introduced. The StarFabric™ Trade Association and PCI Express™ Advanced Switching Working Group have announced plans to ensure interoperability between the StarFabric architecture and emerging PCI Express Advanced Switching interconnect standards. Intel invited StarFabric design architects to participate in development of AS specification, a very interesting development for StarFabric. As PCI Express Advanced Switching (AS) is very similar in concept to StarFabric, the STA is defining a roadmap to AS. StarFabric can be implemented in a design today for higher performance, compatibility to cPCI, and have a seamless integration to AS when finalized in the 2004 timeframe. PCI Express Advanced Switching will be very similar to today's StarFabric in that both focus on PCI compatibility, peer-to-peer computing, high availability, Quality of Service, multicast, etc. Currently, StarFabric uses 622 Mbps LVDS signals via 4 links for 2.5 Gbps bandwidth (with aggregate bandwidth at much higher levels). The roadmap with AS is 2.5 Gbps signals (x 4 links) equals 10 Gbps. The protocol will be implemented in the PICMG 3.4 effort of AdvancedTCA. The PICMG 2.17 specification has been ratified and StarGen has announced their PICMG 2.17-compliant switch cards. Bustronic has developed a 17-slot PICMG 2.17 Development Backplane (see below) and offers various PICMG 2.17 backplanes. In addition, a couple of companies have announced StarFabric PMC modules. Background The StarFabric Trade Association is an open membership, non-profit organization that owns and provides licenses of the StarFabric technology to its members. The mission of the Trade Association is to: own and manage the StarFabric Architecture Specification, provide support for insuring interoperability, promote the adoption of StarFabric technology. StarFabric is a high-bandwidth, scalable technology utilizing switched fabric across the backplane compatible with existing technology. It addresses High Availability (HA) and Quality of Service (QoS) within a low-cost system solution. Faster and with further-reaching potential than cPSB backplanes, it will be an excellent solution for many high-speed applications, particularly communications systems. StarFabric
Brochure
Top News The PICMG 2.16 backplane continues to be a leader in design acceptance among switched fabrics in the industry. The industry analysts at this year's Bus & Board conference proclaimed that PICMG 2.16 would likely be one of the switched fabrics that will see success as it is here today and already shipping in volume. Bustronic/ELMA recently announced several PICMG 2.16 backplane configurations, including models in 4, 6, 8, 16, and 21 slots. PICMG 2.16 Development Backplanes allow testing of several different card options. The Bustronic/Elma model offers Slots 1-4 of the backplane for testing the CompactPCI bus (64-bit) and 10/100Mbps links. Slots 5-8 for CompactPCI (64-bit), 10/100 Mbps links and the H.110 bus. Slots 9-12 for 10/100Mbps links and the H.110 bus. Slots 13 and 14 for 10/100Mbps links only. The backplane also has slot 15 and 16 for redundant fabric slots, and slot 17 as a spare slot. The far right side of the backplane allows for pluggable power supplies. Background The bandwidth capabilities of Gigabit Ethernet across a backplane are a great improvement over the theoretical 533 Mbytes/sec the 66 Mhz version of cPCI supports. Performance, scalability, and reliability of CompactPCI are improved with cPSB for IP traffic. Essentially, cPSB overlays an embedded Ethernet switching network on the cPCI backplane, accessed via the J3 connector. All subsystems operate as stand-alone "systems on a card", interfacing with each other through a network stack on top of Ethernet. CPSB increases the performance of subsystems by moving data traffic off the shared bus and onto an embedded, switched 10/100/1000 Mbit/sec Ethernet network. CompactPCI
Answers Next-Gen needs
Top News The VME320 is an excellent upgrade for military applications or other high-speed VME systems. General Micro Systems in Q1, 2001, began shipping a Power PC 74xx Single Board Computer based on the OmniVME chip. This board, "Atlantis", is the first SBC to fully utilize the PCI 66Mhz/64-Bit bandwidth by providing VME transfers of up 533MB/sec, using the VME-320 backplane. To allow OEM users to implement the GMS OmniVME, GMS is shipping a design reference kit, which includes schematics, BOM, design layout consideration, and software drivers for VxWorks (Windows 2000 /NT in the future). The OmniVME device will be available both in Source level for OEM use or as a device from GMS. Background The VME320 technology was designed by Arizona Digital in cooperation with Bustronic. It builds upon the solid VME systems that have long met military needs, it is 100% hardware and software compatible with every VME card ever shipped, it costs no more to implement and it offers spectacular performance. It is considered the logical growth path. With true 320 Mbyte/sec. data rate (8 times faster than standard VME), the backplane has been widely referred as "the fastest VME backplane in the world". VME320 Enables High Performance COTS
Top News There have been several concept presentations on optical backplanes, but almost none have optics truly going across the backplane. A debate is brewing on the market viability of optical backplanes. Aside from a few projects with fiber cabling connecting from one side of the backplane to the other, Bustronic has been in discussions on optical backplane development with a few other interested parties. Background Are fiber optic backplanes coming soon? Well, some companies have released optical backplane concepts with special connectors on the backplane, allowing high density fiber cable to plug in. The connectors have a degree of "float" within the backplane, so that mating and alignment are eased. The supporting technology is getting more elaborate every day - from fiber management systems, to active and passive optoelectronics to optical interconnects. True optics across the backplane is another story. Alignment is a major issue as everything needs to line up perfectly (to avoid photon loss). In standard connectors, a guide pin can help the connectors mate as copper connections slightly bend and shift to align. That can't be done with optical connections. So, a rackmount style of optical pluggability still needs to be perfected. The other issue is getting the fiber inside the layers. Developments have been made, but we'll have to see how that difficulty is overcome. Optical
backplane is still coming
Top News Elma Bustronic and Elma Trenew have announced an 8-slot VITA 31.1 Gigabit Ethernet VME64x backplane. The backplane features a Dual Star topology, space-saving power bolts, and a 10-layer stripline design. Background VITA 31.1 defines a pinout and interconnection methodology for implementing a 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet switched network on a VME64x backplane. The PICMG 2.16 Packet Switched backplane specification adds a switched network based on Gigabit Ethernet to cPCI backplanes. The cPCI P3 connector has two Gigabit Ethernet ports for improved performance and redundancy. The VME64x P0 connector is identical to the cPCI P3 connector and has the same placement on the backplane. VITA 31.1 adopts the PICMG 2.16 P3 connector pinout for use on VME64x boards. It also adopts the definition of the fabric card described in PICMG 2.16. PICMG 2.16 compliant systems and VITA 31.1 systems can use the same switched fabric boards. Industry Articles None at this time.
|
 |
