OpenVPX - VITA 65

OpenVPX is in our DNA – no one knows it better than Elma Electronic.

Elma has been a leading participant and member of the VITA Trade Association, with a strong history of technical leadership. Elma is a key contributor to several of the VITA Standards Organization's Working Groups, driving innovation in open systems standards. Our expertise in technical standards and global defense programs has resulted in a robust portfolio of products based on OpenVPX and the SOSA® Technical Standard, both rooted in VITA standards. Collaborating with long-term partners, we design, develop, and deploy solutions for the most demanding defense applications.

Basics of OpenVPX: Watch Elma’s 3-Part Tutorial Series

We boiled it down to the essential information you need to get started with OpenVPX. Each tutorial offers digestible, short overviews of key topics.  

Part I - Introduction to the fundamentals of the VITA 65 family of standards

Part II - Profile definitions are key to the VITA 65 standard

Part III – Introduction to the use of Apertures in OpenVPX

Our Technical Backplane Overview Guide provides you with the knowledge and advice on how to get started with OpenVPX designs.

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OpenVPX offers a standardized language for specifying slot, module, and backplane requirements, enabling efficient integration with defined control and fabric plane configurations.

Profiles – Types & Definitions

VITA 65 defines OpenVPX in terms of three main types of Profiles:

VPX Slot Profiles

Slot Profiles have a type, board size and clock variation. Slots have rows that are defined to support a variety ofPipe sizes or module apertures. Slot Profiles define where pipes or apertures are located and also indicated user defined wafer locations.

VPX Backplane Profiles

Backplane Profiles define how the Slots are interconnected. Backplane Profiles also define the bandwidth capability of the Pipes.

VPX Module Profiles

Module Profiles indicate which Pipes or Apertures are supported and the signaling protocol and data rate associated with each Pipe. A Module Profile are fully compatible with a single Slot Profile but can be used in Slots that do not fully support all the defined channels. The system integrator must ensure that pipes that are connected together in a backplane have modules that support the same signaling protocols.The chart below indicates how the various features of a Slot Profile are described.

AMPS: The Alternate Module Profile Scheme

An important tool for defining what protocols and capabilities an individual plug-in card can support is the

Alternate Module Profile Scheme, or AMPS. AMPS was developed in response to what was seen as an explosion of options being captured in VITA 65.1, which resulted in a ballooning document that was increasingly difficult to work with.

VPX Backplane Topologies

The OpenVPX backplane configuration example below shows the connectivity across the backplane for various planes. This includes the routing topology across the data plane and the connections across the expansion, control, management and utility planes. It also provides an illustration of the slot types, whether payload, switch or legacy bus slots.

About VITA and the Standards it Governs

‍The VITA Standards Organization (VSO), an ANSI-accredited group, supports the development of open standards like the VPX family. VITA 46 is the base standard that defines VPX. As part of the VPX family, OpenVPX, or VITA 65, provides a framework for system-level interoperability, defining integration points from modules to backplanes and chassis.

It includes an entire family of standards; in addition to the base VITA 46.x standards, other related standards include:

• 42      XMC mezzanine cards
• 46.11  System Management on VPX
• 47.x   Environmental
• 48.x   VPX REDI: Mechanical CoolingOptions
• 49.0   Radio Transport & RFSignals
• 57.x    FMC: FPGA Mezzanine Cards Base
• 62.x   VPX Power and Modules
• 65.0   OpenVPX
  • 65.1   New Slot and Module Profiles
• 66.x   Optical Interconnects
• 67.x   RF and Mixed Signal Interconnects
• 68.x   VPX Compliance Channels
• 78      SpaceVPX
• 90      VNX+
• 93      QMC Mezzanine (under development)
• 100    Next Generation Multi-Gig high speed VPX connector (under development)

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A complete list of the VITA standards and their links can be found here, along with a FAQ sheet about OpenVPX. A detailed OpenVPX 101 tutorial is available on the VITA site for a deep dive into the standard.At Elma, we've created useful information to guide you through the standards and related products.

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Elma's OpenVPX Expertise

‍OpenVPX (VITA 65) is at the core of Elma’s capabilities. With over a decade of experience, we are renowned for our rugged, high-performance computing solutions for defense and aerospace applications.

As a pioneer and key contributor in the development of VPX and OpenVPX standards, Elma has developed a comprehensive portfolio of OpenVPX backplanes, chassis, plug-in cards and integrated sub-systems designed to meet the latest technology implementations.

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Elma's Portfolio of OpenVPX Products and Services

High Speed VPX Backplanes

The backplane is at the heart of it all. High-performance signal integrity design is critical to reliable and successful OpenVPX based systems. Building on decades of backplane manufacturing experience, Elma's engineers are innovation leaders in high-speed signal processing design and developed the industry’s first VPX backplanes.

VPX Chassis Platforms - Design, Develop, Test and Deploy

Elma addresses the chassis platform from the early stages of test and development with follow-through to the end deployment requirements. Choose from our range of CompacFrame test platforms that accommodate air,conduction, an air flow-through configuration. IPMI chassis management and power are included.

Deployment is always the end goal, so we work with our customers to determine the specific end requirements for the system - will it need to be rugged,withstand harsh environmental factors, shock or vibration challenges? Elma has experience successfully addressing all of those challenges.

VPX Plug-In Cards

Elma and its partners collectively offer an ecosystem of boards and software solutions to implement a deployable field platform aligned to SOSA. Embedded boards, or Plug-in Cards (PICs) can effectively be selected and configured according to the capability requirements.

Elma works with key partners to provide solutions that include PICs. Below are a sampling of what we offer.

VPX Single Board Computers & GPGPUs – 3U and 6U board sizes are typically based on the latest Intel, Arm or GPGPU based cards.

VPX Ethernet Switches & Routers - we carry several Ethernet switches with up to 100 GbE speeds

Ask us about Radial Clock and External I/O options.

VPX I/O – Elma offers a wide range of I/O configurations on 3U cards or as mezzanine add-ons. Browse the section; talk to our team if you don’t see the configuration you need.

Integrated Development Systems for Deployable Capability Fielding

CMFF Chassis

The Elma CMFF Chassis is an off-the-shelf 3U SOSA and CMOSS compliant, configurable and deployable VPX chassis solution designed for ground vehicles and ground combat environments. Designed for ground vehicle applications, it is intended for Integrated Command, Control, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence,
Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR), Electronic Warfare (EW), EO/IR, and SIGINT. The chassis meets the size, weight, and power (SWaP), connector, and electrical interface requirements outlined by the Standard A-Kit Vehicle Envelope (SAVE) specification.

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MORA Ready Development Platform

The Modular Open RF Architecture,or MORA, is an open architecture developed by the U.S. Department of Defense(DoD) to address the challenges of rapidly evolving and increasingly complex radio frequency (RF) systems. Elma along with partner Sciens Innovations has developed an integrated development system that simplifies the process of creating RF signal processing capabilities.

The MORA Ready Development Platform significantly accelerates integrating existing applications within the MORA space. It is pre-integrated with all the 3U VPX PICs aligned to SOSA you need to build an RF system. Several boards have already been tested and ported with Sciens' helux Tool Suite and more are becoming available.

Ask us about other pre-integrated development platforms for AI application development, or for specific field mission capabilities for EW, SIGINT, ELINT, EMSO, C5ISR / CMFF, etc.

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Applications that are taking advantage of this very high-performance serial architecture can be found in the following areas:

• Defense & aerospace
• Avionics
• Unmanned vehicles
• Railway transportation
• Scientific research

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Contact us today to find out how we can help you with your OpenVPX needs.