Oscar Banos, Open.Tech by Amphenol

In an era defined by an insatiable demand for speed, capacity, and durability, VITA standards are at the forefront of embedded systems evolution. In our presentation, “Faster. Stronger. More: Fiber Optics and High-Speed Solutions for Tomorrow’s VITA Ecosystem,” we delve into the cutting-edge advancements in optical and high-speed connectivity solutions. By exploring the path from chassis wall to PCB, we highlight the critical role of high-density fiber technologies—such as VITA 66.5 optical interconnects, MT ferrules, and hot-swappable transceivers—in addressing the rising need for reliability, higher throughput, and reduced mean-time-to-repair (MTTR). 

The limitations of current fiber connectivity solutions in the rugged embedded system world continue to be an issue for end users in Defense / Aerospace applications. These limitations are in particular low mating cycles and the requirement for excessive cleaning in the field. The new Expanded Beam Optical (EBO) Fiber Ferrule from 3M is the answer to these limitations. Very high mating cycles, a low susceptibility against dust as well as excellent transmission values are a game changer for end users. The EBO Ferrule is available in Single Mode and Multimode). Small in size, the ferrule can be implemented in Circular as well as Backplane connectors. 

Brian closed the event by reviewing highlights from market research he recently conducted for VITA. VITA publishes quarterly reports reviewing activity from financial performance to new products, contracts, and mergers in the VITA technology market. An annual report goes deeper into revenue estimates of VITA technology suppliers forecasting market sizes and shares across the various VITA technologies. The 2023 annual report is now available. (www.vita.com/MarketData) 

The new VITA 93 standard specifies a new high-performance mezzanine module and carrier card interface. Designed for small form factors, the QMC mezzanine aims to bring performance of XMC modules to a tiny package enabling users to mix and match I/O functions on VPX, VNX+, and other platforms. 

This presentation is an introduction to VITA 93 QMC standard.

This presentation is a technical overview of the VITA 93 QMC standard.

This presentation discusses possible implementations of the VITA 93 QMC standard.

Steve is the chair of the VITA 100 working group. This presentation outlines the goals  of the VITA 100 working group and the numerous sub-working groups. He concludes with a timeline set by the working groups.

With advances in silicon packages, there is a need to accommodate increased power consumption, higher pin counts and higher data rates while maintaining a smaller footprint. These requirements will be a challenge when implementing OpenVPX in next generation systems. In this presentation, we will discuss advances in interconnect for tomorrow’s embedded systems and preview the next generation connector – with increased pin count, data rates, and capacity – selected for VITA 100 architecture.

This presentation contrasts the profile strategy between OpenVPX and VITA 100. The VITA 100 working group has a goal to develop fewer, more focused profiles.

The revolutionary VITA 100.0 standard will enable the integration of more complex subsystems than VITA 65.0. These complex systems will require capable system management solutions to properly and securely maintain them and deliver features equivalent to those found in commercial processing systems. VITA 100.2 strives to fulfill the user need to manage their VITA 100.0 solutions. Learn about the objectives, planned capabilities, and key features of VITA 100.2 including security management and why its important for mission critical processing. 

RTX - Raytheon is an ardent supporter of open systems architectures. They are a supporter and active participant in many VITA working groups, even taking the lead in VITA 47  Common Requirements for Environments, Design and Construction, Safety, and Quality Standards. This presentation highlights the Raytheon commitment to open standards.

Digital engineering or model-based engineering, is the preferred method for complex system design. This presentation explains some of the benefits of digital engineering. Ivan concludes with a call to action to leverage digital engineering now.

This presentation explores how OEMs can unlock hidden potential within their organizations by gaining visibility into the true costs and liabilities of legacy support. It addresses key challenges such as short-term focus, underestimating obsolescence costs, and inefficient processes, while offering actionable strategies for improvement. By identifying gaps in current resource usage and implementing formal obsolescence management plans, OEMs can reclaim operational efficiency and redirect focus toward growth and innovation.

Advancements in multi-function aperture (MFA) sensors are transforming defense systems by enabling adaptive, reconfigurable sensor processing algorithms and seamless multi-modal data integration within a highly SWaP-optimized framework. Despite the potential, these technologies pose new challenges from traditional sensor processor architectures, requiring hardware resource allocation and reconfiguration, efficient movement of large amounts of sensor data, and a strategy to qualify new algorithms as they become available. This presentation will explore these obstacles and what is needed from an architecture and open standards perspective to unlock the full potential of multi-function apertures for next-generation sensor processing applications. 

As SFF System on Modules (SoMs) increase in performance, pin-count and density, SoM designers are challenged to define component placement, PCB layout, pinout, and interconnect options for digital, analog, RF, power, and control signals. Additionally, routing I/O expansion protocols on SoMs and SoM carrier cards enable rapid prototyping and system emulation.

Several new and on-going SFF SoM open standards efforts are simplifying system design while addressing the need for next-gen performance. In this presentation, Samtec technical experts will update the latest SFF SoM open-standards efforts including UxV / 35™, VITA 93, SGeT HFM™ and PICMG® COM-HPC®

This presentation addresses the flexibility possible with VITA 62 power supply designs. It will highlight recent demonstrations where, of necessity, a high power VPX supply was run backwards to serve as a regenerative load and provide power back to the input. The presentation will also discuss other possible non-standard uses of the design to allow systems to offer other functions without the long draw-out design from scratch process.

The SOSA™ Technical Standard is evolving to define rules for software architectures, specifically through the SOSA Reference Architecture, Edition 2.0, Version 2. This edition outlines rules and profiles for the software Run-Time Environment (RTE) that SOSA modules must operate within, ensuring high portability1. Key software elements defined in the standard include the System Manager and Task Manager, which standardize the management of platform health, operation, configuration, and security, facilitating mission operations2. These elements contribute to over 250 software interactions2.

The integration of these software elements aims to create an "app store" of SOSA modules, allowing for easy replacement of modules without code changes3. However, this scope presents challenges for developers who prefer to focus on core applications rather than management frameworks4. To address these challenges, the development of toolkits and reference implementations is suggested to reduce development overhead and save significant time5

This session will provide a look at the growing reliance on open standards to enable space applications, specifically examining command & data handling systems, earth observation satellites, and inter-constellation networking. It also explores next steps for this open standard in future deep space and lunar missions for commercial and military applications.

Intel processors are used in many high performance embedded computing applications. This presentation discusses the major caveats to be aware of when using Intel processors in critical embedded computing applications.