picmg systems & technology fall 2015
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PICMG Systems & Technology Fall 2015: COM Express –Dedicated for 10 Years, featuring Minimizing SWaP on the Industrial Internet; Mergers & Acqusitions: Pentair and Pigeon Point; and More!TRANSCRIPT
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Standards Update p.3 The little engine that could – and still does
Advancing Networks p.5The rule of four
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FALL 2015 | VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2
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On the cover
One of the most successful small form factors, COM Express has carved out a niche in nearly every vertical market with a need for modular computing. This year COM Express celebrates its 10th anniversary, and the fall issue of PICMG Systems & Technology is recognizing the occasion with updates on Rugged COM Express, how the technology’s fits into the Industrial Internet/IoT, and more.
Standards Update | Joe Pavlat
3 The little engine that could – and still does
Advancing Networks | Brandon Lewis
5 The rule of four
M&A News
6 Pentair and Pigeon Point – A match made in modular standards heaven?Interview with Volker Haag and Mark Overgaard, Pentair Electronics Protection
Technology Focus
8 Further developments in CompactPCI SerialBy Barbara Schmitz, MEN Mikro Elektronik
Application Feature
12 Standardized COMs provide real reliability: Rugged COM ExpressBy Michael Plannerer, MEN Mikro Elektronik
14 Sensor processing platforms add performance, cut SWaP for the Industrial Internet Interview with Rubin Dhillon, GE Intelligent Platforms
16 Rugged development requires integration of design and test from start to finish By Jeff Munch, ADLINK Technology
2 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
Further developments in CompactPCI Serial
By Barbara Schmitz, MEN Mikro Elektronik
Technology Focus 8
Sensor processing platforms add performance, cut SWaP for the
Industrial Internet Interview with Rubin Dhillon,
GE Intelligent Platforms
Application Feature 14
Rugged development requires integration of design and test from start to finish
By Jeff Munch, ADLINK Technology
Application Feature 16
Standards-based technology platforms for open innovation
The mezzanine capability is enabled by two standardized connectors mounted on the bottom of the board that can plug onto a board below it. All versions have these two connectors, although there are slight variations in their pin assignment depending on the version. The ability to plug a COM Express module onto a carrier board reduces the time and cost to develop a product, as the user does not need to understand the often-complex details associated with high-speed signaling or the latest chipsets. The customer’s product lifetime is increased as newer COM Express modules can simply be plugged onto the carrier board to improve performance or lower cost as they become avail-able. This “future proofing” is somewhat unique to COM Express.
Because target applications often need to strike a careful balance between cost and performance, a variety of COM Express form factors and board sizes are defined in the standard.
There are, of course, dozens of other small form factors that enjoy varying degrees of popularity and even more proprietary solutions offered by a single vendor to their cus-tomers. The advantage of a true open standard like COM Express is that a customer is not beholden to a single vendor. As technology evolves – and it evolves quickly – a customer can shop around for the latest technology and best prices while still main-taining backwards compatibility with previous generations of a product. This is espe-cially appealing to those who use a COM Express board as a mezzanine “engine” controlling I/O and communications interfaces that reside on an application-specific baseboard.
All of this flexibility is not without its challenges, however. Interfaces continue to evolve, especially video interfaces, and CPU chipset manufacturers change them or update them frequently. Form factors like COM Express have limited ability to virtu-alize these interfaces in a way that might maintain backwards compatibility, but most of the time customers want the newest features anyway. So the COM Express family will continue to evolve, but in an orderly fashion. That is the hallmark of established standards bodies like PICMG.
The COM Express standard, or family of standards as it is sometimes described, is ten years old this year. COM Express has emerged as the most widely used small form factor for thousands of appli-cations worldwide.
While hard numbers are difficult to get, COM Express vendors who exhib-ited last year at Embedded World, the largest embedded board and system show on Earth, generally agreed that the market at that time, about 18 months ago, was in excess of 2 million units annually representing about $400 mil-lion in revenue. With the intense interest in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the push to make everything from appli-ances to automobiles to municipal trans-portation and power systems “smart” and connected to each other and the Internet, that number will surely increase dramatically.
The COM Express standard defines a family of Computer On Module (COM) single-board computers appropriate for a wide range of commercial and mil/aero applications. It is designed to accommo-date modern high-performance chipsets and serial signaling protocols, including PCI Express Gen 3, SATA, USB 3.0, and high-resolution video interfaces. It is entirely open, and anyone may build COM Express products without licenses or royalties.
COM Express not only provides high performance, it is unique in that it may be used in two ways:
1. As a standalone single-boardcomputer
2. As a processor mezzaninethat can be plugged onto abaseboard, or “carrier” board,that contains the user’sapplication-specific I/O
Standards Update
By Joe Pavlat [email protected]
The little engine that could – and still does
ADLINK Express-HL Type 6 COM Express module
www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 3
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4 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
EVENTSESC Minneapolis
Minneapolis, MN November 4-5, 2015
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Advertiser Index
A while back I used an interview with Chuck Byers of Cisco Systems as the basis for a series of columns on the future of optical backplanes (you can find the summer, fall, and winter 2013 articles online at http://bit.ly/1h5cRw9, http://bit.ly/1bP3JY5, and http://bit.ly/1h5cGRt, respectively). But as standardized, backplane-based computing platforms such as AdvancedTCA (ATCA) attempt to push past the 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) barrier using electrical interfaces and look onwards toward 400G, it’s worth taking a look deeper at developments at the silicon level that are making these backplane speeds economically possible.
As you may recall, in this year’s spring edition of PICMG Systems & Technology I interviewed John D’Ambrosia, Chief Ethernet Evangelist at Dell and Chairman of the P802.3bs 400 Gb/s Ethernet Task Force, who asserted that the IEEE “has decided that it will develop electrical interfaces for chip-to-chip (C2C) and chip-to-module (C2M)” in the hunt to support 400G speeds. To reach that benchmark, the 802.3bs Task Force is currently targeting 16x 25 GbE links that utilize NRZ signaling, as well as faster 8x 50 GbE links that could leverage either NRZ or PAM4 encoding.
Those familiar with both the 40G ATCA specification and work done on 100G will note that, in each instance, what I like to call the “rule or four” is applied where 4x lanes of 10 GbE or 4x 25 GbE links are used across the backplane to reach the desired throughput (the IEEE 100GBASE-KR4 spec assumed the use of 25 GbE Ethernet chipsets given advances in SerDes
technology, though 25 GbE C2C and C2M had not yet been standardized). The reasons for this are twofold:
1. Port density – Taking 100G as an example, by using 25 GbE across the backplane as well as chipsets with 25 GbE I/O, designers were able to maximize port density, or the amount of throughput that could be achieved from a single chipset. In turn, this optimization minimizes the number of parallel paths, which means lower equipment costs, more efficient use of power, etc.
2. Design complexity – Another reason for these architectures is simply that they reduce the complexity of system design. Again taking 100G as an example, you can imagine that dealing with 4x 25 GbE links is much more manageable than 10x 10 GbE links.
However, the problem that we have now encountered with regard to 400G and current Ethernet developments at the C2C and C2M levels are that the “rule of four” no longer applies. As mentioned previously, 50 GbE interfaces at the chip level translates into 8 links, whereas 25 GbE amounts to a whopping 16x to reach an overall 400 Gbps system throughput, which is challenging to say the least from both management and eco-nomic perspectives. Getting back to the rule of four for 400G means that 100 GbE electrical interfaces are required, which we unfortunately have not yet mastered.
Is it more reasonable, then, to lower our sights to 200G as the next inflection point?
By Brandon Lewis [email protected]
Advancing Networks
The rule of four
MDI Medium
MAC/RS
400GBASE-R PCS
PMA
PMA
PMD
CDAUI-4
MDI Medium
MAC/RS
400GBASE-R PCS
PMA
PMA
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CDAUI-8
MDI Medium
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Figure 1 | Lanes required to reach 400G over 100 Gbps (A), 50 Gbps (B), and 25 Gbps (C) electrical interfaces.›www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 5
Figure 1A Figure 1B Figure 1C
Pentair and Pigeon Point – A match made in modular standards heaven?Interview with Volker Haag and Mark Overgaard, Pentair Electronics Protection
Give us a little bit of background behind Pentair’s recent acquisition of Pigeon Point Systems. HAAG: Pigeon Point Systems was already a close partner of Pentair Electronics Protection, especially with respect to Pentair’s well-known line of Schroff-branded ATCA shelves, which have long integrated the Pigeon Point Shelf Manager.
Acquisitions are a vital part of Pentair’s strategy. We pursue and select value-enhancing acquisitions that complement our current businesses, strengthen our market position, and/or broaden our geographic reach and capabilities. The acquisition [of PPS] accel-erates our Electronics Protection strategy by expanding our position in monitoring and control. It provides Pentair with several new dynamic product lines for growth and complements our Schroff-branded chassis and systems nicely.
We are especially excited to have a stronger opportunity to integrate management awareness into basic embedded systems across a variety of markets and applications. Of course, communications and other critical embedded markets are already aware of the importance of management and increasingly demanding standards-compliant or standards-based management features, so those markets are particularly ripe for these combined offerings. Pigeon Point Systems enhances Pentair’s position in com-munications and other critical embedded markets by providing a broader product portfolio. Pentair is committed to supporting our customers and their needs globally. Our goal is to offer the most innovative basic embedded systems, including moni-toring and communication modules, to all of our customers.
As Pigeon Point Systems integrates into Pentair, we remain focused on delivering high-quality products, continued innovation, superior expertise, and the valuable ser-vices our customers have come to expect from the two organizations. Additionally, because the products and services are complementary, we do not foresee major cus-tomer impacts. Minimizing such potential impacts will also remain a top priority for the integration process.
Specifically, how does Pentair plan to leverage Pigeon Point’s existing offerings? HAAG: We don’t expect reductions in the product offerings of the combined companies; in fact, the offerings may well expand. For instance, we now have an opportunity for a broader offering of Schroff-branded basic embedded systems that are management-enabled. Furthermore, customers will continue to have the option to purchase the Schroff Pigeon Point management components separately, not just
bundled in a complete solution. An example is the Schroff Pigeon Point Shelf Manager that will continue to be avail-able for integration into a customer’s own ATCA or ATCA-based shelf prod-ucts, whether or not those shelf products are Schroff-branded.
OVERGAARD: The Schroff Pigeon Point management products are already being used in both standards-based and ex- tended or custom management architec-tures. This is a great fit with a key strength of Pentair Electronics Protection: offering a comprehensive range of standard prod-ucts together with broad and deep com-petence in customizing such products to the needs of a particular customer.
In addition to Schroff-branded chassis and systems, Pigeon Point Systems sup-ported a variety of other vendors as well. This will remain a vital part of our partnership strategy. We have already started to talk to these partners about ongoing and future projects.
Can you speak to any upcoming developments or announcements based on the buy? What should engineers be looking for out of Pentair in the next 12-18 months?OVERGAARD: The only upcoming de- velopment that can be mentioned now is the commitment to deliver, in Schroff Pigeon Point management products, compliance with the IPv6 awareness
In a July 31st press release, Pentair announced that it had acquired Pigeon Point Systems (PPS), a leading vendor of management solutions for standards-based platforms such as AdvancedTCA (ATCA), MicroTCA (mTCA), and VPX. In this Q&A with Volker Haag, Vice President, Global Systems Category and Innovation, Pentair Electronics Protection, and Mark Overgaard, Architect, System Management at Pentair and former Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems, the two provide background on the deal, explain how the PPS portfolio helps augment Pentair’s existing offerings, and shed light on the implications of the union for the standards-based development community.
M&A News
6 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
measures that are being defined in the PICMG Hardware Platform Management subcommittee. That subcommittee was initiated within PICMG by Pigeon Point Systems and is now chaired by Pentair Pigeon Point. Compliance with IPv6-aware PICMG 3.0 (the ATCA base speci-fication) is already being delivered in the Schroff Pigeon Point Shelf Manager, and will be delivered in the Microsemi SmartFusion-based board-level man-agement solution by the end of 2015. Corresponding support for the IPv6-aware PICMG HPM.2 and HPM.3 speci-fication revisions (which are currently under development by the subcom-mittee) will happen also, with a timeline to be announced when the specifications are adopted.
In your opinion, where does this leave platform management for VITA and PICMG standards?OVERGAARD: The platform manage-ment ecosystems for PICMG and VITA standards are strengthened by this deal. The management offerings of Pigeon Point Systems are continuing, backed by
the substantial resources of a long-time active and successful participant in the markets for equipment built to these standards.
HAAG: Pentair remains committed to active participation in the standards communi-ties that affect its Schroff-branded products. The addition of Pentair Pigeon Point management experts allows that participation to broaden and deepen. Pentair Pigeon Point’s management standards expertise is just one of many key values that this acqui-sition adds to Pentair.
What is the new frontier in standards-based embedded computing?OVERGAARD: We are pleased and proud to note that we are already delivering a Schroff Pigeon Point Shelf Manager that complies with the just-adopted IPv6 addi-tions to AdvancedTCA, the first company to do so. We believe that ATCA- and MicroTCA-based systems, as well as their management-aware counterparts in the VPX market, have a long future ahead of them and we look forward to supporting that future. Furthermore, we’re confident that standards-based management aware-ness is a winning and increasingly required feature for embedded computing plat-forms. We are actively working with customers to identify their requirements for future standards-based embedded systems, including management-related aspects.
Volker Haag is Vice President of Global Systems Category and Innovation at Pentair Electronics Protection.
Mark Overgaard is Architect, System Management at Pentair.
Pentair Electronics Protection • www.pentairprotect.com/en/naPigeon Point Systems • www.pigeonpoint.com
Engineering Change Notice Update
PICMG Engineering Change Notices add IPv6 support to extend management, reduce maintenanceBy Brandon Lewis, Assistant Managing Editor
With the Internet of Things (IoT) poised to make nearly anything and everything Internet addressable, the technology industry realized a sobering fact – we were running out of addresses. To counteract this loss of real estate, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) began work on the IPv6 protocol in the early 2000s, which allows for 128-bit addresses as opposed to the 32-bit addresses provisioned in IPv4. The result is a 7.9×1028 increase in the number of available web addresses for everything from smartphones to toasters, and even AdvancedTCA (ATCA) systems.
To address these challenges, the major vendors who sponsor the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) used in ATCA updated the IPMI specification to support the new IPv6 protocol while retaining support for the still widely used IPv4 predecessor pro-tocol. This summer, PICMG extended the PICMG 3.0 (ATCA) and PICMG 3.7 (ATCA Base Extensions) specifications through a pair of Engineering Change Notices (ECNs) developed by the consortium’s Hardware Platform Management (HPM) subcommittee. These ECNs enable ATCA-compliant platforms to make use of IPv6 as needed; for example, telecoms and communication service providers (CSPs) can now leverage the newer IPv6 protocol while retaining all ATCA’s management facilities (along with their cost and efficiency ben-efits) that were previously only standardized for ATCA systems in the context of IPv4.
Coinciding with PICMG’s ECN releases, Pentair Pigeon Point is now shipping release 3.5.1 of the Pigeon Point Shelf Manager in their ShMM-700R mezzanine module, which adds support for the IPv6 facilities of IPMI, as well as the ATCA management extensions defined by those ECNs, via the ShMM’s System Manager interfaces (including the Command Line Interface and IPMI’s Remote Management Control Protocol) depicted in Figure 1. The ShMM-700R is outfitted with the Freescale i.MX287 application processor, which runs Linux and the Shelf Manager application, plus a Microsemi SmartFusion A2F060 that supports critical hardware monitoring functions of the Shelf Manager.
View the ECNs at http://opsy.st/1JEh2u8 and http://opsy.st/1JBHlim.
Figure 1 | Pigeon Point Systems’ ShMM-700R has added IPv6 support to extend management capabilities for users of AdvancedTCA (ATCA) shelves.
›
www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 7
The high demands of balancing both existing and future implementations have been with CompactPCI Serial from the start, but more specialized require-ments were also factors in the updating of this specification:
› Compatibility with parallel CompactPCI – PICMG 2.0
› Compatibility between 3U and 6U boards
› 6U hybrid boards as a bridge between existing systems and the modern serial interfaces
› Different connector arrangements for customized I/O boards
› Backplane extensions, e.g., by additional Ethernet channels and PoE for newer technologies
CompactPCI Serial is mechanically based on the IEEE 1101 standard for 19" systems as well as 3U and 6U Eurocards, making mezzanine modules, such as PMCs, XMCs, and M-Modules that all fit on Eurocards, compatible
When revamping one of the most popular industry specifications, many factors need to be considered to meet the diverse needs of existing users and those of a new set of developers ready to take advantage of an upgraded technology platform.
Further developments in CompactPCI SerialBy Barbara Schmitz, MEN Mikro Elektronik
with CompactPCI Serial. This is particularly important for backward compatibility to existing solutions (Figure 1).
Updated connectionsThe original CompactPCI specification already provides the possibility to connect I/O for peripheral slots using the backplane. The number of free pins, however, is very limited, especially with 3U solutions.
Joe Pavlat, PICMG President, notes, “CompactPCI Serial was updated specifically to provide more computer power, I/O bandwidth and networking capability, while retaining the popular Eurocard 3U and 6U packaging as well as conduction cooling capability.”
CompactPCI Serial offers the option of using around 100 pin pairs or 200 single pins – even for 3U boards – on connectors P2 to P5. These pins are all embedded into ground pins and are therefore shielded. For 6U boards more than 300 pin pairs or more than 600 single connections are available.
Of course, the I/O signals benefit from the excellent transmission behavior and from high signal frequencies. This allows for data rates of 12 Gbps and more for differential signals.
Further improvementsAlthough many advancements were made in the initial CompactPCI Serial specifica-tion, the working group overseeing the specification has continued to look for ways to improve ease of use and build out other design options.
Technology Focus
8 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
“PICMG recently released Revision 2 of CompactPCI Serial, which adds more flexible rear I/O and networking as well as basic system management capability,” Pavlat says.
In Revision 2, the specification more clearly defines the order of the components in the system considering their compatibility. Compared to other specifications, no different profiles are defined that could lead to an unmanageable variety of mutually exclusive options. CompactPCI Serial is a homogenous specification with continuous compat-ibility – clear, practicable and user-friendly – so Revision 2 is, of course, backward compatible with Revision 1.
Added design flexibilityA special feature defining the P6 system connector in CompactPCI Serial Revision 1 routed the Ethernet signals directly on a mezzanine board – they were not located on the CPU board.
Revision 2 of CompactPCI Serial now defines additional I/O signals on the P6 con-nector of the system slot. In total there are 58 pins available, instead of just 10 pins in Revision 1. The choice and combination of the signals is not fixed and therefore freely configurable.
This combination of rear I/O on P6 with any number of Ethernet channels via the Ethernet mezzanine board makes the final system configuration even more flexible. Also, the signals are led directly to the backplane when using an Ethernet mezzanine board and do not have to be routed over the carrier board.
The flexible number of Ethernet channels is available via the mezzanine board, since requirements can vary greatly, depending on the application. Nevertheless, you can always use a standard CPU card as well.
And if the system requires the connection of several 19" systems, PCI Express is now also available on the backplane.
Merging the old with the newAs technology moves forward, and the world demands quicker access to more infor-mation, technologies that can transform themselves to meet the changing times will ultimately be those that succeed.
By ensuring it is backward compatible with its predecessor, while incorporating advancements that will make it an asset to embedded system designers well into the future, CompactPCI Serial is ideally positioned to maintain its place on the forefront of technology innovations.
In addition, CompactPCI Serial has been developed in parallel with its sister speci-fication, CompactPCI PlusIO, which allows for hybrid systems based on legacy CompactPCI and simplifies technology upgrades.
Figure 1 | A number of mezzanine modules are available that fit old and new system requirements.›
www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 9
Not only are new application areas em - ploying CompactPCI Serial systems, but with CompactPCI PlusIO’s ability to marry legacy systems with serial-based ones, traditional industries are migrating older, established systems to ones that offer the latest technology requirements (Figure 2).
The path for CompactPCI-based systems is clear. Designers will long be able to develop systems that can build on the existing infrastructure they have in place while moving to newer, faster systems as the demands of the application shift. Modern serial technologies expertly com-bine with CompactPCI’s cost-effective robust structure for newer systems.
Pavlat continues, “CompactPCI Serial is the logical evolution of CompactPCI, which remains very popular for a wide variety of commercial and aerospace appli-cations, but is 20 years old. The parallel interfaces that predominated then have been replaced by higher speed and more efficient serial ones, and CompactPCI Serial takes advantage of that.”
The best example of this is to take a look at how a diverse set of applications is transitioning from CompactPCI to CompactPCI Serial. This flexible and future-safe specification finds a home in industrial automation, power generation and distribution, medical engineering, in transportation applications on track, road, and seaway, in short- and long-distance traffic as well as in aviation.
Migrating from old to newWhile legacy CompactPCI provided a good initial basis for less connected railways, today’s systems have evolved into complex signaling networks that must not only function efficiently and safely, but also provide passenger con-veniences, such as telephony services, up-to-date travel information, and enter-tainment. Uploads and downloads from personal cell phones are travelling the same wireless networks as safety critical train information and scheduling data.
CompactPCI PlusIO allows the upgrade of an existing CompactPCI system to serial as passenger demand for more data access increases or as route traffic becomes more complex.
And with its original stake-hold in industrial applications, CompactPCI already lays claim to a stable base of installed systems that have reliably operated for many years. But CompactPCI Serial goes beyond merely boosting performance in existing systems found throughout the manufacturing sector. It raises the bar in operational efficiencies by incorporating high-speed serial networks that more reliably transmit the increasing amount of data generated throughout a facility.
Mobile networks have crept up in almost every corner of the world, with very different demands and growth depending on each specific geographic region. Having a scal-able and flexible system to test Quality of Service (QoS) globally for a single network is critical. Most of these systems need to be operated via a simple web interface, as signal towers can be situated in remote and inaccessible locations.
Embedded systems based on CompactPCI Serial are not only used for the prepara-tion and execution of network tests, but also serve as a central database of those test cases and scenario libraries.
More flexibility from stable technologyPavlat notes, “CompactPCI Serial provides an excellent upgrade path for applications that have been successfully using CompactPCI, retaining the basic form factor while providing dramatically increased performance.”
With its latest enhancements, CompactPCI Serial will continue to provide a highly reliable, robust framework to manage critical data across the growing number of embedded computing networks.
Barbara Schmitz is Chief Marketing Officer at MEN Mikro Elektronik.
Figure 2 | CompactPCI Serial’s scalability means existing systems can forever be equipped with the latest processor platform, enabling technology upgrades as requirements and budgets allow.
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Technology Focus
MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbHwww.menmicro.com
10 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
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SignalProcessingDesignResource Guide
Articles onHard Floating-Point FPGAs • OpenCL Programming • FMCW Radar Design • General-Purpose Processors for HPEC
Products includeApplication Specific • Chipsets and ICs • Design • Hardware • Services • Standards and Systems
Ruggedization can no longer be an afterthought in developing reliable systems. Instead, it needs to be an inherent concept in the initial development of the component design, defined in conjunction with certain operating parameters of an intended system.
A flexible formatBased upon the PICMG COM.0 (COM Express) standard, VITA 59 RCE (Rugged COM Express) is the first collaboration between PICMG and VITA to set forth an industry standard that will provide cost-effective, ruggedized electronics to the embedded computing community.
VITA 59 RCE uses three of the four widely accepted form fac-tors of PICMG’s COM Express, along with all the associated mechanics and pin-out requirements. Within those form factors, a VITA 59 module has provisions for a 5 mm wing extension for cooling and mounting (Table 1).
VITA 59: RCE offers three sizes: Mini, Compact, and Basic, with the PCB dimensions essentially matching the form factors defined by COM.0. For Compact and Basic, the connectors match the COM Express standard and interface definition for type 6 pin-out. Systems that currently employ COM Express could benefit from the added rugged attributes of VITA 59 as well as applications not traditionally associated with embedded computing.
Rugged and reliableBuilt on a solid principle of technology reuse, Computer-on-Modules (COMs) specify I/O to be configured on an indi-vidual carrier board, so the system designer can tailor the
functionality to the application, save development costs and shorten time-to-market.
But two major downsides that have hindered the widespread use of COMs are the lack of ruggedization and the disparity among the structure of the modules. Rugged COM Express (VITA 59) not only capitalizes on the small form factor and inter-changeable concepts behind the original standard, but adds ruggedization and modern serial interfaces, while defining pin-out for compatibility among different modules, regardless of manufacturer.
Special I/O interfaces, memory devices, connectors or form factors can be added to the carrier board, and FPGA-based functions can be integrated into a carrier board or to the CPU module, if desired.
All this makes the electronics 100 percent tailored to the appli-cation as well as future-safe. The implementation is far less complex and less expensive than reengineering a system from scratch, especially in applications where a special I/O platform is needed.
Embedded systems continue to pack more performance into less space. This increases the degree and intensity of computing pressure that each element in a system endures.
Standardized COMs provide real reliability: Rugged COM ExpressBy Michael Plannerer, MEN Mikro Elektronik
Table 1 | Using the same dimensions and pin-out as three of the existing COM Express modules provides a reliable platform, while adding rugged performance.
›
Form Factor Standard VITA 59Module Dimensions
Standard VITA 59with Wings
COM Express mini 55 mm x 84 mm 65 mm x 94 mm
COM Express compact 95 mm x 95 mm 105 mm x 105 mm
COM Express basic 95 mm x 125 mm 105 mm x 135 mm
Application Feature
12 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
The CPU module, which provides a standard interface to the carrier, remains scalable and can be used in a design applica-tion much like an integrated circuit component.
Meeting modern computing requirementsVITA 59 RCE combines the benefits of ruggedization with the cost and design advantages of the COM model for its use in an even wider range of harsh applications, rugged equipment, and mission-critical environments. In terms of design advantages, simply switching the base module enables easy upgrades and functionality enhancements. And the cost benefits include keeping design, redesign and upgrade costs to a minimum.
A whole new set of computing products has risen from the development of Rugged COM Express. A new QorIQ-based SBC designed for safety-critical applications from MEN Micro is one of the latest boards available. Although qualified for SIL 2 as well as meeting EN 50129 specifically for railway applica-tions, the CB30C can be used in a variety of demanding indus-trial and mobile applications as well, thanks to the ruggedized electronics specified in VITA 59 (Figure 1).
Designed for harsh conditionsFrom the external housing and the screws holding the PCB in place to the placement of the hottest internal components, the mechanical set-up of VITA 59 efficiently transfers heat from the components to the outer frame, allowing operation from -40 °C to +125 °C (Figure 1: assembly).
And if a module needs additional cooling, the aluminum housing can be connected to an external heat transfer device (conduction) or combined with a heat sink for heat dissipation (convection). The closed metal case also ensures optimum EMC protection conforming to EN 55022 for the electronic parts, hermetically sealing all six sides.
The module’s fully soldered connections allow it to withstand 50 m/s², 30 ms for shock and 1 m/s², 5 Hz to 150 Hz for vibration (function). Depending on the form factor, four or five screws ensure a solid assembly between the COM and its carrier.
A newer area using these small-form-factor, rugged electronics is the construction industry. Older, less rugged electronics could never have withstood the extremely high shock, rigorous
vibration and harsh environmental conditions that construction equipment is subjected to on a daily basis. VITA 59 has pro-vided a new set of embedded systems that not only withstand, but reliably operate in these demanding applications.
This new class of rugged electronics is making enhancements in the medical field as well, such as controlling ventilation in mobile medical equipment, while monitoring patient vitals. Ten years ago, moving an intubated patient involved some critical risk factors as the unit was navigated across thresholds from room-to-room, down hallways or even onto an elevator. But these ruggedized, compact electronics are facilitating patient care and increasing quality of life.
Several new applications are benefiting from the cost and design advantages of Rugged COM Express. Not only does this new standard utilize modern components, but it keeps with the well accepted COMs form factors, facilitating upgrades in older applications as well as forging paths in a new set of applications that require rugged, reliable electronics.
Michael Plannerer is Head of Development at MEN Mikro Elektronik.
The McHale Report, by mil-embedded.com Editorial Director John McHale, covers technology and procurement trends in the defense electronics community.
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Figure 1 | New designs, like this QorIQ-based SBC, can be used in harsh and demanding applications.›
MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbHwww.menmicro.com
www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 13
For GE, where do sensors fit into the Industrial Internet?DHILLON: The fundamental building block of the Internet of Things (IoT)/Industrial Internet is, of course, the communications infrastructure. Attached to that are increas-ingly smart, brilliant machines with substantial data acquisition, processing, and storage capability built into them. For the Industrial Internet and for the Connected Battlefield, those very smart machines need to be incredibly rugged, able to operate in the harshest, most challenging environments.
Sensors are a critical element within the IoT, Industrial Internet, and Connected Battlefield because they acquire the data necessary to effect huge improvements in efficiency and reliability – with minimal human intervention. GE has a long history of dealing with sensor-acquired data through our work with the military – radar, sonar, video, and so on. We’re now finding that that expertise and experience plays out well in the Industrial Internet space.
Given the resource constraints of industrial devices, what innovation is occurring at the sensor level to realize the full potential of the Industrial Internet?DHILLON: The key here is that the proliferation of sensors is producing a fire hose of data, and that situation is exacerbated by the resolution of the data that is being cap-tured. Video sensors, for example, now commonly acquire and transmit high-definition data rather than standard definition, with huge implications for the numbers of pixels being captured, processed, transmitted, and stored. That in turn has huge implica-tions for both processing power and network bandwidth. The trick, of course, is to
As the Industrial Internet demands more out of resource-constrained industrial data acquisition systems, sensor processing platforms are required to add performance while reducing size, weight, and power (SWaP). Rubin Dhillon, Marketing Director of the Embedded Systems division at GE Intelligent Platforms discusses his company’s approach to developing “brilliant machines,” and how off-the-shelf hardware is enabling these sensor platforms for the Industrial Internet.
Sensor processing platforms add performance, cut SWaP for the Industrial InternetInterview with Rubin Dhillon, GE Intelligent Platforms
be able to process that data in real time and extract only the meaningful data to deliver to the network.
Here, GE believes that one answer is GPGPU technology – using the graphics processors designed for high-end video gaming and so on, and leveraging their hugely parallel architectures to process vast amounts of data at incredible speeds. We’re working closely with NVIDIA, and an outcome of that relationship has been products like the recently announced rugged mCOM10-K1, which is based on NVIDIA’s Tegra K1 tech- nology (Figure 1). That’s an incredibly appropriate solution for Industrial Internet applications. First, it’s based on the COM Express architecture, which means that it is very small and can be deployed in very tight spaces. Second, it delivers 326 GFLOPS of processing power. And third, it consumes less than
Powering the Industrial Internet demands top performance from data acquisition systems. Increased processing power must be built into sensor networks that balance SWaP (size, weight, and power) and the ability to withstand harsh operating environments. Image of Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm courtesy Harald Pettersen/Statoil.
Application Feature
14 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
10 watts of power, meaning that it can be used in environments where power availability is at a premium.
We’re also working very closely with AMD, as a result of which we’ve just announced the bCOM6-L1700 (Figure 2). That also is a COM Express architecture product, featuring AMD’s latest SoC technology, and, like the mCOM10-K1, it is small, rugged, and consumes minimal power.
It’s going to be devices of that level of processing performance, ruggedness, size, and power consumption that we’ll see increasingly drive the Industrial Internet because of their ability to help make sense of the huge amounts of data that sensors are capable of collecting.
What other trends do you see arising in Industrial Internet sensor networks, and how is GE addressing them?DHILLON: As I noted previously, if we’re to avoid dragging the communications network to a halt with the sheer burden of sensor-acquired data, that data needs to be processed locally in the machine attached to the network. That has important implications not just for pro-cessing power, but for size, weight, and power – so-called SWaP. That processing power has to be built into small spaces in harsh environments that are subject to extremes of temperature, shock, vibra-tion, contaminant ingress, and so on. That means it also has to be rugged. That’s a real strength for GE. It’s what our customers know and value us for.
The other key area where the Industrial Internet can make a real, valuable dif-ference is in improving efficiency, asset utilization, reliability, and availability. It’s one thing to have all those machines generating huge amounts of sensor-derived data about themselves – but what to do with all that data?
GE is investing hugely in software, espe-cially the software that will drive the Industrial Internet by making everything hang together in a way that will deliver benefits to businesses. An example of that, and a rapidly growing business for GE, is our predictive analytics business. We at GE believe that the basis for real transformation here lies in the shift from reacting to equipment failures or current
condition indicators to becoming truly predictive and proactive. Answers about the future health of equipment or loco-motives or whatever are already there in data that is being collected from sensors onboard those platforms today. It’s a matter of leveraging an analytics solution with the proven ability to find the signal in the noise. SmartSignal from GE is that proven solution, with over ten years of proven experience across a broad range of asset-intensive industries.
What predictions do you have for the IoT?DHILLON: For many companies and organizations, the Industrial Internet is already a functioning reality – it’s real, it’s here, it’s today. Many people don’t realize how much progress it’s already made. There’s no doubt in our minds at GE that the Industrial Internet will become pervasive across all industries, and the day is not too far in the future when we’ll wonder how industry ever managed without it. IES
Rubin Dhillon is Marketing Director, Embedded Systems at GE Intelligent Platforms.
Figure 1 | The mCOM10-K1 is a COM Express-based sensor processing platform that leverages the NVIDIA Tegra K1 SoC to deliver 326 GFLOPS of processing performance.
›
Figure 2 | The bCOM6L1700 is another rugged COM Express module, and is based on AMD R-series APUs for power-efficient sensor processing.
›
GE Intelligent Platforms www.geautomation.com
www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 15
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Rugged vs. ruggedizedThe term ruggedized often refers to commercial-grade designs that are screened at high temperatures with high yield fallout. However, ruggedization of existing mechanics isn’t enough to meet the requirements of industrial applications housed outdoors or in moving vehicles, where exposure to a variety of climates dictates the need to operate in extended temperatures and to power up in any extreme. For truly rugged electronics, boards and systems are best designed for harsh environments from the ground up, with special attention and care given to component selection; circuit design; printed circuit board (PCB) thickness, layout, and materials; thermal solutions; enclosure design; and manufacturing process. Just as important to the development cycle is testing of the design in order to validate choices and guarantee required performance levels and solution durability in a variety of simulated environ-mental conditions. Robust test methods ensure optimal product design phases in order to meet a product’s stringent requirements, such as -40 °C to +85 °C operating temperature range, MIL-STD, shock and vibration, and long-term reliability.
Conformal coating can also reduce degradation from exposure to outside elements. A variety of conformal coating materials (such as acrylic, polyurethane, epoxy, and
In 1972, Dave Packard of Hewlett-Packard said, “There is only one road to reliability. Build it, test it, and fix the things that go wrong. Repeat the process until the desired reliability is achieved.” Few areas of hardware engineering require more testing than the development of rugged industrial products. In order to develop a truly rugged solution that meets required international standards, government regulations, general environmental specifications, and customer-specific performance requirements, designers must incorporate rugged design methodology into every aspect of the development process. This means following a rigid validation and verification testing process that is as much a part of the development cycle as the product design itself.
Rugged development requires integration of design and test from start to finishBy Jeff Munch, ADLINK Technology
silicone) and application methods (such as brushing, spraying, and dipping) are currently used to protect against mois-ture, dust, chemicals, and temperature extremes that can potentially damage electronics. The correct coating or appli-cation method varies depending on established standard operating condi-tions for an application. With transporta-tion applications, different coatings may be selected based on a primary need for moisture resistance versus abrasion resistance versus temperature stability.
With rugged, in-vehicle applications, vibration control is critical for per-forming functions like capturing video or securing targets. Some rugged boards
Mobility and environmental extremes are critical considerations for rugged board design in transportation applications. A comprehensive rugged hardware development methodology must integrate testing with design from the very start of the process.
Application Feature
16 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
offer a thicker PCB fabrication to add rigidity so that the board can withstand higher levels of vibration strain. The thicker PCB offers stability to the overall surface area, protecting electronic com-ponents from damage due to vibration. The thicker PCB also offers the ability to use more copper between layers for thermal considerations, as heat is a common unwanted byproduct of pro-cessing power.
Selecting the right form factor for rugged designsRugged boards come in many form factors, so starting with the right one is key in being able to deliver customer-specific requirements. Let’s take a quick look at industry-standard single board computers (SBCs) and computers-on-module (COMs).
Embedded Board eXpandable (EBX) and PC/104 are good format options for designs that can handle slightly larger SBC form factors. With just 46 square inches of surface area (8 inches
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by 5.75 inches), EBX balances size and functionality with a bolt-down SBC format supporting rugged embedded designs with higher- performance central processing units (CPUs), such as those using multicore technology for networking, digital signal processing (DSP), and graphics-heavy applications; EBX also sports generous onboard I/O functions to support everything from large data exchange to video. The PC/104 embedded computing format has no backplane, instead allowing modules to stack together like building blocks – more rugged than typical bus connections in PCs (such as PCI or PCI Express slot cards).
PC/104 delivers high performance combined with low power, stackable configura-tions, and adherence to MIL-STD; it also meets key industrial and transportation standards for electromagnetic interface/compatibility (EMI/EMC), e.g. EN50121, EN50155, EN610000-x, etc. The ability to build stacks of PC/104 modules create opportunities for developing a diversity of complex, often mobile, applications that range across industrial, transportation, and defense environments where PC/104’s
www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 17
as well as more progressive applications that require frequent processor upgrades without affecting other application design elements. (Figure 2.)
Rugged design validationGuaranteeing the customer experience means not only satisfying regulatory require-ments (EMC/safety/environmental testing), but also hewing to availability and dura-bility requirements. Strength and Highly Accelerated Life Test (HALT) are used to simulate product aging to find design limits and maximum operating range by testing for issues such as displacement due to tolerances. This entire process enables hidden product defects to be exposed and addressed early in the development cycle.
Rugged designs are subjected to extensive voltage and temperature margin tests during the new-product development process, then are validated using HALT, shock and vibration testing, and voltage margining.
The HALT process consists of progressively increased extremes of temperature (both high and low), rapid thermal transition, six-axis vibration and – finally – com-bined temperature and vibration stress. Failures and the physical damage found at the destruct limits provide data, which is used to improve the ruggedness of the product design.
Rugged board products are generally shock and vibration tested to meet the MIL-STD-202G standard. This includes subjecting the product to multiple 50 G shocks and 11.95 Grms of random vibration between 100 Hz and 1,000 Hz along each axis.
Additionally, voltage and temperature margin testing is used during the product devel-opment process to subject the product to temperatures well outside the intended operating temperature range (-40°C to +85°C for extreme rugged products). The product is simultaneously subjected to minimum and maximum rated voltages (±5 percent). This process verifies products are functional and stable over combined
robust and reliable capabilities are required. (Figure 1.)
Stackable, mix-and-match modularity and the intrinsically rugged design of PC/104 is ideal for many of today’s tech-nology upgrade programs looking for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) options, especially those that value size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C). In addition to ruggedness, users of PC/104 have come to expect long life cycle support. When considering shrinking DoD budgets, the robustness, longevity, and compatibility of the PC/104 ecosystem ensure strong system support and minimized costs.
In cases where an application design requires very specific I/O or physical size/shape restrictions, then a COM approach would provide better results. COMs are complete embedded com-puters built on a single circuit board for use in small or specialized applica-tions requiring low power consumption or small physical size. With the COM approach, all generic PC functions are readily available in an off-the-shelf foundation module, enabling system developers to focus on their core com-petencies and the unique functions of their systems. A custom designed car-rier board complements the COM with additional functionality that is required for specific applications. The carrier board provides all the interface con-nectors for peripherals, such as storage, Ethernet, keyboard/mouse, and display. This modularity enables the designer to upgrade the COM on the carrier board without changing any other board design features, and also allows more customization of peripherals as dictated by a specific application.
The COM Express form factor offers flex-ibility in the development and advance-ment of ultra-rugged embedded applications for a wide range of indus-tries. The modular processing block enables the designer to create a price and value advantage without getting locked into a single vendor for board creation. As it is easily swapped from a carrier board and comes in one of the smallest form factors, COM Express is ideal for long-life embedded applica-tions with a critical development cycle,
Application Feature
COM Express Module
Custom Base board Design
Stack Connectors
M2.5 PEM Nuts Spacing 8 mm (5)
M2.5 Screws (5)
Figure 2 | A design using the COM Express form factor provides off-the-shelf functionality and an easy upgrade path by putting the customization on the baseboard, thereby creating more flexibility with the module without sacrificing performance.›
PC/104 Module
CoreModule
PC/104 Module
Stack - throughExpansion
BusISA
Connectors
4-40 nut (4)
0.6 inch spacer (4)
0.6 inch spacer (4)
4-40 screw (4)
PC/104 Module
Figure 1 | The PC/104 embedded computing format has no backplane, instead allowing modules to stack together like building blocks. Many applications in defense and transportation still incorporate legacy devices that require an ISA-BUS interface.›
18 | Fall 2015 | PICMG Systems & Technology www.picmg-systems.com
extremes of both temperature and voltage, and ensures wide design margins resulting in long-term reliability under all specified operating conditions.
Fulfilling extreme expectationsIndustrial computers are used in myriad rugged applications. They are subjected to frequent vibrations aboard vehicles, are found in factories with high temperature and humidity, are deployed in deserts or high mountains with temperature differences of as hot as 90 degrees Celsius, or are designed into guided missiles as flight controllers. To provide customers with highly reliable industrial-grade products that conform to catalog specifications and rugged application environments, solution providers must put as many resources – time, money, and human – into testing as they do into design. Just as rugged
products are expected to perform when taken to extremes, a comprehensive rugged hardware- development process with equal emphasis on design and test processes must mirror those extremes.
Jeff Munch, ADLINK CTO, heads all research and development operations in North America and Asia and is responsible for
building ADLINK’s presence throughout the world. Munch has more than 20 years of experience in hardware design, software development, and engineering resource management. Before joining the company, he spent five years at Motorola Computer Group as Director of Engineering. Munch has also chaired several PICMG subcommittees. Readers can reach him at [email protected].
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Figure 3 | The recent Extreme Rugged COTS computing platform from ADLINK, the HPERC-IBR, is an example of a system that was developed from the ground up as a rugged standards-based solution, with the entire process relying heavily on testing to meet performance expectations.
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ADLINK Technology (408) 360-0200
www.picmg-systems.com PICMG Systems & Technology | Fall 2015 | 19
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