| Advanced VME technology roadmap |
(Nov. 12, 2004)
This whitepaper from the VMEbus International Trade Association (VITA) describes the organization's roadmap for key VMEbus technology developments.
Advanced VMB Technology Roadmap
VMEbus International Trade Association
Introduction
VME technology continues to be a favorable choice as an industrial embedded computing architecture. Many current users have taken advantage of the long life cycle of VME products and have refreshed their product lines to take advantage of the vast selection of VME products on the market. New projects are leveraging the advancements in VME technology with an eye on performance and the life cycle advantages of VME.
The VME technology family of specifications has grown significantly since its inception. VMEbus has expanded from the original core of a parallel VME32 specification, a VME Subsystem bus, and a VME serial interconnect to the broad family of complementary state-of-the art specifications that have been ratified through 2004.
The core specification has continued to evolve in performance and capability from the original 32-bit bus to a 64-bit bus and from 40MBytes/s maximum to 320+MBytes/s with more bandwidth performance on the near horizon. As the future state-of-the-art of serial switch fabric solutions that include Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express, RapidIO, StarFabric, Infiniband and other alternatives gain popularity and additional usage to form critical mass in the industry, specific purpose parallel and serial subsystem buses will start sharing market space by solving different problems within tomorrow's embedded systems.
In the early days of VME, there was a lot of confusion on which expansion mezzanine was the right choice. The confusion was eliminated with a solid PCI mezzanine card (PMC) strategy that is well supported by all developers and positioned for future technology insertions that increase performance and capability. Evolutionary changes continue with PMC that make it compatible with the advancements in VME.
Several system management specifications have also been ratified that make the development of VME systems easier with more robust system management.
Nearly thirty supporting standards have been ratified by the VME Standards Organization (VSO) and ANSI over the past 10 years, with several more in working group status at this time. These standards support the continued evolution of the core VMEbus technology to ensure a solid foundation for the future.
Increased market demand for VME, combined with waves of new technology advancements, drove the VME developer's community together to form a VME marketing group in January of this year. The marketing group is comprised of parties interested in the development, advancement, and promotion of VMEbus and related technologies.
Short term, the group has focused on creating awareness of the existing standards. The first major objective was to revise the VME technology roadmap. This new roadmap will be featured at the Bus and Boards Conference in January 2005. The roadmap will help direct users through the various VME related options and encourage user participation in future specification development.
The marketing group continues to work with the VSO to be sure that the "Voice of the Customer" is heard and that user concerns are addressed in an appropriate fashion.
VME Technology Roadmap
A roadmap is a set of guidelines, instructions, or explanations and this was exactly what needed updating in the VMEbus community. The marketing group took on the challenge, working with the VITA Standards Organization (VSO), of creating a comprehensive VME technology roadmap.
The purpose of the roadmap is multifaceted: - Guide development and support for the latest technologies applicable to VME in a fashion that maximizes the benefits to users.
- Demonstrate the backwards compatibility to assure the longest life cycles possible using VME technology.
- Recommend appropriate migration pathways.
The roadmap is symbolized by the major specifications surrounding the core of VME technology, the foundation upon which solutions may be built. New emerging standards shall build on the legacy of VME technology compatibility.
Each of these standards adds progressively more capability and performance to the VMEbus technology core. New products, from many suppliers, emerge that leverage the evolutionary changes in technology.
(Click above image to enlarge)
- VME32 -- This is the original VMEbus specification with support for 32-bit data transfers. The maximum theoretical bandwidth was 40MB/s.
- VME64 -- Added 64-bit data capability, that boosted bandwidth to 80MB/s maximum, and other improvements to the original specification. A new 5-row backplane connector was introduced that added data and I/O capability to the original specification while still preserving backwards compatibility.
- VME2eSST -- Extended the performance by adding a two edge, source synchronizing capability that allowed sustained data transfers in excess of 300MB/s. Concepts exist that could take that to over 500MB/s. VITA 31 Ethernet on P0 as well as several other serial schemes all work with the VME32, VME64 and VME2eSST configurations.
- VITA 41 -- VME Switched Serial (VXS) combines the existing event-driven parallel VMEbus with enhancements to support switch fabrics over a new P0 connection. VITA 41 maintains backward compatibility with existing backplanes that do not have a conflicting P0 scheme. Several fabric protocols are mapped out for VXS including, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express, Serial RapidIO and Infiniband. VME's parallel bus architecture provides bus control and maintenance data, handling everything from single byte transactions to 300+MB/s block data transfers. Combining this in various ways with the emerging switch fabric technologies for multi-point, high-speed data transfers creates choices for embedded computing designs of all types.
- VITA 46 -- VME PCI Serial Switched Fabrics, breaks out from the traditional connector scheme of VMEbus to merge the latest in connector technology with the latest in bus technology. VITA 46 combines best-in-class technologies to assure a very long technology cycle similar to that of the original VMEbus solutions. Traditional parallel VMEbus will continue to be supported by VITA 46 through bridging schemes that assure a solid migration pathway.
Further details to the evolution roadmap of VMEbus technology are highlighted in the following diagram. The original specification remains a foundation upon which evolutionary changes have been made. The foundation continues to be a valid base that is compatible with new VMEbus technology. Products based on earlier generations of the VMEbus technology family remain valid and continue to be interoperable with the new developments.
Additional details will be unveiled at the 2005 Bus and Boards Conference in January. The VME development community is excited to have this tool to share with the VME users.
(Click here for further information)
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