FEATUREAT


RACKS, CABINETS & ENCLOSURES


MICROTCA ENC HOLD ALL THE FOR COTS SYST


CLOSURES E POWER TEMS


Words by Alan Cook, managing director at Foremost Electronics Any concerns that t


would affect space can themselves dissipate, as the hea managed by a small IMP communication with t


affordable option than your tradit cooling unit.


SIGNAL INTEGRITY DATA TRANSFER


these components an themselves at t reatment is


IMPC processor in h the MCH, a more an your traditional


Y TO ENSURE HIGH


Besides cooling and power supply, the backplane of the important impact on performance. T common purpose of a backplane is the interconnection betw including AMC modules. A high data transfer rat of activity necessitat routing, in addition t that ensure signal int


power supply, e sy stem has an


g


n performance. The a backplane is the ween all devices, ules.


er rate for this kind tes sophist icated


offers different interface protocols t solve this, providing a data t ransfer rate of up to 64 gigabits.


t o test capabilities ntegrit y. MicroTCA o


HIGH GRADE OF SE AND SCALABILITY


i f i ERVICEABILITY


makes it service-friendly; individual components are easy


The simple construction of the sy k i


D


esigners of embedded systems face two significant challenges:


performance and syst em stability, and commercial limitations. T o cover these requirements, a Commercial-Off-The- Shelf (COTS) sy stem is recommended. MicroTCA is a proposed resolution: an open standard platform for the effective


enclosure of applications, combat ting the challenges listed above.


BENEFITS OF MICROTCA


COTS sy stems offer many benefits for their users. MicroTCA is one P ICMG standard and describes a


modular foundation for enclosing high performance switched fabric computer sy st ems, in a small form factor. T he core specification, MTCA.0, defines the basic sy stem, including backplane, card cage, cooling, power


and management features. But a variet y of different sized AMC modules are


supported, allowing the sy st em designer to use as much or as lit tle computing and input/output (I/O) as necessary; there’s further room wit hin one of these AMC slots for a Micro Carrier Hub (MCH), enabling data switching and enhanced hub functionality for various sy stem fabrics, including Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and Serial Rapid I/O (SRIO Gen 2). Because of this modularity and flexibilit y, the MicroTCA standard


provides a versat ile infrastructure and environment, for applications such as digit al video and image processing.


20 MAY 2019 | ELECTRONICS


HIGH PERFORM FORM FACTOR Some application a low number of applications, the oversized and no to cover this, nV ., have deve


MANCE IN SMALL N.A.T., have developed t


ns, however, only require f AMC slots. For these e MTCA sy stems may be ot cost efficient. In order Vent, along with partner eloped the two-slot


wo slot


MicroTCA sy stem, with an embedded MCH (eMCH). Both AMC slots can be used to host two mid- or even full-size pay load boards, whilst ret aining switch


and enhanced management funct ionality. Power supply plays a part in this defined environment also: the power module (P M) is placed on a mezzanine board located behind the backplane, as opposed to its typical inst allat ion in a designat ed slot within the enclosure.


With these factors combined, this sy stem offers the comprehensive performance of MTCA, whilst reducing required space, keeping the form fact or and cost at a manageable level.


HIGH PERFORMANCE REQUIRES EFFICIENT COOLING


One big issue in small form factor applications is heat dissipation. In fact, the ambient t emperature has a significant impact on the lifetime of the component s in the system, as well as on t he AMC modules. As a result, the MTCA syst em is equipped with a powerful cooling unit, fitt ed with additional,


integrated air-filters to protect the AMCs against dust and dirt.


s / ELECTRONICS


The embe carrier hu


edded micro ub (MCH)


The Micro AMC encl Commerc Shelf syst


oTCA


osure, for cial-Off-The- tems


tion of the sy stem endly; individual y to replace or


maintain. The top cover can be removed by undoing a few screws, allowing t fan unit and air filte


Small indentations in the base and top plates allow rubber feet to be att This feature allows for stacking of multiple systems, consequent the number of slots. Then there is its hot This allows the user t


ot swap ability. to remove or


insert AMCs, even during operat This feature is traditionally high availability syst or telecommunicatio


even for systems in automation or transportation applications, it important to replace an AMC without the need to shut down t


uring operation. tionally used for tems in the energy ons markets. But automation or


Any failures are predictable and can be isolated and eliminated accordingly


cations, it may be e an AMC without wn the sy stem. dictable and can be ted accordingly.


Foremost Electronics www.4most.co.uk


cs


over can be removed rews, allowing the r to be replaced. n the base and top feet to be attached. for stacking of


onsequently scaling


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