RTC Magazine

Much has been written about the virtues of MicroTCA platforms and AdvancedMC (AMC) modules. Both of these technologies have been maturing and there are now numerous options and flexibility to configure a wide range of applications with products that exist today. So let’s explore in detail some application configurations.

In the examples below, we will look at all the components that are necessary to configure an end-user application. On the hardware side, this includes the MicroTCA chassis (which includes the backplane, power and cooling), the fabric switching such as Ethernet, PCI Express and SATA, IPMI Platform Management, and the AMC payload boards. The payload boards can range from processors, to storage/video, to I/O access cards. On the software side, this includes the Operating System, the Development Environment and, of course, the application software.

MicroTCA and AMC are COTS-based standards. As such, components from one vendor are specified to be compatible with other vendors components. This is highly beneficial, as it offers embedded designers with the freedom to choose components from as many vendors as necessary to configure their specific application. In fact, there are industry events occurring annually whereby multiple COTS vendors meet to verify compatibility between AMC modules and MicroTCA platforms, enabling cross-company product integration.

While it is fundamentally true that the chassis, mezzanine and MCH components from different vendors are compatible with each other, often a significant amount of time and resources are required in order to complete the integration process to ensure final product compatibility and configuration. This gets more complicated when you need to incorporate an operating system, development environment, APIs, drivers, and other software stacks besides the application.

So while on the surface, this seemingly wide range of options exists, there are several important nuances to AMCs and MicroTCA, whereby a single vendor who offers a full suite of hardware pre-integrated with software components can maximize the value of a configured system, increase functionality and performance, and guarantee full compatibility directly from the onset. Listed below are several aspects of a fully integrated platform, called an Application-Ready System.

One is configuration. A single vendor who can integrate their components together—and right out of the box, can ensure that these components are configured properly, that the appropriate onboard switches are set, and test to make sure the hardware and software components are compatible and functioning properly.

Another important aspect is unified tech support. If any technical issue arises, a single tech support group can more quickly debug and isolate the issue through all the components that are integrated together. Dealing with disparate tech support groups can lead to delays, as they may not be able to replicate the same configuration, or not clearly understand a third-party board’s specific issues. Or worse, blame another vendor for the problem.

Product uniformity may at first seem superficial, but this can range from the physical appearance, such as the labeling on the faceplates of the AMCs and platform, to functionality on AMC modules, software, or even firmware such as the sensor thresholds and FRU information that are programmed into the MMC management controller.

Management software is an essential element, and several MicroTCA system vendors provide Web-based management portals (Figure 1) that are typically programmed to enable off-site development, systems and module management, as well as monitoring of system-wide status and operations.

Finally, compatibility of the operating system suite with hardware must be assured throughout. In selecting a Linux software suite, make sure to consider a solution that provides all the necessary components such as Operating System, IDE, kernel builder, image builder, compliers, linkers, debuggers, cross platform development, hardware drivers, network services, platform management and Web-based system management. In addition, a suite that is developed to be specifically compatible with a suite of hardware not only ensures compatibility, but also provides synergistic features for an overall solution.

In all the application examples below, a 1U MicroTCA platform that houses six AMC slots is a perfect balance between having enough slots to house all the AMCs with room for scalability, but not more slots than will be cost-effective. What is also important to consider are the cost trade-offs between reaching the right level of high availability with going all the way to a fully redundant platform. Components that are most apt to fail, such as power supplies, fans, or hard drives, need to be redundant and easily serviceable. Electronic components on backplanes and/or motherboards have a high MTBF and offer a high level of reliability.