VITA has announced the ratification by ANSI and VITA of ANSI/VITA 68.0-2017 “VPX Compliance Channel” and ANSI/VITA 68.1-2017 “VPX Compliance Channel - Fixed Signal Integrity Budget Standard”. These standards have completed the VITA and ANSI processes, reaching full recognition under guidance of VITA.

ANSI/VITA 68.0-2017 is the base standard of the VITA 68.x family of standards for signal integrity compliance of VPX systems and components. This standard provides an overview of the VITA 68.x family of standards and defines common requirements for VPX modules and VPX backplanes that apply across the range of VITA 68.x standards. The purpose of this standard is to establish criteria and methodologies for VPX signal integrity supporting interoperability with multiple fabric types across a range of defined baud rates.

ANSI/VITA 68.1-2017 defines a VPX compliance channel fixed signal Integrity budget including module performance criteria and common backplane performance criteria required to support multiple fabric types across a range of defined baud rates. This allows backplane developers to design a VITA 68.1 compliant backplane that supports required bit error rates (BER) for multiple fabric types when used with modules that are compliant to VITA 68.1 budget criteria. This also allows module developers to design VITA 68.1 compliant Plug-In Modules that are interoperable with other VITA 68.1 compliant modules when used with a VITA 68.1 compliant backplane.

“VPX signal integrity over the backplane needs to be addressed in order to avoid interoperability issues which will become increasingly severe as we move to higher serial baud rates”, stated Bob Sullivan, VITA Distinguished Fellow. “The VITA 68.x family of standards specifically address requirements for signal integrity compliance of VPX systems and components.” The standards have been under VITA Trial Use status for the past three years. This last effort by the working group moves them to ANSI and VITA ratification.