The OpenVPX™ (VITA 65) ecosystem is now transitioning from Gen-2 to Gen-3 signaling, which brings an increase in signaling rates from 6.25 Gbaud to >10 Gbaud. 10 Gbaud signaling supports the ubiquitous interconnects: PCI Express 3.0, 40 Gigabit Ethernet and Infiniband QDR and FDR-10. The physical limits of using the MultiGig connector for the higher signaling rates are well understood. The internal design of the VPX connector, combined with the physical geometry of the VPX connector footprints, results in several signal integrity (SI) impairments that need to be aggressively managed to achieve reliable Gen-3 10 Gbaud operation. These connector-related impairments include:
- Return Loss (RL) due to impedance discontinuities in the VPX connector footprints.
- Crosstalk due to the physical geometry of the VPX connector footprints.
- Exaggeration of the already high crosstalk, due to common mode signals (mode conversion) resulting from weave skew in the differential pairs.
- Resonances in the vias and connector that degrade Insertion Loss (IL), Return Loss (RL) and Crosstalk in the critical 5 GHz Nyquist region at 10 Gbaud.
Atrenne has been studying >10 Gbaud signaling for several years and we have co-developed comprehensive and advanced design rules for modules and backplanes that will deliver reliable Gen-3 performance. Further, Atrenne is leading the VITA-67 working group which will standardize published guidelines on Gen-3 signaling for the benefit of the VPX ecosystem.
Atrenne is proud to be the Fabric40™ backplane partner of Curtiss-Wright. Together we have done extensive testing to insure that Atrenne backplanes and Curtiss-Wright modules perform flawlessly at Gen-3 signaling rates.
Atrenne offers the industry’s largest selection of 10 Gbaud Gen-3 VPX backplanes.