Mercury Computer Systems of Chelmsford, Massachusetts provides high-bandwidth, high-density computing platforms based on open standards. As a result, it has decided, in recent years, to build equipment based on the AdvancedTCA (News - Alert) (ATCA) and MicroTCA (uTCA) standards. (ATCA boards can accept several smaller Advanced Mezzanine Cards, or AMCs, which add functionality to the ATCA board. MicroTCA (News - Alert) is a small-footprint form factor platform that allows AMCs to be plugged directly into the MicroTCA backplane, just as the larger ATCA boards are plugged into an ATCA backplane.)

 

Hardware, of course, is just one part of the equation. Some sort of switch fabric must be used so that the boards on the backplane can communicate with each other, or so that entire systems can communicate with each other. Some of the more popular switch fabrics today include PCI Express (found in desktop PCs to handle the bandwidth produced by high-end video cards), Gigabit Ethernet or GigE (which rides on the immense popularity of Ethernet), InfiniBand (for clustering and storage), and Serial RapidIO (a very flexible and scalable fabric for communications and military applications). Mercury Computer Systems specializes in RapidIO and Ethernet.

 

Recently, Mercury was awarded a multi-year contract by Hughes Network Systems (Hughes) to provide ATCA-based modules as part of a fully integrated communications platform. The contract will support multiple Hughes programs, including a satellite base transceiver subsystem (S-BTS) and a satellite base station subsystem (SBSS).

 

The contract calls for delivery of multiple RapidIO-based, DSP Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMCs) mounted on ATCA blades from the Mercury Ensemble product line. The Mercury solution will support signal processing computing requirements necessary to provide mobile phone access to consumers, using a combination of satellite and terrestrial links in less densely populated areas.

 

Mercury Computer Systems also announced availability of its newest, second-generation high- performance ATCA blades for various high-bandwidth, low latency communications, industrial control, and defense applications.

 

 

The BSW-201 AdvancedTCA RapidIO/GigE Switch Blade serves as a switch for both the RapidIO fabric and for Gigabit Ethernet, which is the base communications infrastructure for ATCA systems. This ATCA fabric and base switch blade provides serial RapidIO fabric interface for ATCA systems with up to 14 slots, while also supporting 21 channels of Gigabit Ethernet communications via a GigE switch.

 

RapidIO is handled by three 8-port Tundra TSi578 serial RapidIO switches. There are eight links per switch, configurable as 1x or 4x links. Supported data rates are 2.5 Gbps maximum for 1x connections after 8/10 encoding, and 10 Gbps maximum for 4x connections after 8/10 encoding. The switches support a star topology on the backplane. The Ethernet side is handled by a Broadcom (News - Alert) BCM56500M 10/100/1000Base-T 24-port Ethernet switch.

 

All together, the backplane connectors tally this way: The fabric interface has thirteen 1x/4x serial RapidIO links, while the base interface has thirteen 1000BaseT Ethernet ports. The control interface consists of IPMB-A and IPMB-B links.

 

Power to the board is supplied from the ATCA backplane (input voltage if 48 VDC ±5%. When no AMC module is installed, the board uses a maximum of 92 Watts (1.9 Amps at 48 Volts). Each AMC bay on the board can supply 60 Watts (5 Amps at 12 Volts) maximum (the actual maximum power depends on the cooling capabilities of the chassis).

 

The enhancements to the BSW- 201 Switch Blade design were implemented to support specific customer requirements for next-generation base station, radio network controller, and media gateway development, supporting two AMC modules and RapidIO connectivity.

 

 

As the foundation of the Ensemble application platform, the enhanced BCC- 201 Quad AMC AdvancedTCA Carrier Blade can accept up to four RapidIO-enabled, mid-height AMC modules that plug in and diversify the carrier blade’s functionality. The AMCs are compliant with an 8U high ATCA form factor. Moreover, the BCC-201 provides multicast support necessary for network, telecom, medical, industrial control, test and measurement, and defense applications.

 

The board has four AMC bays that can hold mid-height, single-width cards (there are removable rails, however, so that double-width AMCs can be supported).

 

With current sensing, up to 60 Watts can be pulled from each bay. In a 200 Watt ATCA chassis slot, up to 150 Watts of maximum power can be delivered to all of the AMCs on the board. In a 300 Watt chassis slot, up to 240 Watts can be delivered to all of the AMCs on the board.

 

Gigabit Ethernet is available to AMC via a 10/100/1000Base-T 8-port Ethernet switch, and Serial RapidIO is supplied by dual 8-port Tundra Tsi578 serial RapidIO switches. The four RapidIO links are configurable as 1x or 4x links (the board’s B+ connectors support two 4x or four 1x serial RapidIO ports per slot). The board supports 1.25, 2.5, or 3.125 Gbaud/sec per link. A mesh topology is supported on the backplane.

 

Both the Ensemble BSW-201 and BCC-201 blades are now available.