Addressing the growing number of functions being handled by electronic systems on the ground and in the air, Elma Electronic Inc. introduced a practical OpenVPX backplane ideal for integrated command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C5ISR). The seven-slot backplane (see image above) is designed to accept six conduction-cooled plug-in cards (PICs) aligned to the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) standard and one VITA 62 power supply.
The backplane meets C5ISR/EW modular open suite of standards (CMOSS) requirements in a CMOSS-mounted form factor (CMFF) and is optimized to meet reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements. It also fits standard A-Kit vehicle envelope (SAVE) dimensions.
Ken Grob, director of embedded technologies for Elma Electronic, noted, “The emerging requirements of many defense entities are centered on rapid technology insertion and lowering sustainment costs. Reusing existing capabilities and common hardware and platforms based on open standards technologies, like Elma has done with this new CMFF chassis, meets these current needs and sets the stage for future military application development.”
The all-aluminum chassis features military-grade components throughout, including MIL-STD-38999 connectors, line filter, on/off and reset switches, LEDs, circuit breakers, and a high-altitude cooling fan. Maintenance ports on each slot lead to a connector linked to a maintenance-port aggregator, which is available on a USB front-panel port for connection to an external computer.
The backplane includes Elma’s VITA 46.11 Chassis Manager for system monitoring. It can be equipped with assorted options, including dual power supplies and different cabling.