January 17, 2014
STRAUBENHARDT – The power and data transfer rates of AdvancedTCA systems are continuing to rise. Since the specification was first published the heat dissipation rate per slot has grown from 200 W to 250 W and today up to 300 W. Indeed, the next generation of AdvancedTCA blades, which are already available, have rated heat dissipation of 400 to 450 W. The demands on data transfer rates have also risen from initially 1 Gb/s to now 40 G (40 Gb/s). Now Pentair has defined two AdvancedTCA system families that meet these high and still growing requirements: AdvancedTCA 300/40 and 450/40. These very designations say much about the main features of the two AdvancedTCA system families: the heat dissipation loss per slot and the data transfer rate of the backplane.
Both product families include systems with 2, 6 and 14 slots, various heights (2 to 15 U) and AC and DC versions. In the AdvancedTCA 300/40 systems the AC and DC solutions are constructed in different chassis. The AC chassis is always 1 U higher than the DC chassis. This extra 1 U is used to accommodate the AC power supply unit. The AdvancedTCA 450/40 systems are built as integrated AC/DC solutions. Here customers may also order an empty chassis and at some future time order the relevant AC or DC panels, according to the application. The advantage is having only one product on stock that can be adapted as required and requires only one UL approval. This family also includes a cost and height-optimized pure 14-slot DC version, since some 90% of these systems can be used in DC applications.
On the 40 G backplanes in the 2-slot versions all ports are directly connected. The base interface is configured as hub/hub or node/node. The 6-slot systems are fitted with 40 G triple replicated full mesh fabric backplanes, and the backplanes of the 14-slot systems have dual star configuration. For the AdvancedTCA 450/40 systems there are also backplanes with dual dual star configuration. Test reports concerning signal integrity and thermal performance are available at www.schroff.co.uk/testreports. For further information on AdvancedTCA systems see www.schroff.co.uk/atca.
