The Vita Architectures for Optical (VAO) group will research high density optical interconnect technology and develop a proposal for next generation architectures for critical embedded systems.
Non-Vita members will be allowed to participate in the study group by making presentations and joining in discussions with the group.
A study group is the initial step in the process of developing an Ansi and Vita standard.
"Vita recognises the challenges with optical technology and feels that work needs to begin now to ensure the right solutions in the future," said Ray Alderman, executive director of Vita. "Vita anticipates that systems in the future will depend heavily on cost effective high density optical interconnect technology."
There is a need for higher density, higher performing interconnect technologies to meet the speeds of 10Gbit serial channels and higher that will be used in next generation critical embedded systems. As the transfer rates continue to increase, it is clear that optical technology offers many advantages. Since optical interconnects work best as a point-to-point connection, future systems are going to need much higher density supporting hundreds of connections in a single board or line-replaceable unit (LRU).
Achieving the projected level of combined performance and connector density is not easy. The lead time to develop technologies and supporting specifications is very long. To that end, Vita is launching the study group now to research potential technologies and propose an architecture that could become part of future products.
The mission of the group is to research and determine the feasibility of developing a standard architecture for optical interconnects suitable for deployment in critical embedded systems. It will focus on high-density options for backplanes and connections between line-replaceable units, mezzanines and daughter cards.