Over the years, VITA's charter has evolved to embrace a host of new open architecture standards for critical embedded computing. Originally founded to develop standards and an ecosystem in support of VMEbus, VITA has evolved its interconnect strategy for high performance computing to be based on leading switched fabrics. Most popular are Ethernet, PCI Express, InfiniBand, and Serial RapidIO. 

Since the VME bus is no longer natively supported by current processors, it is essential to implement bridging technologies that take over these functions for this form factor standard. MEN Mikro Elektronik developed a PCIe-to-VME bridge based on FPGA logic as an alternative to discrete components and can be utilized under the General Purpose License 3.

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are utilized in many applications, with the range expanding as new variations of FPGAs emerge. By design, FPGAs are easily reconfigured as application needs change. 

When one envisions a VPX system, the image that often comes to mind is a multislot high performance computing system full of processing and I/O boards. But there is a completely different class of VPX "systems" that range from one to three slots in size, primarily in a 3U form factor. What do these "systems" look like and what is driving their existence?

Think about the anxious feeling you get when you’re doing a presentation for an important audience and your laptop freezes. Now imagine you’re a pilot flying above contested territory and relying upon cutting-edge defensive systems to protect your mission, your team, and yourself. 

An A/D (Analog-to-Digital) converter, frequently abbreviated as ADC, accepts an analog voltage at the input and produces a digital representation of that voltage at the output that’s called a “sample.”