MTCA / AMC

NAT-MCH

Overview and Purpose

The NAT-MCH is a MicroTCA (uTCA/MTCA) Carrier Hub in the form factor of a single width and single or double height Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC). It provides the central management and data switching entity for all MicroTCA systems. The NAT-MCH comprises of a base module and numerous optional daughter cards which can be mounted on the base module. The NAT-MCH is MicroTCA.0 R1.0 compliant and delivers switching and hub functionality for the various system fabrics as defined in the AMC.x standard series, i.e. 1Gigabit Ethernet, PCI-Express (PCIe), Serial Rapid I/O (SRIO), 10Gigabit Ethernet (XAUI) or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS). The NAT-MCH can also provide a centralized clock distribution to all AMCs in the system.

CPU, memory and O/S

The NAT-MCH base board is equipped with a CPU of the Freescale ColdFire family of processors. The CPU operates at core frequency of 200 MHz. The NAT-MCH provides 32/64MB SDRAM and 16/32/64MB FLASH memory. The operating system used with the NAT-MCH is OK1 or Linux.

Gigabit Ethernet Switch and 10GbE (XAUI) Support

The Gigabit Ethernet Switches incorporated in the NAT-MCH both provide a layer 2, non-blocking, low-latency Gigabit Ethernet switches, supporting VLAN as well as a port based rate control. The NAT-MCH supports Fabric A (1GbE) and Fabrics D-G (10GbE, XAUI) according to MicroTCA.0 R1.0 and PICMG SFP.1 R1.0, serving up to 12 AMCs as well as the update channel from the second MCH in redundant environments. Also supported are uplink ports at the front panel of the NAT-MCH in order to interconnect to other carriers, shelves or systems.

PCI Express Hub and Switch

The PCI Express Switching option allows PCIe connectivity for up to 12 AMCs at PCIe rates from x1 to x4. The used PCIe chipsets provide a Quality of Service (QoS) module and are configurable in terms of a non-transparent port for multi-Host support. The PCIe option can optionally provide a PCIe clock by a Spread Spectrum Clock (100MHz mean) or a fixed 100MHz clock. The clock can be provided compliant to HCSL or MLVDS signaling levels. The PCIe hub provides clustering support for two independant clusters of 6 slots each.

SRIO Hub Module

Alternatively to PCIe or 10GbE (XAUI) the NAT-MCH can be equipped with a Serial Rapid I/O (SRIO) daughther board to support contention less point-to-point connectivity between up to 12 AMC modules. The SRIO hub supports x1 and X4 fat pipe transport density.

Clock Distribution

Besides the PCIe clock the NAT-MCH also offers a sophisticated clock distribution module for special requirements, i.e. as by comms applications. Thus the module allows a flexible selection of the telecom and non-telecom clocking structures as defined in MicroTCA.0 R1.0. The on-board Stratum 3 type PLL sources its clock reference configurable from either any of the 12 AMCs or from an external clock via the front panel BNC type connector. With respect to the PCIe clock the NAT-MCH supports both signal levels, HSCL as required by PCI-SIG and MLVDS as requested by the MicroTCA.0 specification.

Management

The NAT-MCH incorporates a MicroTCA Carrier Management Controller (MCMC) which supports and manages up two 12 AMCs, 2 cooling units and 1-4 power units. Special care has been taken to support numerous aspects of system architectures, i.e. E-Keying, redundancy, load sharing, clocking, fail-over scenarios or system integrity. External system or shelf managers can conncet to the NAT-MCH through and of the Ethernet front panel ports. For remote control an visualization N.A.T. holds its JAVA based application NATView available. Like any other remote management tool (i.e. ipmitool (open source) or any tool based on the HPI recommendation of the Service Availability Form (SAF)) NATview accesses the NAT-MCH via the Remote Management Control Protocol (RMCP) as requested by the MicroTCA.0 specification.

Read more about MCH mezzanine modules

IPMI and Compliance
12 AMCs,
2 cooling units
1-4 power units
PICMG AMC.0 R1.0
PICMG 2.9 R1.0

Supported Fabrics and Compliance
Fabric A: Gigabit Ethernet
12 AMCs
PICMG AMC.2 R1.0
PICMG SFP.1 R1.0

Fabric B: Serial Attached SCSI
Serial ATA
PICMG AMC.3 R1.0
option available on request

Fabric D-G:
PCI Express (PICMG AMC.1 R1.0)
12 AMCs, x1-x4 each
Serial Rapid I/O (PICMG AMC.4)
10GbE (XAUI) (PICMG AMC.2)

Clock Distribution
Telecom: Stratum 3 PLL with
reference from either 1 of
the 12 AMCs or external
clock via front panel
PCIe: Spread Spectrum Clock
(100MHz mean) or oscillator (100MHz fixed), HCSL or MLVDS signaling

Carrier Manager
Management of up to 12 AMCs, 2 cooling units and 1-4 power units, supports redundant architectures and fail-over procedure

Shelf and System Manager
For detached or stand-alone operation both managers are available on-board, hook-in for external managers via 100BaseT port at front panel

Operating System and API
O/S: OK1, Linux
API: HPI compliant

Indicator LEDs
4 standard AMC LEDs
12 bi-colour LEDs for AMC slot stati
2 bi-colour LEDs for cooling units
2 bi-colour LEDs for power units

Front Panel Connectors
100 BaseT management connection
1 GbE system up-link for Fabric A
external clock reference (bi-directional)
serial debug connector