VITA 93 QMC serves as a universally applicable Mezzanine Standard for various applications.
The VITA 93.0 QMC standard, a recent development in the world of embedded computing, is making waves beyond its initial military and avionics applications. This innovative standard offers a range of advantages that cater to the needs of various high-tech industries.
At its core, the VITA 93.0 QMC standard is a small-form-factor mezzanine card standard, designed to deliver high performance in rugged environments. It includes definitions for 3.3- and 12-V DC power, JTAG interface, I2C interface, and other features for card management.
One of the key benefits of the VITA 93.0 QMC standard is its high-density, small form factor (SFF) design. This enables reduced PCB size, allowing for compact system integration in space-constrained applications.
Another advantage is its ruggedness and reliability, making it suitable for harsh environments. This is increasingly important in industrial and outdoor applications. The standard also supports high voltage and high-speed signals, with appropriate creepage and clearance standards, facilitating safe and efficient operation in complex electronics.
The VITA 93.0 QMC standard is compatible with programmable logic and FPGA-based systems, accelerating development and prototyping through stable, well-documented hardware platforms. This compatibility extends to support for high-performance FPGAs, GPUs, and artificial-intelligence/machine-learning (AI/ML) accelerators, as well as storage.
Conduction-cooled and air-cooled solutions for QMC cards are available, with each slot in the QMC approach providing more bandwidth due to its set of connectors. Each slot can accommodate a QMC card, which can be air- or conduction-cooled, and a heatsink can be incorporated in conduction-cooled implementations.
The pair of connectors in QMC includes a PCIe side and a general I/O connection for high-speed serial communication. The standards provide a pair of mated connectors instead of the various edge connector pinouts in M.2 modules, offering a more streamlined and efficient design.
The mechanical envelope definitions for QMC cards are designed to maximize interchangeability and reliability. The finalization of the various standards associated with VITA 93 is still ongoing.
The VITA 93.0 QMC standard's application scope has expanded into high-tech commercial sectors that require reliable, compact, and high-performance embedded computing solutions. These sectors include industrial automation, 5G and 6G telecommunications infrastructure, test and measurement equipment, phased array radar systems beyond defense, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence platforms.
It's worth noting that the thermal interface material for QMC cards is provided by the carrier manufacturer.
In conclusion, the VITA 93.0 QMC standard offers significant advantages beyond military and avionics, primarily due to its support for smaller, denser, and more rugged mezzanine modules designed for demanding embedded computing environments. Its versatility and high performance make it an attractive solution for a wide range of industries.
[1] Source: VITA Technologies, VITA 93.0 QMC Standard Overview, www.vita.com/standards/vita-93-0-qmc-standard
Technology, such as the VITA 93.0 QMC standard, is finding broader applications in commercial sectors due to its small form factor and high performance in rugged environments. This technology, a development in data-and-cloud-computing, is compatible with various high-performance electronics, including FPGAs, GPUs, and AI/ML accelerators.
