Elma’s New Chassis Manager Ensures Proper Board and Chassis Operation in Systems Aligned to SOSA

Elma Electronic offers a VPX Chassis Manager that aligns with The Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture™ (SOSA) Technical Standard 1.0 and supports the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) standardization initiative from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

The new VITA 46.11 Tier 3 chassis manager is a standalone unit or can be mounted on a carrier card. 3U and 6U conduction-cooled plug-in and air-cooled 3U versions are also available. The card offers firewall support, SOSA out-of-band command support, and 16 digital inputs and 16 configurable digital outputs that provide a high degree of system management function.

Ideal for use in a wide range of embedded computing applications through the military and defense industries, the new chassis manager helps ensure overall system health and proper operation. This includes maintaining a components and sensor inventory and receiving reports and notices from installed intelligent field replaceable units (FRU). The SOSA-aligned chassis manager can also adjust the fan speed for over/under temperature conditions and report or shut down the system due to over or under voltage and current conditions.

Mark Littlefield, director of systems products for Elma Electronic Inc., commented, “With a chassis manager aligned to SOSA, we’re able to give system engineers a tool that monitors overall health and also identifies anomalies and takes corrective action in systems developed to meet today’s interoperability initiatives as put forth by the DoD.”

Additional features include power management and cooling control, event sensor logging, electronic keying, and card hot-swap monitoring. A redundant IPMB ensures maximum system uptime. The chassis manager operates over an extended temperature range of -40°C to +85°C.

A web-based graphical user interface (GUI) monitors up to 12 fans, eight analog inputs, and six external thermistors. All data is presented in a clear, concise graphical representation with complete sensor information available with the click of a mouse. Parameters that can be monitored include health, voltage, fan RPM, power, temperature, device I.D., serial and port numbers, and software versions.