Elma’s Latest CompacFrame Employs 5-slot Air Flow Through Backplane The new system accelerates application development and testing.

The latest iteration of Elma Electronic’s CompacFrame platforms accommodates a 5-slot VITA 48.8 air flow-through (AFT) backplane. The Type 39A unit is aligned to SOSA and accommodates 3U plug-in cards (PICs) housed in 1.5″ comprehensive modules, according to VITA 48.8.

Available in multiple configurations, the CompacFrame development platforms assist in testing and application development for various critical embedded environments. With the addition of the new 5-slot AFT backplane as standard, this unit facilitates air flow-through card and system design implementations and testing for sensor payloads, electronic warfare (EW), and C5ISR as well as target tracking and display, navigation systems, and threat detection.

Ram Rajan, vice president of engineering for Elma Electronic, noted, “Innovative embedded designs now require more inventive ways to cool high-density, performance-based systems that continue to pack more processing and functionality into tighter packaging profiles. Our entire CompacFrame line is designed to assist in the testing and development of applications to ensure they are real-world-ready. We saw the growing use of air flow-through cooling, so we developed this test platform to accommodate our customers’ evolving development scenarios.”

In place of the 5-slot AFT backplane at a 1.5” pitch, the new CompacFrame can accept multiple 1-slot VPX power and ground backplanes in a 1″, 1.2″ or 1.5″ pitch. The unit includes a VITA 46.11 chassis manager with Ethernet and serial ports accessible at the rear and voltage monitoring LEDS, test points, and zeroize, NVMRO, reset, and power switches on the front panel.

The card cage of the VITA 48.8 AFT cooling platform provides a five-degree upward tilt for easier access to the 3U cards in the system. A 1400 W ATX power supply unit (PSU) comes standard, and a convenient carrying handle provides easy transport.

By using lightweight jack screws for insertion and extraction into a chassis, VITA 48.8 eliminates card retainers and ejector/injector handles, which, in turn, reduces weight and cost for high-density, high-power dissipation of 3U and 6U module-based systems. Using a new, lightweight polymer or composite-based chassis is an industry innovation driver by eliminating module-to-chassis conduction cooling.