TI Home > Applications > ATCA Solutions

ATCA Solutions

Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) Solutions from Texas Instruments.

Block Diagram

Click on the colored blocks to view or sample recommended solutions


Design Considerations

Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) Solutions can be divided by the zones as defined in the ATCA PICMG 3.0 open standard

Zone 1:

Has specific requirements for delivering dual redundant -48V power feeds to individual boards which may consume up to 200W each. ATCA defines many requirements which are typical for a modern, hot swapped power system. The core subsystems include:

  • 48V Hot Swap operates with wide range of negative voltage to optimize power management for use in nominal -48V systems.
  • Isolated Supply consists of power management devices generating the intermediate voltage for the supply bus.
  • AMC Hot Swap controller generates power to Advanced Mezzanine Cards. additional information
  • Non-Isolated module consists of DC/DC Converters generating the on-board primary voltage supply.
  • The Power Supply block consists of Buck/Boost Converters, Controllers, LDOs and Power Management Units to supply power to various functional blocks. These functions can be realized by Digital Power devices.

The IPMC (Intelligent Platform Management Controller) supports the card management, It consists of a MCU like the MSP430 that accepts the inputs from temperature and other sensors and processes the information for the shelf management. The I2C-protocol is used for communication. It controls LEDs that indicate Power-Up, Power-Down and Stand-by modes.

Zone 2:

Is used for data transport and consists of four interfaces:

  • Base Interface is supported by GbE/XAUI or Ethernet PHYs. Backplane connections are always configured in Dual Star Topology.
  • Fabric Interface supports a data rate of up to 3.125Gbps. Differential signaling is used to reduce the common mode noise. Topologies such as dual star or full mesh among all the boards give a large amount of flexibility.
  • Update Channel Interface provides a data rate of up to 2.5Gbps and comprises of 10 differential signaling pairs in a point to point connection between two boards using OC-48 devices as an example.
  • Synchronization Clock Interface manages the clocking of various devices in the card. There are three discrete frequencies specified by the standard: 8kHz, 19.44 MHz and a user defined frequency <100MHz. TI’s clocking solutions provide low jitter and high performance for ATCA applications.

Zone 3:

Is application specific. It generally consists of Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMCs) which have a DSP, CPU, FPGA or an ASIC embedded to perform specific tasks. An example payload is shown in this block diagram where the PCIe switch routes the information and a PCI to PCIe bridge is used for compatibility. RS-232 and USB serve as external interfaces.

Application Notes (10)

Title Abstract Type Size (KB) Date Views
HTM 8 KB 21 Dec 2007 3675
HTM 8 KB 21 Dec 2007 1333
HTM 8 KB 12 Apr 2007 485
HTM 8 KB 01 Sep 2006 895
HTM 9 KB 17 Jul 2006 1679
HTM 8 KB 20 Apr 2006 713
HTM 8 KB 20 Jun 2003 184
HTM 8 KB 18 Oct 2002 658
HTM 9 KB 16 Jul 2002 1063
HTM 9 KB 24 Apr 2001 225

User Guides (5)

Title Abstract Type Size (KB) Date Views
pdf 538 KB 25 Jun 2007 183
htm 8 KB 27 Aug 2006 435
pdf 211 KB 21 Aug 2006 159
pdf 1.05 MB 20 Nov 2002 129
pdf 759 KB 01 Mar 2001 497
    

Reference Designs

Description Part # Company
Sync Buck for Metro Ethernet 3.3V@50A PMP2916 Texas Instruments
TPS2350 -48V ATCA Hot Swap Reference Design with FET OR-ing TPS2350ATCA Texas Instruments
TPS2393 200W ATCA Hot Swap Reference Design TPS2393ATCA Texas Instruments
TPS54620 Reference Design for Fast Transient Response PMP4854-1 Texas Instruments
TPS54620 Reference Design Optimized for Small Size PMP4854-2 Texas Instruments

Selection and Solution Guides

Selection Guides (2)

Title Abstract Type Size (KB) Date Views
PDF 3.02 MB 19 Apr 2011 5657
PDF 4.16 MB 23 Jul 2009 10196

Tools and Software

Name Part # Company Software/Tool Type
Code Composer Studio (CCStudio) Integrated Development Environment (IDE) v5 CCSTUDIO Texas Instruments SW Development Tools, IDEs, Compilers
M-LVDS Evaluation Module MLVD20XEVM Texas Instruments Evaluation Modules & Boards
MSP430 14-Pin Target Board and USB Programmer MSP-FET430U14 Texas Instruments Evaluation Modules & Boards
MSP430 USB Stick Development Tool EZ430-F2013 Texas Instruments Evaluation Modules & Boards

Product Bulletin & White Papers

Product Bulletin (3)

Title Abstract Type Size (MB) Date Views
PDF 228 KB 09 Jun 2011 1244
PDF 208 KB 25 Apr 2011 2039
PDF 652 KB 04 Jun 2004 638

White Papers (5)

Title Abstract Type Size (MB) Date Views
PDF 1014 KB 17 May 2011 1953
PDF 562 KB 21 Dec 2010 1342
PDF 423 KB 09 Nov 2010 1425
PDF 180 KB 26 Oct 2009 797
PDF 72 KB 18 Aug 2008 7

News Releases & Authored Articles

Visit the News Center

Similar End-Equipment Solutions

TI End-Equipment

All TI End-Equipment Solutions

Support and Community

Other Support