Shelf and power management upgrade for AdvancedTCA enclosures
The Pigeon Point Shelf Manager Carrier is a drop-in replaceable both mechanically and electrically with the existing VT014 carrier in the third-generation 6-slot and fourth generation 14-slot ATCA chassis. Both chassis families are fully dual redundant and feature hot-swappable fan trays in push-and-pull configurations and hot-swappable power entry modules capable of reporting voltage and current on each feed.
LCR Embedded is one of the few companies that support both Pigeon Point and Vadatech shelf management options, and offer customers chassis designs that support either in the same chassis. It also provides VITA 46.11 shelf management for VPX as an option.
“Pigeon Point is an extremely popular shelf management choice for our customers, and we’re delighted to accept opportunities that require it,” said David Pearson, president of LCR Embedded Systems in Norristown, Pennsylvania. “We’re already well known for the variety of unique and reliable solutions we create using standards-based COTS products for all kinds of deployment environments, and this new shelf management offering enhances that reputation. Our engineers are ready to help our customers choose the best of available shelf management and other design options based on requirements.”
The overall responsibility of a system’s shelf manager is to manage and monitor the overall operation of the shelf, including the FRU (field-replaceable unit) population and power, cooling and interconnect resources and their usage, as well as events that may be generated by exception conditions in the shelf. This also includes negotiating assignments for power and interconnect resources when a shelf is powered up or down or when a FRU arrives or departs, and responding to events in the shelf. For instance, in response to temperature exceeding a pre-set value, the shelf manager might raise the fan levels or, if that step is not sufficient, even start powering down FRUs to reduce the heat load in the shelf.
