VITA 90, also known as VNX+, was developed to offer an alternative form factor to 3U OpenVPX for space, weight, and power (SWaP)-constrained applications. Incorporating nearly all of the technical features of 3U OpenVPX, it boasts a form factor roughly 30% less on a per-slot basis. (Figure 1)
Adding to its useability, VNX+ is now a fully-supported form factor in the latest Sensor Open Systems Architecture™ (SOSA) Technical Standard snapshot, giving it status as a recognized open standard called out in the Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) tri-service memos, in both 2019 and more recently in 2024.
The importance of this standard for rugged vehicle systems, which have always been constrained by space, weight, and power, becomes particularly evident in high-performance sensor and communications electronics, given the huge increases in bandwidth and processing demand seen in recent years. This is especially true for autonomous vehicles, which are often significantly smaller than their crewed counterparts, and require vehicle navigation and control electronics in addition to the sensor payload.
VNX+ AND THE SOSA TECHNICAL STANDARD
The primary focus of the SOSA Consortium centers on radar, signals intelligence (SIGINT and other INT modalities), electronic warfare (EW), electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR), communications (Comms), and directed energy (DE) applications in airborne, subsurface, surface, ground, and space-based environments, but other applications like autonomous vehicle navigation and control may also benefit from the consortium’s work.
The SOSA Technical Standard reference architecture addresses both hardware and logical components used to build military sensor-processing platforms, having undergone several iterations with the latest being Edition 2 (Snapshot 2) released in January 2024. A central objective of SOSA is to capitalize on the large open standards-based ecosystem that exists in order to simplify modernization and sustainment, mitigate obsolescence challenges as well as facilitate interoperability and reuse to enable the rapid composition of capabilities from conformant elements.
Prior to the Edition 1.0 release, hardware elements defined by the technical standard were limited to 3U and 6U OpenVPX. However, there was also interest in applying the technical standard to SWaP-constrained 3U OpenVPX platforms, so VNX+ was initiated and introduced to the standard.
The recent Edition 2.0 (Snapshot 2) release has greatly expanded the VNX+ content to the point where suppliers and integrators can begin to develop hardware in alignment with the technical standard.
GROUND VEHICLE APPLICATIONS AND VNX+:
VNX+ is a new, emerging small form factor computing standard intended to serve severely SWaP-constrained high-performance sensor processing applications. It’s expected to be applied to ground vehicle applications in the coming years – most especially in autonomous applications, where more compact and space-constrained systems are needed. Applications such as 360° situational awareness systems, active protection systems, SIGINT/EW, software defined radios, and network processors are all good candidates for VNX+ implementations.
In addition to their small size, scalability, high-performance connectivity, and inherent ruggedness, VNX+ components are now closer to being SOSA aligned, offering an attractive path for many autonomous ground vehicle applications. The table below lists many of the features of VNX+ and their benefits (for a full explanation of where these features are located, please refer to our white paper on VNX+).
VNX+ Expands Application Development
With the recent release of the SOSA Technical Standard Version 2.0 Snapshot 2 greatly expanding its coverage of VNX+, suppliers and integrators now have the basic building blocks to develop SOSA aligned plug-in modules and backplanes using this new form factor.
VNX+ gives system designers of autonomous vehicle platforms more options to create smaller, open standards-based systems using interoperable components, saving cost, time and engineering resources.
For those interested in learning more about VNX+ in ground vehicle applications, check out our white paper: SOSA™ VNX+: Small Form Factor for Ground Vehicle Applications.
