Kontron AM4901 - Manual (Page 19)

AM4901 Introduction
ID 1022-5813, Rev. 1.0 Page 1 - 3
P R E L I M I N A R Y
1. Introduction
1.1 MicroTCA™ System Overview
The MicroTCA™ Carrier Hub (MCH) described in this manual is based on the Micro
Telecommunications Computing Architecture (MicroTCA™ or µTCA™) defined by the
PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG®). The main advantages of
MicroTCA™ include high throughput, multi-protocol support, hot swappability, high scalability,
and integrated system management.
For further information regarding the MicroTCA™
standard and its use, please consult the complete Micro Telecommunications Computing
Architecture Base Specification.
The Kontron MCH cards can be integrated into MicroTCA™ backplanes providing them with su-
perior processing power and maximum design options. To learn more about the outstanding
features and advantages of Kontron MicroTCA™ systems, please contact Kontron or visit the
Kontron web site.
1.2 Board Overview
1.2.1 Board Introduction
The AM4901 is a MicroTCA™ Carrier Hub (MCH) implemented in the form factor of a Single,
Full-size Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) Module with a single tongue. It combines the
control and management infrastructure and the interconnect fabric resources needed to sup-
port up to twelve AMC modules, up to two cooling units and up to four power modules in a
MicroTCA™ system. The MCH’s design is based on the NXP® LPC2368 microcontroller and
the Broadcom BCM5396 Gigabit Ethernet switch.
The NXP® LPC2368 microcontroller includes a 16-bit/32-bit, 70 MHz, ARM7 CPU with inte-
grated 512 kB Flash, 58 kB SRAM, I²C busses for IPMB usage, and an Ethernet interface. On
the AM4901, this microcontroller serves as the MicroTCA™ Carrier Management Controller
(MCMC) with electronic keying (E-Keying) support.
The Broadcom BCM5396 Gigabit Ethernet switch uses 14 SerDes/SGMII ports and combines
all functions of a high-speed base fabric including packet buffer, Media Access Controllers, ad-
dress management and a non-blocking switch controller.
The AM4901 itself is hot swappable and uses E-Keying to provide hot swap capability for the
FRUs installed in a MicroTCA™ system, such as AMCs, cooling units and power modules, thus
enabling them to be replaced, monitored and controlled without having to shut down the Mi-
croTCA™ system. Furthermore, it is able to monitor and control several onboard temperature
conditions of the FRUs
, their board voltages and their power supply status, manage hot swap
operations, reboot them, etc.
The AM4901 supports one standard RS-232 serial port, one Gigabit Ethernet uplink port for
fabric interconnection and one Ethernet port for carrier management as well as a variety of
high-speed interconnect topologies to the MicroTCA™ system, such as 12 SerDes connec-
tions in the Gigabit Ethernet Fabric [A], one additional SerDes connection for the MCH update
channel, 12 IPMB-L interfaces, two IPMB-0 interfaces, one Inter-MCH IPMB-L interface and
one cross-over channel interface.