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NAT-MCH: MicroTCA (uTCA/MTCA) Carrier Hub
Switching & hub functionality for various system fabrics
| Overview The NAT-MCH is a MicroTCA (uTCA/MTCA) Carrier Hub (MCH) for any standard MicroTCA system. It provides the central management and data switching entity for a MicroTCA system and as such comprises of a base module and numerous optional daughter cards, which can be mounted on the base module. The NAT-MCH is MTCA.0, MTCA.1, MTCA.2, MTCA.3 and MTCA.4 compliant and delivers switching and hub functionality for the various system fabrics as defined in the AMC.x standard series, including Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), PCI Express (PCIe Gen 3), Serial Rapid I/O (SRIO Gen 2) or 10 Gigabit Ethernet (XAUI) or custom protocols based on the Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA. The NAT-MCH can also provide centralized clock distribution to all AMCs in the system. The NAT-MCH is a member of the NAT-MCH family of MCHs, which consists of: Clocking The NAT-MCH offers a sophisticated clock distribution module that allows a flexible selection of telecom and non-telecom clocking structures in the frequency range between 1Hz and 100MHz. The on-board Stratum 3/3E type PLL can be locked to a clock coming from any of the 12 AMCs or which is externally provided via the front panel SMA connectors. These front panel SMA connectors can also be used to provide an internal clock to external devices, i.e. for synchronizing several MicroTCA systems to exactly the same clock reference. With respect to the PCIe clock, the NAT-MCH supports HCSL signal level as required by PCI-SIG. For special low jitter and low latency requirements applications N.A.T. offers the NAT-MCH-CLK-PHYS together with the NAT-MCH-PHYS and NAT-MCH-PHYS80 products. 1GbE and 10GbE (XAUI) Ethernet Switches The Ethernet switches of the NAT-MCH both incorporate a Layer 2, non-blocking, low-latency Gigabit Ethernet switch, supporting port-based and tagged VLAN, Rapid Spanning Tree as well as a port-based rate control. The NAT-MCH always provides service for 1GbE (Fabric A) and optionally service for 10GbE/XAUI (Fabrics D-G). The implementation is according to the respective MTCA and AMC specifications, including PICMG SFP.1 R1.0, serving up to 13 AMCs (12 AMC + AMC13 in 2nd MCH slot) as well as the update channel from the second MCH in redundant environments. The NAT-MCH also provides uplink ports on the front panel for both fabrics in order to interconnect to other systems. PCI Express Gen 3 Switch The PCI Express switching hub allows PCIe Gen 3 connectivity for up to 12 AMCs at PCIe rates from x1 to x4. The PCIe chipsets provide a quality of service (QoS) module and are configurable in terms of a non-transparent port for multi-host support. The PCIe option can provide a PCIe clock at HCSL signaling level by a spread spectrum clock (100MHz mean) or a fixed 100MHz clock. The PCIe hub provides clustering support for six independent clusters with one configurable non-transparent upstream port. Each cluster offers its own transparent upstream port. SRIO Gen 2 Switch The NAT-MCH can also be optionally equipped with a Serial Rapid I/O (SRIO Gen 2) switching hub to support very low latency point-to-point connectivity between up to 12 AMCs. The SRIO hub supports x1 and x4 lane configurations. Although it is SRIO Gen 2, the switch module is backwards compatible to SRIO Gen 1 and supports any mixture of SRIO Gen 1 and Gen 2 AMC modules. Custom Protocol Switch (based on Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA) This special hub module combines a fast and low latency SRIO Gen 2 switch with a fully-customizable Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA. It can be used for switching or multiplexing CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface), OBSAI (Open Base Station Architecture), standard (e.g. SRIO, XAUI) or any customized serial protocols, establishing a highly adaptable and flexible interconnect for up to 12 Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMC) in a MTCA system. Using the SFP+ connectors, external signals can easily be brought to the system, be manipulated by the FPGA and then distributed to the AMCs. LTE and WiMax applications and others such as Software Defined Radio (SDR) could benefit, for example, by directly providing antenna signals to a farm of high performance digital signal processor (DSP) AMCs. Other applications, such as test and measurement equipment, requiring both a manipulation of the data stream and low latency switching at the same time will benefit from the unique design of the NAT-MCH-FPGA, for example, by reducing the slot count and thus saving costs or releasing slots for additional functionality. Apart from the high speed serial connections, the Kintex-7 FPGA has access to two independent DDR3 memories (up to 4Gbit each), a low jitter PLL and a Gigabit Ethernet connection to the MCH base module switch. This allows you to implement complex user functionality and therefore can save a full AMC slot. Management The NAT-MCH incorporates a MicroTCA Carrier Management Controller (MCMC) which supports and manages up to 12 AMCs plus AMC13 in the 2nd MCH slot of a redundant system, 2 cooling units and 1-4 power modules. The support of a 13th AMC requires a redundant system where the redundant MCH slot is used by this AMC. Special care has been taken to support numerous aspects of system architectures, such as E-Keying, redundancy, load sharing, clocking, fail-over scenarios and system integrity. External system or shelf managers can conncet to the NAT-MCH via the Ethernet front panel ports. For remote control, N.A.T. provides the Java-based application NATView. Based on the HPI recommendation of the Service Availability Form (SA Forum,now merged with PICMG), NATView accesses the NAT-MCH via Remote Management Control Protocol (RMCP) as required by the MicroTCA.0 specification. Redundant Environments The NAT-MCH fully supports redundant management and power environments. Frequent exchange of the internal databases with the secondary MCH and a heart beat mechanism ensure an immediate switch-over from the primary to the secondary MCH whenever it becomes necessary (PCIe fat pipe switch over may require additional precautions). The NAT-MCH-PHYS can handle up to four power modules (such as NAT-PM-DC840 or NAT-PM-AC600) for N+1 configurations. Software Support and Updates Apart from the Java GUI NATview, the NAT-MCH also supports external management solutions which are based on the Remote Management Control Protocol (RMCP), such as the open-source tool ipmitool. Furthermore, using the NAT-MIB the NAT-MCH can also be integrated into environments based on the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). The NAT-MCH can be configured using either uploadable text based script files or via the integrated WEB interfaces using a standard web browser. Finally, the integrated debug and configuration facilities can be accessed via a serial console or using Telnet. Customers can download the latest firmware archive visiting the download page in the services section. In order to be automatically notified about future firmware updates please subscribe to our firmware RSS feed. Overview about mezzanine modules Please follow this link for an overview about the various mezzanine modules which are available for the NAT-MCH family of products. Family of MCH products The NAT-MCH is a member of the NAT-MCH family of MCHs which consists of:
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Key features
Technical details
Documentation
Block diagram
Order code
Applications/Solutions
The NAT-MCH is a powerful management and data switching entity for all MicroTCA.0 systems:
- Management for
- 12 AMCs + optional AMC13 in 2nd MCH slot
- 4 power modules including N+1 redundancy
- Update channel to secondary MCH
- GigaBit Ethernet switching (Fabric A)
- Optional PCI Express (Gen 3) switching (Fabrics D-G)
- Optional SRIO (Gen 2) switching (Fabrics D-G)
- Optional 10GbE (XAUI) switching (Fabrics D-G)
- Front panel uplinks
- 2x 1GbE (load sharing supported)
- Optional two CX-4 (SRIO and XAUI) or two SFP+ (XAUI) uplinks
- 2x SMA for external CLK support (bi-directional)
- USB console
- Clock generation and distribution by sophisticated clock module NAT-MCH-CLK
- Configuration options
- Console (USB, RS232 or Telnet)
- Script File
- Web browserÂ
- Host based Java GUI for any operating system capable of executing Oracle Java Run-Time Environment (JRE) v1.7 or higher, i.e. Linux, Mac OS-X or Windows
CPU and Memory
Fabric D-G (click for more information)
Clock Distribution (click for more information)
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Carrier Manager
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Title
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Description
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Format
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Size
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Rev #
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Date Last Modified
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| nat-mch_ds | Data sheet and NAT-MCH family overview | 1.179 KB | 1.4 | 06-07-2012 | |
| nat_mch_man_usr | NAT-MCH Users Manual | 2.9 MB | 1.38 | 12-11-2019 | |
| nat_mch_ethx_man_usr | User's Manual for 1G/10G Ethernet Switches  | pdf | 3.5 MB |  30 | 19-02-2020 |
| nat_mch_base_v3x_man_hw |  Hardware Manual for base board v3.x | pdf | 1.1 MB | 2.10 | 23-04-2015 |
| nat_mch_clk_v41_man_hw |    Hardware Manual for CLK module v4.x | pdf | 904 KB |  1.3 | 30-06-2014 |
| nat_mch_clk_phys_man_hw |
   Hardware Manual for CLK module PHYS | pdf | 1.2 MB |  1.4 | 19-02-2020 |
| nat_mch_clk-e1t1_v10_man_hw | Hardware Manual for CLK module E1/T1 | 874 KB | 1.3 | 31-08-2015 | |
| nat_mch_pciex48_v2x_man_hw | Hardware Manual for PCIexpress x48 hub v2.x | pdf | 876 KB |  1.3 | 19-02-2020 |
| nat_mch_sriox48_v2_man_hw | Â Â Hardware Manual for SRIO x48 hub v2.x | Â pdf | Â 768 KB | 1.5Â | 08-01-2016Â |
| nat_mch_xauix48_v1x_man_hw |  Hardware Manual for 10GbE/XAUI hub v1.x | pdf | 734 KB | 1.2 | 30-06-2014 |
| nat_mch_base_v3x_usbdrv_man_sw | USB Driver Installation Manual for base board v3.x | 804 KB | 1.0 | 22-06-2012 |
In case the documentation you are looking for is not listed above please contact us using the contact form.
For software support and firmware downloads please visit the download page in the services section. Thank you.
Product Code: NAT-MCH - [Options]
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Option
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Function
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Description
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| -Base12 | Base module for 12 AMCs | MCH basic management module for 12 AMC boards without Hub functionality for Fabric A NOTE: this option also replaces former option -Base6 |
| -GbE | Gigabit Ethernet at Fabric A | Gigabit Ethernet Hub for Fabric A with uplink on front panel and update link to 2nd MCH |
| -CLK123 | Telecom Clock Module - Stratum 3/3E | Telecom clock module supporting CLKs 1,2 and 3. CLK2 of one of the 12 AMC modules or the front panel clock input can be selected as reference clock input for CLK1/3 NOTE:Â former product name -TCTCXO |
| -CLK12F | Telecom Clock Module - Stratum 3/3E with PCIe Spread Spectrum Clock (HCSL) |
Clock module combining Telecom CLKs 1 and 2 with a PCIe spread spectrum or 100MHz fixed mean clock at CLK3 (HCSL) to all AMCs. CLK2 of one of the 12 AMC modules or the front panel clock input can be selected as reference clock input for CLK1. NOTE: former product name -TCTCXO-SSCH |
| -CLK00F | PCIe Spread Spectrum Clock - HCSL | Clock Module supporting a PCIe spread spectrum or 100MHz fixed mean clock at CLK3 (HCSL)Â to all AMCs. NOTE:Â former product name -SSCH |
| -CLK-PHYS | Physics Clock Module | Clock Module providing special clock functionality (CLK1-2) dedicated to Physics applications and a PCIe spread spectrum or 100MHz fixed mean clock at CLK3 (HCSL) to all AMCs. CLK2 of one of the 12 AMC modules or the front panel clock input can be selected as reference clock input for CLK1. |
| -PCIEx48 | PCIe Hub Module for Fabric D-G | PCIe Hub module with support for 12 AMC modules. NOTE: this option also replaces former option -PCIEx24 |
| -SRIOx24 | Serial Rapid Hub Module for Fabric D-G | Serial Rapid I/O Hub module with support for 6 AMC modules |
| -SRIOx48 | Serial Rapid Hub Module for Fabric D-G | Serial Rapid I/O Hub module with support for 12 AMC modules |
| -XAUIx48 | 10GbE Hub Module for Fabric D-G | 10GbE Hub module with support for 6 AMC modules, based on FULCRUM FM2224 NOTE: this option also replaces former option -XAUIx24 |
| -XAUIx48i | 10GBE Hub Module for Fabric D-G | 10GbE Hub module with support for 12 AMC modules, based on FULCRUM FM4224 NOTE: this option also replaces former option -XAUIx24i |
| -UPLNK-CX4 | Uplink Module for copper based uplinks | uplink module providing fat pipe uplink ports at front panel (options SRIO and XAUI only) by CX-4 connectors |
| -UPLNK-SFP+ | Uplink Module for fibre based uplinks | uplink module providing fat pipe uplink ports at front panel (option XAUI only) by SFP+ connectors NOTE: SFP+ transceivers are not part of this option and can be ordered separately |
| Front Panel Options | ||
| -FP0S | MTCA.0 compliant, single width | standard MTCA front panel, single width |
| -FP0M | MTCA.0 compliant, mid width | standard MTCA front panel, mid width |
| -FP0D | MTCA.0 compliant, double width | standard MTCA front panel, double width |
| -FP1S | MTCA.1 compiant, single width | ruggedised MTCA front panel, single width |
| -FP1M | MTCA.1 compiant, mid width | ruggedised MTCA front panel, mid width |
| -FP1D | MTCA.1 compiant, double width | ruggedised MTCA front panel, double width |
Accessories:
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Product
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Function
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Description
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| -CABF10 | fibre uplink cable for SRIO or XAUI | active optical cable (AOC) for CX4 uplink, length 10m (other lengths on request) |
| -CABC5 | copper uplink cable for SRIO or XAUI | passive copper cable for CX4 uplink, length 5m (other lengths on request) |
| -CAB-USB2RS232 | converter cable to connect to USB debug port | USB to RS232 converter cable |
| -CABDBG | converter cable to connect to USB debug port | USB to mini-USB converter cable |
Software:
For software support and firmware downloads please visit the download page in the services section. Thank you.