Open-standard ATCA and MicroTCA Platforms for Ocean Observatories

Although custom and proprietary electronic packaging is common in undersea systems, future ocean observatories can be improved with open-standard platforms. Modern network-centric platforms such as Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) and MicroTCA (collectively referred to as xTCA) are readily available to provide cost- effective systems with state-of-the-art performance, scalability, modularity, expansion, management, and reliability. The xTCA specifications were developed to provide high operational availability (e.g., 99.999%) and advanced performance (e.g., Terabit/s) in networked systems. These platforms provide advanced fault-tolerant features such as redundant power, redundant networking, redundant timing, hot swap, ESD protection, fault isolation, power isolation and protection, EMI shielding, and platform management and monitoring. xTCA equipment has been deployed in many applications including sensing, data communications, instrumentation, control, data acquisition, computing, signal processing, servers, networking, wireless, and data storage. More than 100 organizations currently support xTCA including SAIC, Intel, Motorola, Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent, Fujitsu, Sun Microsystems, Lockheed-Martin, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Open platforms can be leveraged by engineers to build better systems, and by system operators to minimize total cost of ownership (TCO) and operational downtime. In this paper, we discuss the engineering features of xTCA platforms for ocean observatory equipment such as junction boxes, nodes, repeaters, buoys, vehicles, and science payloads. To date our team has built and delivered some 35 xTCA-based payloads for undersea use. Some of these payloads have been in operation for more than two years, providing reliable instrumentation networks in the ocean. We note that these platforms are also suitable for dry-end systems such as optical termination equipment, data management and archiving, system timing, network backbones, data servers, system control and monitoring, and data processing. Finally, we recommend that the ocean observatory community establish requirements for open-standard electronic platforms in future undersea equipment to better facilitate the successful operation and open architecture objectives of these important new scientific infrastructures.