Design and development of module management controller for MicroTCA.4 standard

Objective The MicroTCA.4 (MTCA.4) standard systems have been widely used in large-scale scientific facilities such as synchrotron radiation light sources and FELs over the world, covering RF control, beam instrumentation, timing, machine protection, and so on. The MTCA.4 module management controller (MMC) realizes intelligent management of the boards in the chassis through bus protocol and system interaction. It is an important functional module in MTCA.4 standard system. Methods In order to meet the requirements of the large scientific facilities, an MMC module was designed and developed. This design can realize power management of Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) and Rear Transition Module (RTM) boards, as well as monitoring the temperature, voltage, and current during operation. The core part of this module is limited into an area of 3 cm × 3 cm on the AMC board, leaving large space for subsequent development of functional circuit. Results An AMC board was developed to verify functions of the MMC. Test results indicate that this board is compatible with existing MTCA.4 standard system. Conclusions This MMC solution can be directly and modularly applied to the design of MTCA.4 standard hardware.