VITA 90: Small Form Factors for UAVs and Other Space Constrained Platforms

The VITA 90 family of standards, also known as VNX+, is being crafted to support the government and commercial requirements for ruggedized, small form factor (SFF), Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) compliant, electronic systems suitable for deployment on small aerial platforms, C5ISR pods, spacecraft, ground vehicles, as well as man-wearable applications. The VITA 90 VNX+ standards borrow heavily from VITA 65, also known as OpenVPX, the family of standards which are arguably the dominant MOSA standards used in today's avionic, vetronic, and space systems. VNX+ has been selected by the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) consortium as a SFF standard to be used for C5ISR sensor payloads in space constrained applications, typical in manned and unmanned air vehicles and spacecraft.

VNX+ traces its roots back to 2010 when OpenVPX was first ratified and the VITA 74 (VNX) SFF Technical Committee was founded. VITA 74 was developed as a down-scaled derivative of VPX to be used for deployments in small commercial and military platforms with limited space, weight, and power (SWaP) availability. In 2017, after a three-year trial-use period, the VNX standard was ratified by ANSI and VITA as ANSI/VITA74.0-2017. In 2021, SOSA adopted the VNX form factor, but the results of a trade study directed some changes and additions that created better alignment with OpenVPX, as well as SOSA's overarching objectives, quality attributes, and architectural principles.