MEN Introduces Peripheral Boards for CompactPCI PlusIO

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16 August 2010

After the introduction of the first CompactPCI PlusIO CPU boards, high-performance I/O boards are evidently also needed for being able to benefit from the higher bandwidth and data processing capacity offered.

These peripheral boards are based on the CompactPCI Serial Standard PICMG CPCI-S.0 (under development) and can either be operated with CompactPCI Serial system slot boards (eight peripheral boards possible) or in hybrid systems with CompactPCI PlusIO system slot boards (four peripheral boards possible).

For example, MEN now offers a PMC/XMC carrier board. The final functionality of the board depends completely on the used plug-on module. While an XMC module ensures fast data transfer, a PMC module also supports 64Bit/66MHz and PCI-X (133MHz).

With special focus on mobile applications, MEN also offers a carrier board with two PCI Express MiniCard or Express Card slots for GPS, WLAN, UMTS, GSM, HSDPA etc. Cards with USB as well as PCI Express support can be used. In addition, the carrier board provides robust SMA antenna connectors and two SIM card slots.

Another carrier offers space for a 2.5in SATA hard disk or a Solid State Disk drive The board is used for extending the memory capacity of the system or for building a redundant RAID system and optionally supports hot plug.

Finally, a quad gigabit Ethernet board with RJ45 or robust M12 connectors provides fast communication. All interfaces are monitored by an Ethernet controller which is connected to the backplane of the system via a PCI Express x4 link.

The CompactPCI PlusIO

The basic PICMG 2.0 CompactPCI standard is complemented by PICMG 2.30 CompactPCI PlusIO. This complement defines the pin assignment and the function of the user pins on the J2 connector for 32-bit system slots.

The pin number is sufficient for leading four PCI Express x1 links, four SATA, four USB 2.0 as well as two Ethernet 1000Base-T interfaces to the backplane.

The CompactPCI Serial

CompactPCI Serial (PICMG CPCI-S.0) is consistently based on the mechanics of CompactPCI (PICMG 2.0), so it remains 100% compatible to IEC 1101. Only the connector is replaced by a modern type which is able to support the high frequencies of 12Gb/s and more.

The system slot supports a total of six PCI Express links with up to four lanes each, two links with up to 8 lanes, eight SATA/SAS interfaces, eight USB 2.0 as well as eight USB 3.0, eight Ethernet interfaces and a number of signals for supporting these interfaces and for general system management.

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