More things on C PCI...
Open Q; Who will be the first to connect their industrial processes real time to an FC SAN with C CPI?
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What is the CompactPCI bus?
CompactPCI is a very high performance industrial bus based on the standard PCI electrical specification in rugged 3U or 6U Eurocard packaging. Unlike its desktop cousin, the CompactPCI board uses a high quality 2 mm metric pin and socket connector that meets IEC and Bellcore standards. CompactPCI boards are inserted from the front of the chassis, and I/O can break out either to the front or through the rear.
Where does the CompactPCI specification come from?
The CompactPCI effort was initiated in 1994 by Ziatech Corporation under the auspices of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturer's group (PICMG). The CompactPCI specification is the result of a concerted effort of the CompactPCI subcommittee composed of the following companies: Digital Equipment, GESPAC, I-Bus, Pro-Log, Teknor, Hybricon, and Ziatech.
What is the PICMG?
The PCI Industrial Computers Manufacturer's Group is a consortium of more than 350 industrial computer product vendors. PICMG's charter is to develop specifications for PCI-based systems and boards for use in industrial computing applications. Member companies include industry leaders such as IBM, Motorola, Texas Microsystems, HP, Compaq, Industrial Computer Source, DEC, Force Computers, GESPAC, Pro-Log, Teknor and Ziatech. Membership in PICMG is open to any organization or individual with a legitimate interest in helping to extend the PCI standard in the industrial marketplace. The PICMG can be contacted at (781) 224-1100.
What other specifications has the PICMG issued?
The first effort of the PICMG was to publish a specification for passive backplane computers using both PC style (card edge connector) ISA and PCI bus. This was completed in early 1995, and is generally known as the "PCI-ISA Passive Backplane" specification. The PICMG has also issued a specification for PCI to PCI bridges which allow passive backplane computers to extend the number of PCI slots. Both of these specifications are explained elsewhere on this web site. The CompactPCI project began in 1994, with the first formal specification approved in November of 1995.
What applications are targeted by CompactPCI?
CompactPCI is intended as an industrial bus for application in telecommunications, computer telephony, real-time machine control, industrial automation, real-time data acquisition, instrumentation, military systems or any other application requiring high speed computing, modular and robust packaging design, and long term manufacturer's support. Because of its extremely high bandwidth, the CompactPCI bus is particularly well suited for many high speed data communication applications such as servers, routers, converters and switches. Although as yet incomplete, a hot swap feature has been planned for in the CompactPCI specification which will be particularly well suited for the telecommunication industry.
What are the unique features and benefits of CompactPCI?
Compared to standard desktop PCI, CompactPCI supports twice as many PCI slots (8 versus 4) and offers a packaging scheme that is much better suited for use in industrial applications. For example, Compact PCI cards are designed for front loading and removal from a card cage. The cards are firmly held in position by their connector, card guides on both sides, and a face plate which solidly screws into the card cage. Cards are mounted vertically allowing for natural or forced air convection for cooling. Finally, the pin-and-socket connector of the CompactPCI card is significantly more reliable and has better shock and vibration characteristics than the card edge connector of the standard PCI cards. The power and signal pins on the CompactPCI connector are staged so as to allow the specification in the future to support hot swapping, a feature that is very important for fault tolerant systems and which is not possible on standard PCI. Also, 6U CompactPCI supports 3 additional 2mm connectors with a total of 315 pins. These can be used for secondary buses (like SCSA or MVIP telephony buses), bridges to other buses like VME or SCSI, or for user I/O. User I/O can be routed out the back of a 6U card and out the back of the chassis, a practice popular in the telecommunications industry.
Will CompactPCI system run real-time operating systems well?
The performance of CompactPCI is particularly well tuned to real-time application, from machine control to machine vision, fast data acquisition and data acquisition. Operating systems like OS-9, PSOS, VxWorks run very well on CompactPCI hardware and will be instrumental in the expected success of CompactPCI in these markets.
What products are available on CompactPCI?
CompactPCI Pentium and PentiumPro systems are available from a variety of suppliers in a variety of packages. System level add-on function such as 100 Mbit/s Ethernet, fast SCSI, accelerated VGA, image acquisition, and analog and digital I/O, ATM, FireWire and FibreChannel communications, motion control, and PMC and IndustryPack carriers are currently available. Other companies have announced plans for PowerPC CPU boards, fast fiber optics networks, image acquisition and processing, and a host of other I/O.
What other functions could benefit from CompactPCI?
CompactPCI can benefit all applications requiring very high data transfer rates. Data communication interfaces such as ATM and broadband ISDN are good examples. In the field of high energy physics research, very fast multi-channel data acquisition cards will benefit from CompactPCI. Many of the most exciting applications are probably yet to be invented, but if history is any indication, the sophistication of systems will increase to use all available computing bandwidth that CompactPCI computers have to offer. |
