Designed for instrumentation and data acquisition applications. Supports PCI Express Gen 1,2, and 3 signaling.

Updates CompactPCI to include modern high speed serial interconnects maintaining standard CompactPCI mechanical specifications and backwards compatibility with older I/O cards.

Adds high speed serial buses to backplane, including PCI Express, USB, SATA, and Ethernet. Compatible with CompactPCI and CompactPCI Serial

Overlays high speed mesh fabric onto backplane for ATM, Frame Relay, and other telecom protocol processing.

Overlays SRIO fabric onto CompactPCI backplane

Overlays Starfabric switching architecture on CompactPCI backplane

Overlays packet switched Ethernet architecture on backplane to create an embedded LAN with multiple processor boards

Defines PMC module for interface to popular telecom and telephony buses

Defines requirements for multiple CPUs in a single system operating as a network

Defines software support required for hot swappable systems

Defines optional power supply connections for higher power systems

Defines mechanical keying of boards and backplanes according to IEC 61076-4

Defines a system management bus using I2C and IPMB

Expands CompactPCI to support two independent PCI buses from a single CPU

Defines analog and digital computer telephony for J4/J5 and agency safety requirements

Maps IP Module pins to J4/J5 connectors

Maps PMC Module pins to J4/J5 connectors

Maps Vme64x pins to J4/J5 connectors

Defines additional requirements for building hot-swappable boards and systems

CompactPCI® was developed in the mid 1990’s when PCI became the dominant chip-to-chip interconnect between microprocessors and I/O . It is electrically a superset of desktop PCI with a different physical form factor. CompactPCI utilizes the Eurocard form factor popularized by the VME bus. Defined for both 3U (100mm by 160 mm) and 6U (160mm by 233 mm) card sizes.

 CompactPCI has the following features: 

• Standard Eurocard Dimensions (complies with IEEE 1101.1 mechanical standards)
• High Density 2mm Pin-and-Socket Connectors (IEC approved and Bellcore qualified)
• Vertical Card Orientation for good cooling
• Positive Card Retention
• Excellent Shock and Vibration Characteristics
• Metal Front Panel
• User I/O Connections on Front or Rear of module
• Standard Chassis available from many Suppliers
• Uses Standard PCI Silicon Manufactured in Large Volumes
• Staged Power Pins for Hot Swap Capability
• Eight Slots in Basic Configuration. Easily expanded with Bridge Chips

Connector Definitions

3U CompactPCI processor boards use a single 220 pin connector for all power, ground, and all 32 and 64 bit PCI signals. This connector consists of two halves – the lower half (110 pins) is called J1 and the upper half (also 110 pins) is called J2. Twenty pins are reserved for future use. Backplanes use male (pin) connectors and plug-in boards use female (socket) connectors. Plug in boards that only perform 32 bit transfers can use a single 110 pin connector (J1). 32 bit boards and 64 bit boards can be intermixed and plugged into a single 64 bit backplane.

6U boards can have up to three additional connectors with a total of 315 pins. These are also 2mm style. These optional connectors can be used for a variety of purposes. They can be used as to bridge to other buses like VME or ISA in hybrid backplanes. These hybrid backplanes use CompactPCI for the processor and high speed peripheral section and one of these industrial buses for an I/O expansion section. PICMG has developed subsidiary specifications with defined pinouts for bridging to VME-64 and telephony buses like SCSA and HMVIP.

These connectors, in conjunction with commercially available PCI-PCI bridge chips, can also be used to extend the CompactPCI bus in 8 slot increments. In this manner a CompactPCI system with 16, 24 or even 32 slots can easily be fabricated.

The connectors can also be used for rear panel I/O. This approach, popular in the telecommunications industry, brings I/O wiring out the rear of the chassis. Eliminating front panel wiring can reduce the time required to replace a module in critical applications. The IEEE 1101.11 standard for rear panel I/O provides a standard method for doing this, and works well with CompactPCI.