Acromag APCe8775 carrier card

Acromag’s APCe8775 carrier card provides power, PCIe bus signals and cooling air to an XMC mezzanine module for high-performance signal processing in small embedded computer systems. It offers a simple solution that allows a PC to communicate with an XMC mezzanine module over a PCI Express (PCIe) bus. System developers can insert an Acromag FPGA module or other XMC module on the carrier card to perform a variety of signal processing functions.

PCIe expansion board offers I/O versatility when using short-depth mission computers or rugged servers. The shorter, 25.4 cm length and low-profile fans allow the card to fit in a single slot and still provide adequate XMC cooling within a high-density computer chassis. The carrier’s PCIe x8 interface supports up to eight serial lanes for rapid data transfer between the plug-in XMC module and the host computer.

Several rear I/O connectors enable high-speed serial interfaces between neighbouring carrier boards using XAUI or Aurora protocols. An MD68 port and two Samtec QPairs connectors simplify board-to-board connections with a SCSI-3 or Twinax cables to left and right adjacent carrier cards.

One XMC socket interfaces up to eight serial I/O lanes to the carrier’s PCIe x8 edge connector. The other XMC socket routes to a pair of 4-lane serial ports for board-to-board connections that support up to five high-speed (5 Gbps) transmit/receive differential or LVDS pairs. A 64-pin XMC P4 rear I/O socket routes 32 LVDS I/O to a SCSI port for additional board-to-board communication.

The carriers are suitable for use in high-performance military and scientific research computing systems. They can also help test advanced defence and aerospace systems for later deployment on rugged computing platforms such as VME, VPX or CompactPCI.