BY STEVE SMITH
Voting members of the PC/104 Embedded Consortium, a technical organization representing manufacturers and OEMs, recently adopted the EPIC and EPIC Express specification V3.0 to address the need for a high-speed, mid-sized single board computer for stackable embedded PC applications.
 Samtec has unveiled a suite of power and data I/O products designed for ruggedized applications. |
The specification’s features, says the Consortium, offer “unprecedented flexibility in design and stacking configurations,” including PCI bridges, lane replacement, external cabling, high-speed connectivity, large bandwidth capabilities, backward compatibility, and mechanical synergy.
V3.0 is designed to provide a module stack location for PCIe/104 and PCI/104-Express modules, and builds on a foundation of following the PC market, as defined by major chip manufacturers. The EPIC specification provides a module stack location for PC/104, PC/104-Plus, and PCI-104 modules, while EPIC Express defines the precise location of the PCI/104-Express and PCI3/104 module area.
For the EPIC Express form factor, a new high-speed surface-mount connector was specially sponsored and designed for PCI/104 Express applications. The Consortium says “maximum effort” went into configuring the connector to be optimized for the .0600-inch stack height of the PC/104 architecture, while maximizing its design for rugged environments and the transport of high-speed signaling of PCI Express over large stack heights.
 ERNI Electronics’ right-angled card edge PCIe connectors are designed for use in space-critical computing and storage applications. |
Recently, two connector manufacturers added their own I/O technologies to the PCI Express marketplace. ERNI Electronics’ (www.erni.com) 1-mm centerline PCI Express connector family includes 36-, 64-, 98-, and 164-pin right-angled connectors designed for use in space-critical applications. The company says its card edge connectors are designed to meet the requirements of PCI Express architectures calling for a high-performance, point-to-point full duplex I/O bus connector. Suitable applications include servers, workstations, desktop PCs, and storage replications.
While most PCI Express connectors available on the market are vertical, ERNI says its right-angle technology is “ideal for solving space problems in applications where low clearance above the PCB prohibits use of vertical configurations.”
These card edge devices are designed to provide board-to-board distances ranging from 5.84 to 16.68 mm, and are compatible with 1.6 to 2.4-mm thick motherboards and 1.6-mm thick daughter cards. The PCIe connectors are available in stack heights of 5.84, 11.17, and 16.68 mm, and include molded polarization keys to prevent improper insertion of the daughter cards. The connector layout is arranged in a 4-row format with 2-mm pitch, with the provision of two holes for locater pegs to enable secure assembly and a lead-free wave soldering process.
MEN Micro Inc. (www.menmicro.com) has unveiled the F216–a single-slot 3U CompactPCI I/O board with eight 16550D-compatible UARTs. Designed for industrial, mobile, and harsh environment applications, the board features integrated physical layers, with each channel individually configured as single-end RS-232 or as differential RS-422-or RS-495.
Data transfer rates of up to 921,600 bits/sec, as well as a 60-byte transmit-and-receive buffer, make the board suitable for systems with large FIFO requirements. An operating temperature range of -40° to 85° C enables the connector system to be used in such applications as trains and airplanes.
Although each port is available on a single front-panel 78-pin D-sub connector, MEN Micro says an adapter cable can spread the connector to eight standard 9-pin D-sub connectors.
In another recent I/O technology development, Samtec (www.samtec.com) introduced PowerStrip/35 high power interconnects, AccliMate and LifeJack I/O interfaces, and a Tiger Eye micro rugged discrete wire system.
PowerStrip/35 (PES/PET Series) interconnects are designed to handle up to 35 amps, and are available as an all-power interface or as a combination signal/power system with up to eight power pins and 40 signal pins.
AccliMate IP68-sealed circular panel and I/O interfaces (SCRX/SCPX Series) are designed for use in power, micro pin-and-socket, USB, and Ethernet applications, and can be terminated to the board with a variety of standard rugged interfaces. LifeJack (MDOS-LJ Series), meanwhile, is designed to provide nearly unlimited RJ-45 modular jack cycles with a field-replaceable contact system.
The Tiger Eye discrete wire system (SFSD/TFSD Series) is designed as a rugged micro board-to-board interconnect, mating with the company’s SFM/TFM Tiger Eye connectors for high-cycle applications. CS
