April 2015
35
E
MBEDDED
C
OMPUTING
Covering all functionalities and features
of the revised CPCI Serial spec
By Rüdiger Coelln,
Pentair
The new revision of the CompactPCI
Serial specification was ratified
in 2013. The update includes
adaptations and new features
which need to be implemented in
a new revision of the hardware.
With the revised Schroff CPCI Serial
platform, Pentair is able to cover all
features and functionalities
within this new standard.
When CompactPCI was rati ed the rst
time in 1995, the fundamental PCI bus was at
that point of time the standard bus structure
for the Personal Computer. erefore this bus
was the base for all chip manufacturers. e
compatibility to the existing PC world helped
CompactPCI to get an established standard,
o ering a scalable, exible and cost e cient
platform for all kinds of industrial appli-
cations such as in railway, audio broadcast,
energy, medical, test and measurement, and
oil and gas. Due to the evolution of the PC
technology, the CompactPCI speci cation
needed to be updated as well. e processing
of higher data rates required serial interfaces
like Ethernet, SATA or USB. Further to that
a lot of hardware periphery like a HDD is
more readily available with a serial than with
a parallel interface. Driven by that evolution
PICMG introduced the CompactPCI Serial
standard, which was published in March 2011.
CompactPCI Serial (CPCI.S-0) as the succes-
sor of CompactPCI o ers a lot of new features
while being downwards compatible to CPCI.
CompactPCI PlusIO (PICMG 2.30) is down-
wards compatible to CompactPCI (PICMG
2.0). It o ers the modularity, robustness and
economic e ciency of CompactPCI, adding
fast serial data transfer inside the same 19”
standard environment. e pin number of the
J2 connector for 32-bit system slots is su cient
for leading 4 PCI Express x1 links, 4 SATA, 4
USB 2.0 as well as 2 Ethernet 1000BaseT inter-
faces to the backplane. CompactPCI Serial
o ers all established serial protocols, known
from the consumer market, like USB for
peripheral hardware including extended mem-
ory, in- and output devices or communication
modules. An internal HDD can be directly
connected to the processor via S-ATA. For data
exchange PCIe Gen 3.0 and Ethernet 10GB
BaseT provide signi cant increased through-
put capacity. is high data transfer rate makes
the platform predestined for high performance
communication like broadcast, image process-
ing or data acquisition.
With these new serial protocols another helpful
feature is supported. Hot Plugging enables the
user to exchange certain boards even during
operation. is function increases the service-
ability substantially. Hard disk drives, wireless
communication boards or even CPU boards
can be removed without damaging any device
and disturbing the operation of the system.
To implement further features into the
CPCI.S-0 standard, PICMG opened the spec-
i cation for revision in 2013. One signi -
cant adjustment was the backplane setup. In
the original rati ed speci cation the system
slot was on the le side only. e experience
taught that some applications require the sys-
tem slot on the right side. A further change
was applied to the pinout of the P6 connec-
tor. Users o en need to have their interfaces
on the backside of the system. erefore the
I/O Signals like DVI, USB or Ethernet must
be routed directly through the connector to
the rear transition module. But in the origi-
nal speci cation, the P6 connector was occu-
pied by Ethernet signals to be routed through
the backplane. With the new revision both
pinouts are possible.
With the serial protocols which provide the
high data transfer rate, the Hot Plugging
functionality and the backwards compatibil-
ity, CompactPCI Serial is a platform for quite
a wide range of possible applications. is
technology is even capable to be implemented
into ruggedized and conduction-cooled appli-
cations, which makes this standard applicable
for all purposes. Pentair is a part of the more
than 30 manufacturers within the PICMG
working group and plays a signi cant role
in de ning and implementing new speci ca-
tions. us the company was one of the rst
companies o ering CompactPCI serial back-
planes, power supplies and chassis.
e rati cation of the revised PICMG
CPCI.S-0 speci cation led Pentair to extend
their product portfolio by introducing the
new 4U CPCI Serial System with a width of
Figure 1. Schroff CompactPCI
Serial System in accordance with
specification CPCI-S.0 Rev. 2.0
