Hybrid systems offer the possibility to integrate serial cards according to CompactPCI PlusIO and CompactPCI Serial beside the conventional boards – an easy way to migrate to modern technologies whilst at the same time the system invest is saved.

A 3U system slot CPU card which supports CompactPCI PlusIO (PICMG 2.30) can be used to build either entire CompactPCI (PICMG 2.0) systems – or hybrid systems. Such a hybrid system – with the PICMG 2.30 CPU as system slot in the middle – can offer CompactPCI slots as well as CompactPCI Serial (PICMG CPCI-S.0) slots, even in combination with CompactPCI Express (PICMG EXP.0) slots or a mixture of all four standards. Another approach is a 3U double system slot card with 2-mm connectors (PICMG 2.0) on one PCB and AirMax connectors (PICMG CPCI-S.0) on the second PCB.

1. Smallest 3U 3-slot hybrid system:

1 PICMG 2.30 system slot in the middle, 1 PICMG 2.0 peripheral slot left (for analog/binary I/O, fieldbus interface…), 1 PICMG CPCI-S.0 peripheral slot right (for XMC carrier, PCI Express MiniCard carrier…)

Schroff drawing

2. Standard 3U 8-slot hybrid system:

1 PICMG 2.30 system slot in the middle, 3 PICMG 2.0 peripheral slot left (for analog/binary I/O, fieldbus interfaces…), 4 PICMG CPCI-S.0 peripheral slot right (maximum possible)

Schroff drawing

3. Double CPU 7-slot 3U hybrid system:

1 PICMG 2.0/CPCI-S.0 system slot in the middle, 2 PICMG 2.0 peripheral slots left, 3 PICMG CPCI-S.0 peripheral slots right

Schroff drawing

4. 9-slot 3U hybrid system:

1 PICMG 2.0/CPCI-S.0 system slot in the middle, 2 PICMG 2.0 peripheral slots left, 3 PICMG CPCI-S.0 plus 2 PICMG EXP.0 peripheral slots right

Schroff drawing

Yes, because the possibility to implement 6U hybrid boards is an important prerequisite for a smooth transition from existing solutions to modern serial buses.

The upper area of a 6U board is identical with that from a 3U board – with the 6 AirMax connectors and 8x each, PCI Express, Ethernet, SATA and USB (CompactPCI Serial) or with the shielded 2-mm-connector and 4x each, PCI Express, SATA, USB and 2x Ethernet (CompactPCI PlusIO). This makes the board grow towards the bottom. It is important to note that P0 is the only electrical extension of 6U boards compared to 3U boards. That way it is very simple to build hybrid boards using the lower area. The combination can be almost anything from parallel CompactPCI or parallel VMEbus to serial derivates like VPX or VXS with the connectors in their standard positions.