SBS Technologies VIPC616 VME Carrier Board

SBS Technologies VIPC616 VME Carrier Board: Four Slot 6U Industry Pack

The flexibility and reliability of I/O expansion are crucial in modular embedded systems. VIPC616 is a classic 6U VMEbus Industry Pack carrier board, provided with interfaces by the VME bus backplane, capable of installing up to four single width Industry Pack (IP) modules or two dual width IP modules. This article will provide a comprehensive and in-depth technical analysis of the carrier board from the aspects of hardware architecture, bus interface, I/O routing, interrupt mechanism, power protection, physical specifications, and supporting products.

Product positioning and design background

VIPC616 belongs to the IndustriePack modular I/O component family. As a 6U high VME carrier board, its main task is to provide mechanical installation and electrical connections for the IndustriePack for the VME system. This board supports I/O cycles, ID cycles, memory cycles, and interrupt functions, and is a common choice in industrial control, communication equipment, medical imaging, military testing systems, and other fields.

Compared with the enhanced VIPC618, VIPC616 belongs to the basic version, with the difference being the front-end I/O interface form: VIPC618 adopts a shielded 50 pin ultra small D-type connector, which can significantly reduce EMI radiation and has a locking device; VIPC616, on the other hand, uses a right angled ribbon cable connector (unshielded), which is more cost-effective and convenient for quick wiring.

Overview of Core Features

Four sets of IndustriePack slots located on the 6U VME board

Supports I/O, ID, memory, and interrupt cycles

Front end I/O is connected through unshielded right angled ribbon cable connectors with keyways. Each set of connectors comes with a pop-up device, and every two IP slots share a pair of 50 pin interfaces

64 backend I/O lines are led out through P2 connector (from all 50 I/O pins in slot D and 14 configurable pins in slot C)

Supports A24 or A32 memory mapping, with a maximum of 8 Mbytes of memory per slot

The front panel provides activity status LEDs (green) for each IP slot

Front panel power monitoring LED (monitoring A/B slots and C/D slots respectively)

All IP power cords are equipped with filtering, decoupling capacitors, and fuse protection

Custom interrupt mapping can be implemented through user provided PLDs

100% software compatible with VIPC618

VME bus and memory mapping

VIPC616 fully complies with the VMEbus specification (IEEE P-1024/D1.2, ANSI/VITA-4-1995) and uses a 6U board type. Its VME interface is 32-bit, but note that it does not support Industry Pack DMA function, nor does it support 32-bit IP interface (i.e. the data bus width of the IP module itself is still 16 bits or 8 bits).

In terms of memory mapping:

I/O space: mapped to VMEbus A16/D16 space, with each IP slot fixed at 128 bytes, supporting user mode and superuser mode access, and supporting read modify write (i.e. "test and set") operations.

ID space: Each IP slot is also 128 bytes, with a fixed size.

Memory space: can be mapped to A24 or A32 space. When selecting A32, each IP slot supports a full 8 Mbytes of memory (compliant with the Industry Pack specification limit). If A24 is selected, each slot can be configured as None, 128KB, 256KB, 512KB, 1MB, or 2MB (set through jumper or PLD).

Interrupt architecture

The interrupt handling design of VIPC616 is simple yet powerful. Each IndustriePack can generate up to two interrupt requests, with a total of eight interrupt request lines provided by four IP slots. These request lines are mapped one-to-one with seven interrupt request levels (IRQ1-IRQ7) of VMEbus through a simple jumper block. Users can also install self programmed PLDs to achieve any complex interrupt mapping relationship, such as multiplexing, level conversion, or priority encoding.

Custom interrupt mapping versions can be ordered from the original factory and programmed through PLD to meet special application requirements.

I/O signal routing: front-end and back-end

The I/O connection of VIPC616 is highly flexible:

Front end I/O: Every two IP slots share a pair of 50 pin right angle, keyway, and pop-up cable connectors. This connector is a non shielded type, suitable for occasions with low EMI environmental requirements. The 50 signals of each connector correspond to the I/O pins of the corresponding IP slot.

Backend I/O (P2): Most of the I/O signals from slots C and D are also routed to rows A and C of the VMEbus P2 connector. Specifically, it includes all 50 I/O pins in slot D, as well as 14 configurable pins in slot C. This allows wiring to be done at the back of the chassis, making the front space cleaner, especially suitable for rack mounted systems.

Note: I/O signals from slots A and B are usually not routed to P2 and are only routed out through the front panel.

Power protection and monitoring

VIPC616 has finely processed the power supply for each Industry Pack slot:

Filtering and decoupling: All IP power lines (+5V,+12V, -12V) are equipped with RF filtering and decoupling capacitors to reduce power noise.

Fuse protection: Each power line in the IP slot is equipped with a fuse to prevent overcurrent or short circuit faults from spreading to the carrier board or backplane.