Elma Bustronic Corporation, an industry leading designer and manufacturer of high performance backplanes, now offers a 2-slot test backplane for VPX board developers and integrators.

The Elma Bustronic 2-slot test backplane is designed to the latest VITA 46 specifications. The backplane allows the user to power up and test their J1 fabric connections as they would be interconnected in the target application. Signals can be passed from one slot to the next via high speed interconnecting cables, via signals introduced through the J1 fabric connector, or accessed on the J1 fabric connector using the test backplane’s SMA and SATA cable headers. The test backplane accepts 6U cards with the 3U size supported by use of a shelf divider. For convenience in attaching probes, the slot pitch is an extra wide 1.6”.

The VPX Test Backplane solves a signal access issue with VPX systems that utilize Rear Transition Module (RTM) boards. VPX cards are usually developed together with an RTM module that does not access the J1 fabric signals. In conventional designs, an engineer cannot probe these J1 fabric signals while using the Device Under Test’s (DUT) RTM module to access other IO signals. The Bustronic solution allows the primary J1 fabric signals to be accessed/connected without interfering with the use of an existing RTM module designed for J2-J6 IO connector signals. Further, custom backplanes are often required to interconnect the primary fabric signals between multiple VPX blades for a specific application. The VPX Test Backplane allows the user to interconnect two or more such blades before investing the time or expense of a custom VPX backplane.

Additional 2-slot Test Backplanes can be used in a larger chassis to interconnect the J1 primary fabric in any serial topology desired. The A channel input using SMA cables accepts up to 10 Gbps and the B, C, and D channel inputs using the SATA II connectors accept up to 3.125 Gbps. There are 8 power studs for VS1, VS2_A, VS2_B, VS3, and 4 GND as well as fastons for 3.3V, +/- 12V, and VBAT. There are also two 5-pin IPMB headers for SMB-0 and SMB-1.

About Elma Bustronic

Founded in 1989, Elma Bustronic specializes in the design and manufacture of high-performance backplanes. Elma Bustronic has a complete line of industry-standard backplanes, including CompactPCI, VME, VME64x, H.110 CT, VXI, VXS, and ATCA. Elma Bustronic’s custom design service combines creative engineering, highly sophisticated computer simulation and modern design techniques to offer customized backplanes that meet the most specialized system requirements. A member of the ELMA Electronic group, Elma Bustronic is located in Fremont, California. Elma Bustronic is a member of PICMG™, VITA, and the StarFabric Trade Association and can be found on the World Wide Web at www.Bustronic.com.