Its low latency, high bandwidth, widespread support and cost effective silicon have made PCI Express ubiquitous. It can however, be used for more than merely communicating between a host and a peripheral: it has many advantages as a peer-to-peer communications technology. Enabling this, however, demands an understanding of how PCI Express works.



GE Intelligent Platforms’ Military and Aerospace business has focussed its expertise to create two PCIe interconnect software products, one is based on VxWorks and the other on Linux[]. These enhance the time to market for our customers by shortening the integration cycle and widening the possibilities for an optimum VPX[]-based multi-board solution. This paper outlines the complexities that need to be understood and overcome — and describes a GE software product that delivers a solution that masks those complexities from developers.