ELMA, the backplane and base system specialist, is introducing new backplanes in 3 U/6 slot and 6 U/5 slot versions for the VPX standard, to meet the strongly increasing demand for VITA 46/VPX-based solutions. Further versions are in course of preparation, with at least two still to be launched in the current year.

High growth is anticipated for applications in the aerospace and defence markets, for example, areas which the VPX – with its high shock and vibration resistance – is particularly directed at. Added to this, different cooling concepts (air flow, conduction cooled or liquid cooling) and interchangeability in the field through the use of special plug connectors offering a high level of protection, opens up a whole range of other fields of application. A further advantage of VPX is its possible upward compatibility to the VME bus, whose signals are connected via the VITA 46 connector. That helps achieve a simple migration between the VMEbus and this new technology.

Designed for maximum performance, the new backplanes comply with current VITA 46 specifications. ELMA’s soundly based development and manufacturing experience in the field of high-tech solutions for fast backplanes has gone into the design. The results are optimal hardware quality, high long-term stability, and the signal integrity across all slots, confirmed in extensive tests.
I/O support for handling large volumes of data – as required with digital video signals, for mass storage (SATA) and FPGA intelligence (Rocket I/O), for example – is integrated via the high-speed interfaces. Data rates up to 10 Gbps are possible via the serial switched fabrics.