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Hot-swap PMC carrier will help to keep systems up

A BVM product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 23, 2000

The new cPC2PMC from BVM Limited is a 6U Hot Swappable CompactPCI carrier, enabling two PMC modules to be added to a system.

The new cPC2PMC from BVM Limited is a 6U Hot Swappable CompactPCI carrier, enabling two PMC modules to be added to the system.

One of the first Hot-Swap carriers to be launched, the cPC2PMC enables a wide variety of different I/O to be swapped in and out of the system without powering down.

The unit has obvious applications in telecoms and other high-availability systems where maximum up-time is the most important requirement.

BVM envisage the cPC2PMC being used in conjunction with its PMCSIO8 octal serial module and the PMC100FX fibre media Ethernet controller module to give redundant networking and communications capabilities.

The module implements two PMC sites, allowing a wide range of I/O functions to be configured, and, in addition, implements the full Hot-Swap specification, allowing it to be removed and inserted into live systems.

A hot swap sequence is initiated by the operation of the micro-switch in the ejector handle.

This asserts the ENUM signal on the CompactPCI backplane causing the hot swap software to unload the device drivers for the PMC modules and the cPC2PMC bridgechip.

The front panel blue LED is then lit, indicating that it is safe to withdraw the module, which can be done without having to shut down the system.

When the replacement module is inserted, first make-last break contacts fitted to the power and ground pins apply power to the board in the correct order and the blue LED is again lit.

The PMC modules are then powered up, the operation of the ejector handle micro-switch completes the insertion and the hot swap software extinguishes the blue LED.

The PMC sites conform to IEEE1386.1 with I/O mapped to the CompactPCI J3 and J4 connector in accordance to CompactPCI specification 2.3R1.0.

Each PMC site has front panel LEDs to indicate site active, I/O and memory reads and writes.

These assist in the debug phase and confirm correct system operation.

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