Nashua, N.H. - Teradyne Inc.'s Connection Systems Division here and Accelerant Networks Inc. (Portland, Ore.) have launched what they say is the industry's first 6.25-Gbit/second backplane reference platform. Jointly developed by the companies, the reference design integrates Accelerant's AN5500 five-port, 6.25-Gbit/s backplane transceiver with Teradyne's VHDM-HSD connector, providing error-free operation over 32 inches of an FR4 backplane.
The partners said the reference design delivers an optimized backplane solution, taking into account the behavior of each element in the backplane system and how it interacts with the others. A benefit, Teradyne said, is the elimination of obstacles and signal integrity guesswork during the system design cycle.
"It's important to develop a reference backplane for speeds greater than 3.125 Gbits/s," said Gautam Patel, Teradyne's signal integrity engineer. With today's high data rates, Patel said, "you need to put all the elements together to make sure they work well together."
Used as a design guideline or prepackaged solution, the platform lets engineers focus on the development of ASICs, daughtercards and other value-added system elements, Patel said.
The package includes schematics, layout, models and software tools to aid in the evaluation, optimization and characterization of backplane elements. Hardware comprises a VHDM-HSD backplane in FR4 with a maximum of 32-inch traces, two AN550-based line cards, an SMA connector and power supply cables. The AN5500 transceiver, with continuously adaptive equalization, integrates clock and data recovery, an encoder, a scrambler and a set of deskew and trunking options. Operating at up to about 5 Gbits/s, the VHDM-HSD connectors are available in five-, six- and eightrow versions.
Teradyne
(603) 879-3000
www.teradyne.com/vhdmhsd
Accelerant
(503) 439-3478
www.accelerant.net/products/refdesplatform
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