Communications Consortium To Define 6-Gbit/s+ Serial Backplane

Sept. 16, 2002

To handle the expected higher serial backplane data rates, nine leading communications companies have formed the High-Speed Backplane Initiative (HSBI). The HSB will be able to send point-to-point data at rates from 4.976 to 6.375 Gbits/s across a backplane of up to 30 in., including two connectors. The nine companies are Agilent, Cadence, Gennum, Intel, Marvel, Mindspeed, Texas Instruments, Tyco Electronics, and Velio Communications. This group also plans to address data rates of 10 Gbits/s and higher in the future.

A reference model has already been laid out (see the figure). It will act as the interface between serializer/deserializer (SERDES) communications systems. Work on this initiative is scheduled to be completed later this year.

The proposed model has a differential impedance of 100 Ω. It uses non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signaling with a unique coding scheme that supports Sonet and 6466B framing and scrambling, as well as 8B10B encoding and decoding. It can scale from 1 to N lanes, supports unidirectional and bidirectional operation, and includes a deskewing scheme for multiple-lane implementations.

In addition, the receive side can be driven while powering down, without damage. The interface has datapath link verification for component qualification and system integration. Its electrical parameters will be defined in a common electrical specification, and interoperability testing is not yet specified.

For more information, visit the Web site www.hsbi.org, or call HSBI's secretary John D'Ambrosio at Tyco Electronics at (717) 986-5692.

About the Author

Roger Allan

Roger Allan is an electronics journalism veteran, and served as Electronic Design's Executive Editor for 15 of those years. He has covered just about every technology beat from semiconductors, components, packaging and power devices, to communications, test and measurement, automotive electronics, robotics, medical electronics, military electronics, robotics, and industrial electronics. His specialties include MEMS and nanoelectronics technologies. He is a contributor to the McGraw Hill Annual Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a BSEE from New York University's School of Engineering and Science. Roger has worked for major electronics magazines besides Electronic Design, including the IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, EDN, Electronic Products, and the British New Scientist. He also has working experience in the electronics industry as a design engineer in filters, power supplies and control systems.

After his retirement from Electronic Design Magazine, He has been extensively contributing articles for Penton’s Electronic Design, Power Electronics Technology, Energy Efficiency and Technology (EE&T) and Microwaves RF Magazine, covering all of the aforementioned electronics segments as well as energy efficiency, harvesting and related technologies. He has also contributed articles to other electronics technology magazines worldwide.

He is a “jack of all trades and a master in leading-edge technologies” like MEMS, nanolectronics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, military electronics, biometrics, implantable medical devices, and energy harvesting and related technologies.