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.
