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MTCA BRINGUP Adapter SFP+

Picture of DESY MTCA BRINGUP Adapter SFP

Description

The DESY MTCA-BRINGUP-SFP+ is a solution to test and operate MicroTCA boards on the laboratory bench. This is extremely useful during development where convenient access to the AMC board is required and operation inside a MicroTCA rack prevents easy probing of the on-board components.

The board brings out the first lane of the AMC PCI Express interface (AMC port 4) on a high-speed connector. Ultra-low-cost PCIe solutions are established in the PC industry: a USB 3.0 connector and cable are used to carry the PCIe reference clock and one lane of data. The bring-up adapter uses an identical connector, so that it mates to commercially available risers and cables. This allows connecting the board to a standard PC mainboard and accessing the on-board FPGAs with a PCIe Gen.3 x1 link.

In addition to PCIe, the board now features an SFP+ slot that accepts standard SFP+ modules. By inserting an RJ-45 SFP+ module, the bring-up board provides direct Ethernet connectivity on the lab bench. This enables convenient network access to AMC or SoC-based boards, making it possible to use standard protocols such as SSH for remote login and control, as well as file transfers and other network-based workflows, without requiring installation in a full MicroTCA system.

The board provides two power sockets (management and payload power) and two 12V fan connectors. In addition, the backplane JTAG signals of the AMC are routed to a 14-pin header that allows connection of a standard programmer to the device under test.

Features

  • Provides MicroTCA AMC.0 slot on laboratory bench
  • PCIe Gen 3 (8 GT/s) x1 connection to standard PC
  • Designed as a low-cost 4-layer FR4 PCB that can be manufactured by virtually any board manufacturer
  • Extremely simple BOM allows in-house assembly
  • Mates with cable and PCIe riser of ultra- low-cost PCIe mining kits (has to be purchased separately)
  • +12V and +3V3 power entry via two 2-pin connectors
  • Contains two 3-pin 12V fan sockets (standard fans)
  • ENABABLE# signal can be set via jumper
  • Pin header for ENABLE#, SCL, SDA, GA0, GA1
  • AMC backplane JTAG signals routed to standard 14-pin FPGA JTAG connector
  • Does not block space needed by RTM: AMC-RTM combinations can be powered and operated.

Licensing

Released under Creative Commons license, for manufacturing files enabling independent production, please contact us directly.