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PXI Express debuts

Staff- September 1, 2005

In mid-August, the PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA) released the PXI Express specification, which integrates PCI Express and CompactPCI technology into the PXI standard. With PXI Express, engineers and scientists can achieve bandwidth of up to 6 Gbytes/s per system (a reported 45 times improvement over traditional PXI systems) while preserving both software and hardware compatibility with existing PXI products.

PXI Express makes use of the electrical features defined by the PCI Express specification, and PXI Express modules are compatible with the new CompactPCI Express (EXP.0) specification from the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) (see "Editor's note" at left). Thus, a single measurement system will be able to support both PXI Express and CompactPCI Express modules.

"PXI has always incorporated CompactPCI, and the PXI Systems Alliance has been working within the PICMG technical committees since early 2004 to ensure compatibility with PXI," said Loofie Gutterman, president of the PXI Systems Alliance. "PXI Express products will provide engineers with the bandwidth and performance required by tomorrow's applications while maintaining compatibility and interoperability with today's PXI products and applications."

"Both CompactPCI Express and PXI Express use a new Advanced Differential Fabric connector," said Mark Wetzel, technical chair of the PXI Systems Alliance. "Using this new ADF connector, we can bring PCI Express to PXI, incorporate advanced synchronization signals, and create hybrid slots that accept both PXI and PXI Express signaling."

The PXI Systems Alliance anticipates its members will pass the PXI Express specification in the fourth quarter of this year, with vendors beginning to supply products in 2006. www.pxisa.org.