PCI Express System Architecture

Communications Systems

The last application that we will explore is the use of PCI Express in communications systems. As with previous usage models, PCI technology has in the past made significant inroads into communication systems, but over time it has become less desirable due to the inherent limitations of a shared bus. In general, serial interconnects such as PCI Express have become attractive to backplane system designers by providing switch-based topologies that enable higher reliability, scalability, and robustness.

High end communications systems are based on one or more racks, with a midplane or backplane chassis used to interconnect each subsystem. Many systems use the CompactPCI architecture for their backplane implementations, and ...