Modularity is the reason for their success: different mezzanine modules can be combined on a single carrier board in order to achieve a functionality tailored exactly with the target application in mind. Because the customer can profit from both individual configuration of the system and moderate cost, mezzanine concepts such as M-Modules, PMC-Modules or Industry Packs are very popular for industrial grade computers. Another advantage is the high density packaging as a result, compared to solutions where functions are distributed over several full sized boards.

At the top of the evolution, the PC•MIP concept brings together the best characteristics of older mezzanine standards. EKF now unveils the CM1-COMBO an i960® based, intelligent CompactPCI ® carrier board for up to 4 PC•MIP modules.

The PC•MIP (PCI and M-Modules and Industry Packs) electrical characteristics are based on the well known PCI specification.

Regarding the mechanics, PC•MIP modules represent a smart and flexible successor to the M-Module technology.

The PC•MIP standard has been created by Motorola, GreenSpring and MEN; the specification is currently available as VITA draft (submitted as ANSI standard, to be released soon). There can be no doubt that PC•MIP will determine the trend in mezzanine modules for many years.

For best results, PC•MIP mezzanine modules should be used together with an intelligent carrier board such as the CM1-COMBO. Need a realtime solution? Here it is!

Based on the i960RP embedded processor on-board, the CM1-COMBO is equipped with both a powerful CPU and a PCI bridge used as interface to the CompactPCI ® system bus. 8MB DRAM and 4MB Flash EEPROM build a generous local memory resource for program and data. The on-board (16C550 based) serial communications interface can be connected to external peripherals, e.g. as a diagnostic port.

When developing self-written software for the CM1-COMBO, 3 on-board LEDs, representing i960- and board-status information, are a valuable help. Reset- and NMI- push button switches can be activated from the front panel.

The CM1-COMBO can be populated with up to 4 PC•MIP modules of the type I (I/O wired across the rear CompactPCI ® connectors J4/J5), or type II (with front panel mounted connectors). Neighboured PC•MIP slots can hold double size modules.

The CM1-COMBO hardware supports the I₂O interface. This is a layered, standardized driver concept, modeled after the OSI reference, suitable especially for intelligent I/O sub-processors.

For any individual class of I₂O devices, the hosts operating system has to be provided with an Operating System Service Module (OSM). This is a hardware abstract I₂O driver layer, just converting standardized I₂O commands to proprietary I/O system calls of the individual OS, e.g. Windows 2000.

On the target device side (the CM1-COMBO) runs a Hardware Device Module (HDM). This driver interprets commands of the I₂O abstract OSM layer, with concrete I/O activities as the result. The HDM layer does not depend on any specific OS.

An I₂O communications layer between the OSM and HDM layers allows for flexible data exchange, not only between host-CPU and I/O subsystem, but also between the sub-processors without charging the host (with version 2.0 of the I₂O specification).

Use of the intelligent CM1-COMBO frees the host-CPU from critical low level tasks, an essential criterion for real-time applications. Because the COMBO can be equipped with a wide variety of PC•MIP modules, it is a smart and flexible solution to many different industrial applications, offering a fast time to market at moderate cost.