Samtec Expands VITA 57.4 with FMC+ Extender Card

Developing with FPGAs requires patience. Why? They are so flexible and configurable. System designers are only limited by their imagination. Prototyping with FPGAs also poses many challenges. It seems like there are new FMC / FMC+ solutions appearing daily. Sometimes the FPGA carrier card or development board can get crowded. How can that be fixed?

VITA 57.4 FMC+ Extender Card

Engineers prototyping with industry-standard FPGA evaluation and development kits often leverage the FMC+ interface for I/O expansion that fits their application needs. In some cases, the mating height of the standard connectors may prevent fully leveraging the connectivity options of all FMC+ modules.

In response to that need, Samtec has developed the FMC+ Extender Card for placement between FPGA Carrier Cards and FMC+ Modules. This increased space can be used for additional I/O expansion during development.

Key features of this new solution include:

• High Serial Pin Count (HSPC) VITA 57.4 male connector
  • Samtec P/N: ASP-184330-01
• High Serial Pin Count (HSPC) VITA 57.4 female connector
  • Samtec P/N: ASP-184329-01
• Provides direct pass-through connectivity for all 560 pins from the HSPC male to HSPC female connectors
• Features optimized SI performance via Samtec Final Inch® BOR PCB trace routing for HSPC connectors

Typical applications of the FMC+ Extender include:

• FPGA development
• FPGA carrier card development
• FPGA carrier cards used in test platform
• High-speed ADCs and DACs
• Next generation RF connectivity

Extends Life of FPGA Test Platforms

Developers need to test their products. Larger OEMs typically use expensive test and measurement equipment for this purpose. That approach can be cost-prohibitive for some OEMs.

What is the answer? Many OEMs use FPGA Development Kits – like the VCU118 – to test their FMC/FMC+ modules. Repeated testing can wear out the connector.

As an alternative, the Extender Card provides a cost-effective option for extending the life of the FPGA Carrier Card used as test platforms. It is much easier to rework an FPGA Dev Kit like the VCU118.

Please visit www.samtec.com/kits or e-mail KitsAndBoard@samtec.com for more information.