PEX431 Multi-fabric Switch

Designed to enable the development of complex, scalable, high performance 3U VPX systems in today’s increasingly-connected military/aerospace world, the PEX431 is characterized by significant flexibility. The PEX431 Multi-Fabric Switch and XMC Carrier Card allow designers to build complex VPX systems with multiple single board computers and multiple I/O modules. PEX431 supports PCIe switching, GigE switching and the ability to host a XMC mezzanine.

The PCI Express switch of the PEX431 allows up to six ports of 4-lane PCI Express to be connected to a non-blocking line-speed switch, such that a scalable, complex system architecture can be created. In order to support systems requiring interconnection of more than six hosts, multiple PEX431 boards may be daisy-chained together.

The PEX431 has an unmanaged Layer 2 Gigabit Ethernet Switch that offers up to nine ports, of which up to eight can be in 1000BASE-BX and up to two can be in 1000BASE-T.

The PEX431 is capable of carrying XMC modules and can be configured for 8-lane PCI Epress at the VPX backplane connector. The XMC option is not available with the Ethernet Switching option.

From a software perspective, each PCI Express port is a virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge device, with its own set of PCI Express configuration registers.

PCIe Features

• Up to six x4 PCIe Gen 3.0-capable ports via non-blocking switch
• Non-transparent bridging mode for multi-host systems

Ethernet Features

• Up to nine ports Gigabit Ethernet Switch, unmanaged (not available with XMC option)
  Build Options Include:
  • Up to 8x 1000BASE-BX with 1x 1000BASE-T
  • Up to 6x 1000BASE-BX with 2x 1000BASE-T

Mezzanine Features

• Supports XMC Modules (not available with Ethernet switching option)
• Mezzanine I/O routed to VPX backplane
• XMC IO via P16 x24s+x8d+x12d
• PMC IO via P14 x64s