VXI Electronics

VMEbus eXtensions for Instrumentation, Rev 1.3, July 1989

Eurogam uses D size cards. That is a triple height (9U) Eurocard module which includes a P3 connector in addition to P1 and P2 which are found in VME modules. The cards are 14 inches high and 13 inches in depth and are placed on 1.2 inch centers (VME cards are 0.8 in). The 1.2 inch module width allows feasible implementation of high density instrumentation modules while allowing enough space for shielding both sides of a module.

The P3 connector includes a 100 MHz clock and sync signal, additional power pins, more ECL trigger lines and 24 additional lines of daisy chain local bus. Also defined on P3 is a "star" trigger system where precision ECL trigger signals are routed through Slot 0 acting as a cross point switch. This allows very precisely matched trigger timing between modules regardless of module position.

A standard VXI crate holds 12 "user" modules plus the slot 0 (Resource Manager) module.

The Cluster card weights approximately 2Kg.

Total power consumption of a full VXI crate may be as high as 3KW.