CA2-FUNK

As an industrial standard, the CompactPCI® bus is a modular solution for configuring industrial grade PC systems.
Todays market is offering a broad variety of CPCI® I/O solutions. However, in some cases the system integrator needs a special function available on a proprietary PCI® card only.
EKF offers a solution to this problem: The CA2-FUNK is a 3U (single size Eurocard) CompactPCI® carrier board, with up to three slots for (desktop) PCI® cards.
The CA2-FUNK provides a PCI® to PCI® bridge, hence being electrically as well as mechanically a perfectly smooth interface between the worlds of PCI® and CPCI.
The adapter CA2-FUNK is available in three different versions. The CA2-1 is suitable to carry a single PCI® card with dimensions of up to 160x57mm2. The PCI card is mounted in parallel to the CA2-1 base board (slot 1b) which is provided with an 8HP (40.6mm) front panel to cover both boards.
For new designs, the CA2-4 is recommended as a replacement, which is provided with a 6U front panel.
Chosing the CA2-2, up to three PCI® short cards with maximum dimensions of 160×106.68mm2 can be mounted in a right angle to the carrier board (slots 1a, 2, 3). This solution needs up to 24HP rack mounting width, depending on the height of the PCI® cards. It is therefore recommended to use the outmost right slot of the systems backplane for the CA2-FUNK whenever possible (this slot must not be the system slot in that case).
The CA2-3 version is similar to the CA2-2 in respect of the orientation of the add-on PCI® boards to be used with it, but provides a 28HP front panel, completely covering and fixing the PCI® cards. Custom specific front panels are available for all CA2 versions. A major goal to be solved was the fastening of the PCI® cards on the CA2-FUNK carrier board in a reliable manner, withstanding mechanical shock and vibrations.

Before being mounted onto the CA2, the metal brackets of the PCI® cards would have to be shortened (CA2-1-FUNK) or totally removed (CA2-2-FUNK). This treatment however is not necessary for the CA2-3-FUNK and also the CA2-4-FUNK.
In order to fully comply with both PCI® and CompactPCI® specifications, the CA2-FUNK is provided with a PCI® to PCI® 32bit bridge chip.
By its built-in buffers the bridge can speed up system data transfer rates compared to the individual PCI® board in use. From the CPCI® system controllers view, the CA2-FUNK is a PCI® sub-bus with 3 slots.

Some competitors products do not provide a PCI® bridge, thus reducing adapter costs (by tolerating a violation of the PCI® specs). Overall PCI® compatibility however is a must in order to achieve total system reliability. Please bear these facts in mind, when comparing prices to the CA2-FUNK.

Use of the CA2-FUNK adapter for embedding standard PCI® boards into a CompactPCI® system is both a smooth technical solution and a smart economical decision, whenever time to market counts, the number of systems to be built is limited or the function to be implemented underlies fast innovation cycles. Time to market is money!