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 FMC+ connectors may prevent fully leveraging the connectivity options of all FMC+ modules.

The FMC+ Extender Card is designed for placement between FPGA Carrier Cards and FMC+ Modules. This increased space can be used for additional I/O expansion during development, allowing engineers greater flexibility when configuring their test and development environments.

The extender incorporates a High Serial Pin Count (HSPC) VITA 57.4 FMC+ male connector (Samtec P/N: ASP-184330-01) and a High Serial Pin Count (HSPC) VITA 57.4 FMC+ female connector (Samtec P/N: ASP-184329-01), providing direct pass-through connectivity for all 560 pins between connectors. 

This solution is particularly valuable for FPGA development environments requiring additional physical space, especially when working with high-speed ADCs, DACs, and next-generation RF connectivity solutions. The FMC+ Extender Card provides a cost-effective option for extending the life of the FPGA Carrier Card HSPC connectors used as test platforms, protecting expensive development boards from wear during repeated connect/disconnect cycles that are common in prototyping environments.

By maintaining signal integrity while providing physical extension between components, this extender enables designers to preserve the full bandwidth capabilities of the FMC+ specification while accommodating complex prototype configurations that require additional space between the carrier card and expansion modules.