12 www.amctechcorp.com
General Description
AMC Technologies Corporation (AMC) has developed the proposed dimmPCI™ standards
specification which defines electrical signaling and mechanical specifications for a new genera-
tion of low cost Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) compatible devices. DimmPCI™ is an
adaptation of the PCI Specification 2.1 for embedded applications. All dimmPCI™ cards are
peripheral interface cards that install directly on a low cost backplane. The cards share the same
physical size as the module described in the JEDEC Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM)
specification for a 168 pin DIMM module.
Due to the high volume, low cost nature of the connector, dimmPCI™ sets new price/perfor-
mance milestones for embedded systems developers. The interface cards communicate using
standard PCI bus signaling and are compliant with the 33Mhz, 32-bit PCI bus specification.
The dimmPCI™ technology is applicable when facing tight budgets and demanding technical
requirements. In addition to the processor slot, up to four other dimmPCI™ slots are available
for expansion cards. There are a large variety of expansion cards to select from including analog
I/O, digital I/O and special communications functions. This highly configurable and economical
platform allows users to develop custom solutions at commercial-off-the-shelf prices.
AMC provides engineering support for the dimmPCI™ technology and can assist in developing
and supporting products that utilize this architecture. AMC has initiated the development of the
proposed dimmPCI™ standard and can assist in adopting this technology in application specific
areas. AMC also provides engineering support and manufacturing for other networked indus-
trial control applications and product lines.
CPU Module Description
The AMC Dragonball dimmPCI™ CPU module is a cost effective solution for technically de-
manding applications. This dimmPCI™ module is designed around the powerful and economical
DragonBall VZ microprocessor.
The CPU module can contain up to 32 Mbytes of SDRAM, 8 Mbytes of flash and 1kbyte of
EEPROM. Also included on the CPU module are a real time clock, a watchdog timer and 2 serial
ports.