VICbus: VME inter-crate bus-a versatile cable bus

VICbus is a multiplexed multimaster cable bus primarily intended for interconnecting backplane bus systems, such as VMEbus, but which may also be used wherever a high-performance, general-purpose cable bus is required. It is implemented using differential line transmission to interconnect up to 31 devices on a total cable length of 100 m. Both compelled (asynchronous) and noncompelled (synchronous) data transmission protocols are specified. An efficient bus arbitration mechanism takes into consideration the long signal propagation times on cables. A simple interrupt mechanism permits the transparent use of interrupts on interconnected VMEbus backplanes. The data transfer protocols, bus arbitration, interrupts, register, and implementation details are discussed.<
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