The VME architecture, explained
The standard defining an open, real-time, modular architecture, scalable from 2 to 21 slots on the 3U and 6U Eurocard format. Defined in the '80s, backward compatible ever since. Here you find the family, the generations and the catalog.
What VME is: forty years of open bus
VMEbus defines an open, real-time, modular architecture scaling from 2 to 21 slots on the 3U and 6U Eurocard formats: an asynchronous, multi-master parallel bus born for control and acquisition.
Defined in the '80s and standardized as IEEE 1014, the specification has absorbed each following technological evolution while guaranteeing product backward compatibility: yesterday's board works in today's crate. This longevity is its industrial value — defense, avionics and research programs that live for decades still find a wide offer of single boards, I/O boards, modules, microracks and complete systems.
The family grew by extension: VME64 brings 64-bit transfers, VME64x adds the 160-pin connector, 3.3 V and geographical addressing, the 2eVME and 2eSST protocols push the parallel bandwidth, and VXS — VITA 41 — adds switched serial fabrics alongside the bus. When serial bandwidth becomes the project's centre, the next step is VPX.
The service: custom platforms and microracks How the engineering team works
What the specification says
The family, item by item
Each extension widens the bus without breaking the installed base.3 entries
VMEbus · IEEE 1014
The parallel base
An asynchronous multi-master bus on a 96-pin DIN connector: multiple CPUs on the same crate, arbitration, interrupts and block transfers. The Eurocard mechanics with guides and face plates are the same CompactPCI would inherit.
VME64x
ANSI/VITA 1.1
The connector moves to 160 pins: more power rails (3.3 V), more ground, geographical addressing, hot swap readiness and extra user pins for rear I/O. It is the level long-life defense and research programs require.
VXS · VITA 41
Serial fabrics on VME
It adds a centre connector for switched serial fabrics — Ethernet, Serial RapidIO — alongside the parallel bus, keeping compatibility with existing VME boards: the hybrid crate that prepares the transition to VPX.
The VME catalog starts here
VME & VXS
Where VME works
The programs that live for decades: defense, avionics, big research.
Nearby architectures
The serial successor and the cousins of the same mechanics.
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