A backplane is a circuit board used in computers to connect daughter boards, with slots connected by a bus. Different types of backplanes exist, including passive and active configurations, and they can be used with a system host card to create a working computer.
The backplane is a circuit board used in computers to implement multiple circuit boards in a row called daughter boards. On the backplane, the rows of daughter card slots are connected by a bus. Each pin in one slot is bus-matched with the corresponding pin in the next slot, and so on throughout the board. This allows daughterboards to be inserted and removed, adding all of the functionality they contain to the entire computer backplane bus.
The card gets its name from its earliest implementations in computer systems. It often resided on the back of the computer enclosure, where guides were sometimes used to guide daughter boards into expansion slots. The first microcomputer, the Altair 8800, used this system. The first IBM® personal computers (PCs) then adopted the industry standard architecture (ISA) bus, which was similarly on-board.
Due to different computer construction techniques or specific requirements, backplanes have been created to accommodate different circumstances. One such method is known as a butterfly plane. In this type of construction, ports are located on both sides of the aircraft to accommodate additional daughter boards. Whether single-sided or butterfly, a backplane provides a more stable set of expansion slots than a set of cables, which can bend and wear out much more quickly.
There are two main types of backplanes; the most common has its slots arranged in what is considered a passive configuration. With a passive card, the bus has no additional control mechanisms that direct signals along the bus. The signals are then controlled by circuitry and microchips on daughter boards that are inserted into the aircraft. In an active backplane, however, another microchip or special circuitry is included on the board to monitor and buffer signals into and out of the daughterboards.
When used in conjunction with a system host card (SHB), as defined by the Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) specification, the components create the essential functioning of an ordinary PC motherboard. The central processing unit (CPU), memory, and input/output (I/O) are located on separate daughter boards. When combined via a backplane, they create a working computer and allow you to make hardware configuration changes by replacing a daughter card.
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