RapidIO Technology and PCI Express: A Comparison

The embedded system engineer, faced with development of a next generation system, has a desire to increase performance, improve efficiency, and lower cost. As part of these efforts the engineer must choose the most appropriate interconnect technology. This paper compares the two leading choices in interconnect technology: PCI Express and RapidIO technology. It concludes that while the two technologies have some similarities, they are quite different in terms of technical merit.