The FPGA’s inherent flexibility has proven indispensable for the creation of external I/O interfaces. However, unless I/O is implemented on a daughter card (mezzanine module), replacing the physical I/O components and connectors requires changing the FPGA board design. To avoid these costs, designers have historically relied on the PCI™ Mezzanine Card (PMC) and Switched Mezzanine Card (XMC) standards. The problem is that these were developed years ago for general purpose solutions such as single-board computers— not FPGAs.
The FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) standard, developed by a consortium of companies ranging from FPGA vendors to end users, specifically targets FPGAs, increasing I/O flexibility and lowering costs in a broad range of applications.
