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Hardware Component Overview
Figure 4: Midplane
1171
Midplane
FPC
card cage
R
Physical Interface Cards (PICs)
Physical Interface Cards (PICs) physically connect the router to network
media. They are housed in Flexible PIC Concentrators (FPCs); for more
information about FPCs, see “Flexible PIC Concentrators (FPCs)” on page
14. (Quad-wide PICs, such as the OC-192/STM-64 SONET/SDH PIC, are
exceptions. Such PICs occupy an entire FPC slot in the chassis and insert
directly into the slot rather than into an FPC card carrier.)
PICs receive i ncoming packets from the network and transmit outgoing p ackets
to the network, performing framing and line-speed signaling for their media
type as required. PICs also encapsulate outgoing packets received from the
FPCs before transmitting them. The controller ASIC on each PIC performs
additional control functions specific to the PIC media type.
The router supports various PICs, including ATM, Channelized, Gigabit
Ethernet, IP Services, and SONET/SDH interfaces. For complete PIC
specifications, see the M160 Internet Router PIC Guide.
Packet Forwarding Engine 13