The APO-16 connection board is a further development of the previous cabin connection boards. With a width of only 78 mm, it is designed as a space-saving cabin connection board for new control systems.

The connection options have been expanded: direct connection of a LiMAX33CP AWG safety reader head is now possible on the APO-16. To simplify wiring, the inspection signals are additionally routed to a ribbon cable connector. Also new are two freely available CAN bus connections integrated on the APO-16. These can be used, for example, to connect door control units or a CAN-bus-capable handheld terminal. This handheld terminal now allows control settings to be adjusted directly from the car.

Instead of individual bus modules, a pluggable 4-channel bus module of type ION32 is used. The I/O of the bus modules, such as door signals, are now all routed to connector strips and are therefore easily accessible. In addition, 8 freely programmable I/O are available on bus module 51, as well as 3 freely programmable relays on the APO-16.

The functions of the previous APO have largely been retained; however, the connections for the pulse generator and copying block have been omitted in favor of the reduced dimensions. The APO-16 is not connector-compatible with earlier APO versions.