IndustryPack Carrier Card

The company's AVME9670 is a non-intelligent slave board that interfaces four IndustryPack (IP) I/O modules to the VMEbus. Mixing and matching various analog, digital, serial or other I/O modules on this full-height (6U) carrier card provides a customizable I/O board with very high channel density to save card cage slots and lower costs. The AVME9670 uses VME64-compliant connectors to increase the quantity of rear I/O connections beyond standard VME. Although the rear connectors are VME64, the electrical interface is standard VME A24/A16. This allows nearly all CPU products to enjoy full access to the IP modules. The carrier card also supports two interrupts per IP module and provides individually filtered and fused power to each IP.

When used with a VME64 backplane, the AVME9670 brings all 200 I/O points out the rear P0 and P2 connectors. This convenience eliminates the mess of cables that would otherwise hang out the front of the card cage. In addition to a cleaner card cage design, it is also much easier to insert and replace boards into the system. The only requirement is substitution of a VME64 backplane for the standard VME backplane in the system. And with the company's 80mm transition modules (Trans-200), all 200 I/O points are easily ported out the back of the cage.

For easy integration of the carrier card and IP modules with real time software application programs, the company offers C libraries for VxWorks and other operating systems. The libraries provide generic routines (source code included) to handle reads, writes, interrupts, and other functions. Demonstration programs enable the developer to quickly exercise the I/O modules before attaching the routines to the application. This diagnostic tool can save hours of troubleshooting and debugging.

The IP mezzanine's modular format enables multiple functions and high-density I/O on a single board to lower costs and save card slots. With its rugged design, open architecture, and high performance, the IP concept is suitable for a wide variety of I/O applications. Typical uses include data acquisition, process control, test and measurement, motion control, and network data communication.

Acromag, Incorporated, 30765 S. Wixom Rd., Wixom, MI 48393-7037. Tel: 248-624-1541; Fax: 248-624-9234.