|
All of our data acquisition solutions start with standard communication interfaces and conform to the “digital system on a module” approach to maintain consistency across our FIO product family. From there, high-performance application-specific hardware interfaces are added per the customer’s design requirements. Plenty of VHDL and software code examples are provided so the designer can move quickly through the design process.
If you are looking for our RX62Ncore module, visit our RX products section.
Standard Communications
Over time, our FIO products have evolved from PCI to high speed serial communication protocols such as USB2.0 and Ethernet. Currently, RPA supports 10/100 Ethernet, USB2.0 (both full and high speed) and CAN bus. In the near future, we’ll introduce a line of Gigabit Ethernet and USB3.0 “Super Speed” based FIO products.
For the test and measurement industry, RPA even offers a FIO module featuring IEEE 1588 (Precision Time Protocol).
Digital ”System On a Module” FIO Family
With many data acquisition systems, the interface to the real world can be complex. Modern microcontrollers (MCU) such as the Renesas RX62N do a great job of interfacing. They offer a long list of peripherals ranging from common digital functionality to specialized analog ADC and DAC functions.
The FIO product family compliments the MCU with the addition of a FPGA and optional SDRAM. The engineer can now design and add functions that run in parallel inside the FPGA, yielding a high performance real-time acquisition system.
The optional SDRAM allows the engineer to double buffer and/or store application data. The addition of SDRAM also allows the engineer to minimize overhead on non-real-time operating systems by only sending data to the Host on an as-needed basis.
RPA has a wide range of standard data acquisition products that our customers can integrate into their systems or products. With our open source daughterboard interfaces, customers can even design their own hardware to interface with our FIO products.
miFIO
The miFIO is our soon to be newest member to our FIO line of products. By combining an Altera Cyclone 3C5 FPGA to the RX62N MCU, the miFIO becomes a powerful digital system on a module. With the onboard FPGA, the designer can implement advanced data acquisition, processing or system control functions. To further reduce the design effort, RPA supplies software and VHDL code examples.
Additional features include fully supported FreeRTOS, Ethernet, USB2.0, I/O expansion connectors and a broad range of peripherals including ADCs and DACs. Test and measurement professionals will be pleased to note that the RX62N-FIO supports the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) standard.
By using the miFIO, system designers can leverage our expertise to free up their time and allow them to focus on other aspects of their product.
uFIO
The uFIO is our USB2.0 High Speed (480Mb/s) FIO module. If the designer needs to stream large amounts of data to a Host PC, the uFIO is up to the task. With the onboard SDRAM and Altera Cyclone 3C10 FPGA, the designer is starting with the necessary H/W components that allow them to implement high performance acquisition systems.
With (2) 80-pin expansion connectors; the designer has access up to 96 channels of programmable I/O from the FPGA and peripheral functions from the USB2.0 (High Speed) MCU.
The uFIO was sized to mount to PICO form factor (70 x 100mm) Intel based motherboards, allowing for secure and compact packaging with a COTS host PC.
As with all our products, RPA supplies Windows and Linux operating system drivers as well as VHDL and firmware example code.
HVIO
The HVIO addresses high voltage and high current DC I/O requirements. A single HVIO supports 48 or 96 ports of high power DC I/O, giving the user 2-3 times the density of more costly off-the-shelf solutions. The I/O drivers have a long list of features including incandescent and inductive load control, output-specific diagnostics, over temperature protection and fault logic that senses potentially hazardous conditions such as over/under voltage and shorted load to name a few. These features combine to form a configurable I/O solution robust enough for use in the most hostile application environments.
Roadmap
RPA will continue to add high performance cards to our family of standard products. This includes expanding our FIO cards and I/O specific cards like the HVIO-FIO.
Custom Products
RPA can also provide a complete product solution for our customers, from design to production. Over the years and many projects, our experience has covered a broad spectrum of design experience. As with any company with broad design experience, it’s hard to describe in words what we can do for you. Please review the below and if you don’t see what you are looking for just ask us, we would be happy to discuss your project in detail. Click Here To Request More Info
|
