Signal Interface Module offers channel-to-channel isolation.
Press Release Summary:
Designed to fit into backplane in standard industrial enclosure, 8-channel Model MSXB 080 features 8 onboard analog-to-digital converters, which are synchronized to within a few nanoseconds of each other. Each converts analog signal to 16-bit data stream at up to 250k samples/sec for total throughput of 2 million samples/sec. Module includes FPGA programmed to communicate with, be configured by, and respond to commands from digital acquisition processor.
Original Press Release:
Analog Inputs: Isolated - Simultaneous - Fast New Signal Interface (SI) Module Does It All
Bellevue, WA, January 30, 2009 - If you need a sure way to protect your application from ground loops and you want to sample all inputs simultaneously and at a high rate, then take a look at a new product that meets all three requirements. Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor (DAP) boards and network-ready DAPservers, today announced an 8-channel signal interface (SI) module, part number MSXB 080, with eight onboard analog-to-digital converters and channel-to-channel isolation. These eight converters are synchronized to within a few nanoseconds of each other, and each one converts an analog signal to a 16-bit data stream at up to 250k samples/second for a total throughput of two million samples per second. All inputs are differential, and each analog channel is isolated from all the others and from any other system component. You can set the gain of each channel to 1, 2, 5, or 10 in software, and channels can have different gains.
Onboard Intelligence
The new signal interface module joins a growing family of SI modules related to an established family of intelligent products. All SI modules are intelligent: each includes a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) programmed to communicate with, be configured by, and respond to commands from a DAP.
And every DAP is intelligent: each includes an onboard processor running a real-time operating system that communicates with, is configured by, and responds to commands from a PC application. For the application you can use DAPstudio - a Microstar Laboratories product - or a third-party product, like LabVIEW. Or you can write your own. You can run the application on a DAPserver or on any PC on a network. The DAP does not have to be local to the PC that controls it. You communicate with your application on a PC - setting the channel-by-channel gains, for instance - and the software takes care of the details... right down to what happens on the SI module.
Signal Interfacing
SI modules like MSXB 080 fit into a backplane in a standard industrial enclosure as do other products that conform to the hardware specifications of the Microstar Laboratories channel architecture: signal connectors on 3U (100mm high) Eurocard B (220mm deep) boards - Eurocards - that often pre-process a signal. Signals connect to a DB37 male connector or to Wago connectors. A backplane connector on each board connects it to a digital backplane factory-fitted into the industrial enclosure. An interface board that also plugs into the backplane sends digitized waveforms to a DAP board controlled from a PC or DAPserver. Each DAPserver comes in its own industrial enclosure and includes one or more DAPs and a 10-slot Eurocard cage with a preinstalled digital backplane for SI modules like MSXB 080. Separate industrial enclosures are required only when this 10-slot limit is exceeded.
Other SI Modules
You can choose from a range of SI modules for analog input, analog output, analog input and output, and digital input and output. The SI designation is reserved for MSXB products that are intelligent: those that a DAP can communicate with and configure. All new MSXB products are SI modules. The full range of SI modules and earlier MSXB products is described on the company Web site. SI modules all include the level of isolation required to prevent ground loops. Using these boards saves you from having to take other steps against this common nuisance. If spurious currents are corrupting your signals, your application is not doing the job you want it to do.
Conclusion and Next Step
If you need high-speed simultaneous sampling and you want to be sure you are measuring signals and not noise from ground currents then take a close look at the new signal interface (SI) modules described above. You can install these MSXB 080 SI modules in an industrial enclosure and connect them to a DAP board you control from a PC, or you can install them directly into a DAPserver that contains one or more DAPs. You control DAP boards by using DAPstudio - or other Windows software - on any PC or DAPserver on a network.
You can download a full version of DAPstudio to try it out. To try out all its features, you will need a DAP board. The company provides evaluation hardware at no charge. You can order MSXB 080 SI modules at US$1395 each for immediate delivery.
Microstar Laboratories, Inc. claims Microstar Laboratories, Data Acquisition Processor, DAP, and DAPserver as trademarks.
Microsoft Corporation has registered Microsoft and Windows as trademarks.
National Instruments Corporation has registered LabVIEW as a trademark.
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