This rugged board is made to handle harsh environments in defense, aerospace and space applications. It offers several I/O capabilities, including ARINC-429, analog-to-digital, digital-to-analog, audio and discretes. It's perfect for general-purpose airborne applications like manned and unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopter platforms, with a new single-slot C437 accommodating I/O for a large number of sensors and actuators. There are independent power and ground domains for each of the C437's analog, digital and discrete I/O sections, isolating each signal from the other, maintaining signal integrity and minimizing cross-coupled noise. The board's new I/O components include 24 AEEC-compliant ARINC-429 channels that support both high and low-speed configurations, 60 single-ended discrete inputs, 2 differential inputs and 41 single-ended discrete outputs, plus four opto-isolated, -10 to +10V, 16-bit differential analog imputs and four -10 to +10V differential analog outputs. The board can store and play back prerecorded audio messages through an MP3 player with stereo audio output and dedicated Flash and SRAM memory. The C437 can decode and play MP3+V, WAV, PCM and MPEG 1 & 2 audio layer 3 files, plus run-time messages and uses a VMEbus bridge in a FPGA logic device, offering slave VMEbus capabilities, and support for A32/D08/D16/ D32 data transfer to and from any standard host board. The host is free to perform other tasks too, as the FPGA logic device offers full autonomous control over onboard functions. The C437 works well with moderately-powered systems, using only 14W of power. It comes in both conduction and air-cooled models, and is fully compliant with IEEE 1101.2. It has a metal thermal frame for vibration and shock control, plus added heat paths for less thermal impedance. The board has built-in self tests and integrated RTOS drivers, which include VxWorks and Integrity, for control/status and access to all the C437's I/O modules from the VMEbus host card. Other popular real-time operating system drivers are available by request.
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
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At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
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From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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