Press releases July 2011

The new Data Acquisition board generation – ME-5000

Fast Digital and flexible FPGA-boards

With the ME-5100 and ME-5100/FPGA Meilhaus Electronic introduces the first of their newest PC-board generation. The heart of the ME-5000 series is the highly flexible design, based on an FPGA. The first versions will be available as 3 HU compact PCI with PCI-express versions soon to follow.

The ME-5100 is a fast digital I/O-board with two 10bit ports. Input/output rates of up to 66MHz per 16bit port are possible, depending on the mode of operation (single/streaming). Thanks to the DMA-Busmaster-architecture the ME-5100 can transfer 32bits of data directly into or from the RAM of the PC with a bandwidth of up to 25MHz. The voltage levels can be user set to 3.3V or 5V. Most models can be further expanded through the use of mezzanine modules, such as a module that provides two bi-directional 8bit TTL-ports.

The ME-5100/FPGA is a fast digital I/O board that can be programmed to customer requirements. A free development environment is used to design the heart of the FPGA-chip on the board. The finished design is then loaded into the FPGA-chip as “Bitstream” (firmware). This can be done when powering up the PC or even during operation. The DMS-Busmaster architecture allows a bandwidth of up to 25MHz of 32bit wide data for the data transfer of the board to the PC.

The cards of the ME-5000 series are all supported by the well-proven Meilhaus intelligent driver system ME-iDS. These drivers support the operating systems Windows and Linux and languages such as LabVIEW, Agilent VEE Pro, MCD TestManager CE (test sequencer), COSATEQ SCALE-RT (real-time, HIL-simulation), C/C++/C#, Delphi, Visual Basic, Python and others. ME-iDS also supports the loading of the firmware for the FPGA-model. The ME-Synapse LAN can be used to run the Me-5000 boards as well as all other compact-PCI products by Meilhaus Electronic via Ethernet.

More models of this series are soon to follow. The next in line are an optically isolated digital board and a potential-free analogue board.

ME-5100, ME-5100/FPGA

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Convert and use 3 U compactPCI/PXI boards as PCI-Express via cable

ME-Synapse Express

With the ME-Synapses the measurement technologies specialist Meilhaus Electronic has created the ingenious combination of bus-converter, housing and remote system. The ME-Synapses convert standard ME-boards into Ethernet/LAN or USB by simply plugging the board into the chassis and having it convert the interface into Ethernet/LAN or USB. The proven Meilhaus Electronic intelligent Driver System or ME-iDS makes it as easy as that, because it makes calls to the board no difference, whether it is a board integrated into a local PC or a board in a remote ME-Synapse.

New to this family of ME-Synapses are the two models for the PCIexpress interface. The housings themselves are identical to those of the ME-Synapse LAN or ME-Synapse LAN XL and offer 2 or 6 slots of the 3 U PICMG compactPCI-standard (only J1 bus connectors). The ME-Synapse Express is simply connected to a PC or laptop via a PCIexpress cable. Special boards and adapters are available to provide the PCIexpress interface in a PC or portable computer. Because the system is completely transparent, it is not only possible to integrate boards by Meilhaus Electronic but also boards by other manufacturers that are compatible with the 3 U compactPCI standard, while using their own drivers. Agilent Technologies, ZTEC Instruments, Göpel and others have been tested with positive results.

ME-boards in conjunction with the ME-iDS offer support of Windows, Linux, LabVIEW, Agilent VEE Pro, MCD TestManager CE (test sequences), COSATEQ SCALE-RT (realtime, HIL simulation), C/C++/C#, Delphi, Visual Basic, Python and others.

ME-Synapse Express

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