Press Releases September 2006

New Versions of the Serial Interface-Board ME-9000

Serial I/O board with "total isolation"

Serial boards conforming the RS232/RS422/485 standard are used for transferring data from PC to PC or for controlling external instrumentation, Fieldbus-networked systems, or peripheral equipment. Examples of common applications are POS systems and information-booth systems (point-of-sales/retail and point-of-information systems), ATMs, ticket-vending machines, parking-ticket validators, barcode readers, and ID/security systems. The ME-9000 generation of serial boards from Meilhaus Electronic, which is now available in a floating, opto-isolated, ME-9000p version, is ideal for all of them. These boards are equipped with “island” channels, i.e., all channels resemble individually isolated islands, and each port has its own ground, i.e., has no common grounds with PCs or any of the other ports. The result is total channel-channel and channel-PC electrical isolation. Such opto-isolated ports are necessary whenever, for example, electrostatic discharges (ESD) generate interference that affects the interfaces of POS systems located in salesrooms with synthetic floor coverings, the transmitters and receivers of industrial data-communications systems have differing electrical potentials, or motors starting up or switching operations induce spiking on data-transmission lines. The ME-9000p is available in versions for use on standard PCI-bus or 3 U CompactPCI/PXI bus systems, either of which is available in a 3.3 V version or 5 V version. All lines are opto-isolated up to 1,000 V, ESD protected up to 15 kV, and optionally have 2, 4, or 8 half-duplex/full-duplex RS232 or RS422/485 serial ports, or mixed (half-duplex RS232 and half-duplex RS422/485) serial ports, and are capable of reaching data rates of 1 MBaud. The board also has a standard, 16 bit resolution counter with 8 multifunction, digital TTL lines that may be operated as conventional digital channels and bit-wise programmed as inputs or outputs or assigned certain functions, such as acting as an interrupt input or an output line for a counter event. A 2-conductor, 4-conductor, or 8-conductor cable, depending upon the model involved, for connecting their 78-pin, female D-sub connector to 9-pin male D-sub connectors is included. High-tensile-strength, shielded lines equipped with grounded connectors with metallised plastic shells are optionally available. Eight-slot interface boards and eight-slot interface boxes equipped with 9-pin d-sub connectors or RJ45 connectors are also available.

Users receive the ME-Power-CD-ROM providing complete software support for Windows 2000/XP, Visual C++, Delphi, Visual Basic, Borland C/C Builder, Linux, and QNX free of charge. The “smart” Windows driver for the ME-9000p fully integrates all ports into user systems as though they were perfectly “normal” standard interfaces on the PC’s motherboard, but having the special features of these interface boards, such as high-speed baud rates and generously dimensioned FIFO buffers. Like the RS232 model, the RS422/485 version is also integrated into overall Windows systems such that it may be addressed as a perfectly “normal” interface. The boards’ ports may also be used standard COM ports under the Agilent VEE or LabVIEW graphic programming environments. German and English manuals in the pdf file format for Adobe Acrobat Reader are also on the CD-ROM.

The ME-9000 is also available in an unisolated TTL version, or as Model “i,” which is equipped with “conventional” opto-isolation, i.e., has a common ground, for use in uncritical applications.

ME-9000p

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