PCIe MiniCard Adds Serial Ports To Harsh-Environment Embedded Apps

Diamond Systems unveiled a rugged, low-cost, multiprotocol PCIe MiniCard that provides safe, high-speed serial connectivity in harsh environments where isolation is an important factor. The 30- by 51-mm DS-MPE-SER4OPT module offers four RS-232/RS-485 optoisolated serial ports; each port features 16C550 compatibility and ultra-deep, 256-byte Tx/Rx FIFOs. In RS-232 mode, maximum data rate is 1 Mbit/s; RS-485 reaches 10 Mbits/s. Preconfiguration options are four RS-232 ports, four RS-485 ports, or a combination of two RS-232 and two RS-485 ports. Two miniature latching connectors provide I/O signals (two ports per connector). Each pair of serial ports offers up to 500-V isolation from the system ground. SP336 multimode transceivers support all modes. A programmable slew rate minimizes ringing on long or un-terminated cables. Operating temperature ranges from −40 to +85°C. The board can be custom-configured with 0-Ω resistors in place of jumper blocks to increase ruggedness. It supports Windows Embedded Standard 7, XP, Vista, and Linux 2.6.xx.

DIAMOND SYSTEMS CORP.