72-channel digital I/O card for the PCI bus

September 2004 Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration

The MIC-3753 from ProMicro is a 72-channel digital I/O card for the PCI bus that emulates mode 0 of the 8255 PPI chip with buffered circuits offering a higher driving capability. The 96 I/O lines are divided into 12 eight-bit I/O ports, and each port can be configured as input or output via software.

The MIC-3753 uses a PCI controller to interface the card to the PCI bus. This controller fully implements the PCI bus specification Rev.21 and all bus relative configurations such as base address and interrupt assignments are automatically controlled by software.

Each digital input channel accepts either 0 to 5 V d.c. wet or dry contact inputs. The dry contact capability allows the channels to respond to changes in external circuitry, such as the closing of a switch in the external circuitry, when no voltage is present in the external circuit.

When the system is hot reset the MIC-3753 can either retain the value of the last I/O port settings and outputs, or return to its default configuration, depending on the jumper setting. This function protects the system from malfunctioning during unexpected system resets.

Two interrupt request signals can be generated at the same time and the software can process these signals by ISR providing the card with more capability and flexibility. The 'Pattern Match' and 'Change of State' interrupt functions are provided for critical I/O monitoring. These interrupt functions release the CPU from the burden of polling all I/O points, enabling a PC to handle more I/O points with higher performance.

For more information contact Elton Prytz, ProMicro, 011 706 7913, info@promicro.co.za, www.promicro.co.za

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