Strategic Test, BaseXIO, PCI card

Digital I/O option allows Oscilloscope and AWG cards to control external equipment

News Release from: Strategic Test
22/05/2007

Strategic Test has announced the BaseXIO option for the company's series of UltraFast Oscilloscope and Arbitrary Wafeform Generator (AWG) cards. The new low-cost option adds eight asynchronous TTL channels to the PCI card. While an additional PC connector panel is provided, OEM's that integrate the UltraFast card within a larger system can route the digital cables internally for maximum convenience.

The BaseXIO channels are completely independent of the high-speed function of the oscilloscope or AWG card. They can be used to control external equipment, acquire test signals or read/write status information. Some channels also offer special trigger and reference clock functions.

The eight BaseXIO connectors are mounted directly on the UF2 PCI carrier board and are equipped with MMCX connectors. They are attached internally via coax cable and with right-angle MMCX connectors to a PCI connector plate with eight SMB connectors.

Each group of four channels can be set as an input or output. Two of the channels can be used as additional TTL trigger inputs and combined in AND/OR functions with the card’s standard external trigger input. One application of this is to create a trigger gate to generate a trigger for video signals when the gate rises at the start of a frame.

If the Time Stamp function of the UF2 card is used, it is possible to acquire the BaseXIO channels synchronously at the trigger events together with the timestamps. The synchronous acquisition with the timestamps is independent of the BaseXIO configuration.

The price of the BaseXIO option is $590. Strategic Test also offers a similar option called Extra I/O for its range of PXI and CompactPCI instrument cards.