Modular PCI Interface Cards

Aerospace and Electronic Systems

General:

The architecture of this range of PCI cards enables a user to quickly design modules to suite any data acquisition requirement. There are two base card formats. The half length PCI interface card accommodates up to two user installable modules. The full length PCI interface card can accommodate up to four user installable modules. Each module is supported on the base card by eight 4-byte wide cyclic memory buffers. Each cyclic buffer is 1024 words (4-byte) deep. Typical modules available from Sycos include interfaces to ARINC-429, ARINC-629 and RS-422. Each module can be designed to support up to 8 Receive or 8 Transmit channels.

The base card has been designed to provide configuration registers that allow the host to:

   Automatically identify the base card and its revision status

   Automatically identify which, if any, modules are fitted to the base card and their revision status

   Identify connector cables connected to the card

   Assign address space for the card's data buffer memory and registers. (Plug-in and Play)

   Control and monitor the PCI bus interface to the card

   Read card interrupt configuration as assigned by the POST software as it initialises and configures the system

The base card design supports the resident interface modules with:

   Up to 32 Cyclic Data Buffers, each with a capacity for 1k x 4 byte words

   Each module may have up to 8 channels, each with its own Cyclic Data Buffer

   Direct access to the Cyclic Data Buffer Read / Write Pointers

   PCI interrupts on Module Events

   Direct access to Module registers and application memory

   Interface compatible with PCI Local bus Specification, revision 2.1, June 1995

The card is designed to be used in a "Plug-in and Play" environment which is made possible, not only by the choice of PCI interface, but also by the provision of various identification and module present registers. These include:

   Device ID

   Vendor ID

   Subsystem ID

   Subsystem Vendor ID

   Module Present

   Connector ID / Present

   Module ID

Using these registers the host can detect the presence of the card, its resident modules and its connector, determine if this is consistent with system requirements and respond accordingly by configuring the system or reporting system deficiencies. The cards do not require any specific hardware configuration other than fitting the correct modules and connectors. Any errors in the fitting of Modules and connectors can easily be detected by the software and appropriate warnings reported.

Cyclic Data Buffers:

The base card provides high speed PCI interfacing to 16 (32 for the full size card) Cyclic Data buffers, eight of which are available for each resident module.

Each channel associated with a module is automatically assigned to be either a Tx Channel or a Rx Channel.

The user is free to read and write to any of the Cyclic Buffers independent of their type (Tx or Rx). However, the Cyclic Buffer data transfer system only responds in strict accordance to the channel type. That is, it will transfer data, written to a Tx Cyclic Buffer, to the appropriate module channel and write received data to the corresponding Rx Cyclic Buffer.

The Cyclic Buffers are controlled according to simple rules. The buffer read and write pointers can be read by the host to assist in the data transfer process.

In practice, the user writes data for transmission to consecutive long word locations in the Cyclic Buffer. Only valid bytes are transmitted.

Receive data is automatically written to consecutive byte locations in the cyclic buffer.

Interrupt Facilities:

PCI interrupts can be generated for both DMA and Module events. Interrupt Control and status registers are provided for enabling interrupts and determining which events occur.

Module Control:

Separate user manuals are provided for each module. Modules have a maximum of 8 channels that can be used for either transmission or reception of data. Modules may also have registers and memory accessible to the user. Access to this register and memory address space is relatively slow compared with that of the Cyclic Buffers and is therefore only intended for configuration and control purposes.

Specification:
Power Requirements (maximum)	+ 5V at 2.5 A + 12V at 400 mA - 12V at 400 mA
Connector Type	2-Module Base Card 68 pin SCSI 4- Module Base Card 100 pin SCSI
Operating Temperature	0° C to + 70° C
Storage Temperature	- 25° C to + 85° C
Relative Humidity	0 to 95% (non condensing)

	Ordering Information, Variants & Modules:
SyPCI-M2 :	General Purpose 1/2 size PCI interface supporting 16 channels
SyPCI-M4 :	General Purpose full size PCI interface supporting 32 channels
Sy429PCI-RT44 :	ARINC-429 Module with 4 Tx and 4 Rx channels
Sy429PCI-R8:	ARINC 429 Module with 8Rx channels
Sy429PCI-T8:	ARINC 429 Module with 8Tx channels
Sy422PCI-RT44 :	RS-422 Module with 4 Tx and 4 Rx channels

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