UF2e-7010

Overview

The UF2e high-speed Digital I/O cards are used to record or generate digital signals with clock rates of up to 125 MHz. Applications include testing electronic components (e.g. ADC's, DAC's, FPGA's) and electronic systems. Compared to traditional Logic Analysers, these cards are less expensive and have memory depths of up to 4GigaBytes. At slower clock rates the cards can also be used in a streaming mode that allows recording to hard disks. The Strategic Test cards are designed to offer maximum versatility, ease of programming, long-term reliability and low power consumption. Manufactured in Germany the instrument cards include a two year hardware warranty combined with lifetime technical support and software updates - which includes new drivers for future operating systems and third-party software.

Digital Inputs and Outputs

The UF2e-7010 high-speed Digital I/O card card allows you to record or generate digital signals with clock rates from 1 kHz to 125 MHz on 8 or 16 bits. When using the 8-bit mode all of the card memory can be used allowing longer recording or replay times – a feature that's unique to the ST cards. The inputs are 3.3V and 5V TTL compatible, while the outputs are 3.3V TTL compatible. The input impedance is software selectable to either 50 Ohm and 110 Ohm.

Simultaneous Input and Output

With the UF2e-7010 the direction of the bits is programmed before the card is started and can't be changed while it is running. All 16 bits (or 8 bits when using that mode) have to be set to either input or output. If you want to record and generate simultaneously then you can either use two cards (which may be clock synchronized using the Star Hub option) or you could use the UF2e-7020 and UF2e-7021 models that have this capability.

Deep Signal Memory and Streaming to the PC

The Digital I/O cards are supplied as standard with 256 MBytes signal memory. This can be expanded as a cost-option at the factory in binary increments up to 4 GBytes. It's also possible with the UF2e-7000 series to stream the data continuously to stream the data to or from the PC RAM. A RAID controller and multiple hard disks cold also be used. When streaming is used much longer signals can be recorded or output than is possible using only the card memory.

Unlike older the PCI and PCI-X bus where the bus is shared, PCI Express x1 has the advantage that every slot has a maximum continuous transfer rate ('streaming') of up to 120 MBytes/s. This means if four cards are installed, that the total system transfer rate is up to 480 MBytes/s. Note that the limit of 120 MBytes/s is determined by current motherboards; the UF2e card is able to transfer up to 160 MBytes/s.

Sampling Clock

Unlike other manufacturers cards that offer a limited choice of fixed sample rates, the UF2e cards allow you to obtain a sampling rate with a fine degree of accuracy by using one of the six different modes available that use a combination of internal 10 MHz reference clock, PLL, hardware divider, quartz clock, external reference clock and external clock. There is also a factory option to install a second quartz for applications that require highest accuracy and stability at a customer-specific sample rate. The external clock connector can be programmed as either an input or as an output when you want to synchronize external equipment.

Flexible Triggering

You can choose from 9 external TTL trigger modes and 10 internal trigger modes, including software and channel pattern trigger. Many of the channel trigger modes can be independently set for each input channel, which increases the range of triggering options. The UF2e-7010 has two external TTL trigger lines for feeding in a trigger signal and then generating a trigger output of the internal trigger event. In addition, the XBaseIO option can be used to AND/OR two more external trigger inputs.

Synchronization

The Star Hub option is available in two versions that synchronize the clock and trigger signals of either up to 5 cards or 16 cards within the PC. Systems with hundreds of digital I/O lines can be perfectly synchronized. It's also possible to configure mixed mode systems that contain a mixture of digitizer, arbitrary waveform generator and high-speed digital I/O instrument cards.

This option only needs to be purchased for one card in the system and consists of a small daughterboard that is factory-installed to the card. The clock and trigger signals are then distributed by small ribbon cables to this and the other cards. The 16 card version being larger in size does require an additional PCI slot width.

For larger configurations, the System Star Hub option allows up to 271 cards to be synchronized by distributing the clock and trigger signals across up to 17 PC's.

Advantage of PCI Express for instrumentation

Read an application note on the advantages of PCI Express here .

Applications

Typical applications include: Electronic component and system test or development

What's Included?

We believe that the Strategic Test instrument cards offer the best price vs performance and lowest cost-of ownership available. The following items are included:

• 256 MByte onboard memory
• +100 page printed user manual
• SDK's for Microsoft Windows and Linux
• Example source code programs for Visual Basic, Visual C++, Borland C++ Builder, Gnu C, Borland Delphi, VB.NET, C#, J#
• SBench measurement and generation program
• Two year hardware warranty, optional 5 years
• Lifetime technical support
• Lifetime updates for Windows and Linux SDK's, including future versions
• Lifetime updates for optional third-party drivers (if purchased), also future version releases

Specifications

Options

Application options

Cables

Software

Pricing

Questions