CompactPCI card masters role as DSO

The GaGe CompuScope 14100C is a 6U form factor CompactPCI digitiser card that can sample analogue signals at speeds of up to 100Msample/s with 14bit resolution and store the data in onboard memory.

The GaGe CompuScope 14100C, now available exclusively in the UK from TTi (Thurlby Thandar Instruments), is a 6U form factor CompactPCI digitiser card that can sample analogue signals at speeds of up to 100Msample/s with 14bit resolution and store the data in the onboard memory.

The CompuScope 14100C uses two monolithic subranging A/D convertors, each running at 50Msample/s, to provide a dual-channel simultaneous sampling rate of 50Msample/s.

In the single-channel mode the two ADCs are clocked in a 'ping-pong' mode to achieve up to 100Msample/s sampling.

An onboard crystal-controlled timing circuit ensures timebase accuracy and long-term thermal stability.

The onboard autocalibration circuitry allows the two channels to be matched in order to reduce the image signal.

In order to isolate the high-frequency analogue circuitry from CompactPCI bus-related digital electronics, a two-board 'piggyback' configuration is used.

This scheme allows maximum separation of analogue and digital grounds, thereby providing high immunity to digital noise.

The CompuScope 14100C is available with a memory depth of 1Msample (14bit samples).

This memory can be used as a circular buffer for storage of pre- and post-trigger data.

In the single-channel mode, the maximum number of sample points is equal to the memory depth of the CompuScope 14100C model being used, whereas in the dual-channel mode the maximum number of sample points is half the memory depth.

The data stored in the CompuScope 14100C memory can be transferred to the system's RAM for post-processing, display or storage to hard disk without any interface bus.

The high-speed 32bit bus-mastering interface to the CompactPCI bus allows the data from the onboard memory of the CompuScope 14100C to be transferred to system RAM or to any other CompactPCI destination at sustained rates of up to 80Mbyte/s under single-tasking operating systems.

Under Windows, this rate depends on the architecture of the user application.

Under controlled conditions, it is still possible to achieve 80Mbyte/s transfer speed to the system RAM.

The CompuScope 14100C is fully capable of becoming a CompactPCI bus master in order to transfer data at the maximum rate of 80Mbyte/s.

A CompactPCI bus master is a card which can take control of the bus and transfer data to any CompactPCI target device such as system RAM or a SDP card without any involvement from the CPU.

The CompuScope 14100C features state-of-the-art analogue triggering.

An analogue comparator provides triggering from either one of the input channels, from an external signal or from software.

In addition to the trigger source, trigger level and slope are also selectable by software, making the trigger system similar to that of traditional oscilloscopes.

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