Acquisition systems add reach with fibre

An United Electronic Industries product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Jan 9, 2007

United Electronic Industries (UEI) has released the DNA-FPPC series of 100Base-FX based data acquisition and control cubes.

United Electronic Industries (UEI) has released the DNA-FPPC series of 100Base-FX based data acquisition and control cubes.

The fibre interface extends the maximum distance between a PowerDNA I/O cube and its host computer from the 100m Ethernet/100Base-T limitation to 2km.

The 2km limitation reflects the use of standard, off-the-shelf multimode fibre.

A single-mode fibre interface is also available to extend the maximum distance between the computer and an PowerDNA FPPC series cube to 20km.

The FPPC cubes are ideal for distributed data acquisition and control in large facilities or in any application where the host computer must be remote from the I/O subsystem.

In addition to dramatically extending the range of the PowerDNA interface, fibre has the advantage of being virtually immune to all forms of electromagnetic interference.

This makes it ideal in high noise environments such as factory floors, HVAC installations and power plants.

The fibre link also offers virtually infinite electrical isolation between the host computer and the I/O cube.

This makes it the perfect communications link in applications where the host computer and I/O system may be on different legs of the power grid, where ground leakage current may compromise measurement accuracy, or where lightning strikes are a realistic possibility.

"The fibre interface development was driven by requests from our customers", according to UEI President Shaun Miller: "We have had requests for PowerDNA cubes that will function two miles below the ocean surface, over a five mile grid in the dessert, and up a 2000 metre mountain".

"Of course, we have also had requests for more common applications where I/O cubes need to be installed on the opposite ends of a production line".

Pricing for the DNA-FPPC5 100Base-FX based Cube with three I/O slots starts at US $1395, and for the DNA-FPPC8 100Base-FX based Cube with six I/O slots $1595.