Architecture
GX5050/GC5050-DIO Block Diagram
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The GX5050/GC5050 provide real-time digital stimulus and capture with 32 pins per card. Up to 16 cards can be daisy chained for a total of 512 pins. The 32 pins can be configured as input or output in groups of eight. The direction of each group may be changed dynamically within the sequencer, externally, or both.
Clock and strobe signals are distributed to the cards via a daisy-chained ribbon cable. These signals can be generated internally or externally. The external control signals allow full synchronization with the unit under test (UUT) and minimize the initialization part of the test. The algorithmic sequencer lets you create loops and branches to maniplulate the output vectors. ALl of the sequencer commands can be conditioned by using the external event bus. This gives the GX5050/GC5050 the capability to generate test vectors indefinitely at maximum test rates. Internal and external trigger and pause commands are available in several modes. The on-board memory is configurable from 768KB to 12MB and is user upgradeable. Separate memories are provided for output data, response data, and test step sequencing commands. The separate memory for response data lets the application read the activity on the UUT pins independent of the bi-directional mode. This important feature is lacking in most other high-speed digital I/O cards.
I/O Architecture
The GX5050/GC5050 offers a variety of I/O modules. The I/O modules are daughter cards that mount on the GX5050/GC5050 boards. Available I/O modules include TTL, PECL, ECL, Programmable Levels, Frequency Doubler, and LVDS.
Software
GC5050 Panel |
The GX5050/GC5050 is supplied with DIOEasy, a software package that includes vector editing, a virtual panel stand-alone application, driver, and online documentation.
The virtual panel can be used to interactively control the instrument from a window that displays the current instruments settings and allows you to control and change them.
The driver is a library of functions is used to control and change the instruments settings from within your application. The instrument driver is provided for the Windows operating system (32-bit DLL). In addition to the driver library, various interface files provide access to the library from your favorite programming tools and languages. These interface files support programming from ATEasy, Microsoft and Borland C/C++, Microsoft Visual Basic, Borland Delphi, and more. |