User manual

Chapter 1: Introduction
2
About the PowerDAQ board
This chapter describes the basic features of the PowerDAQ boards.
Overview
Thank you for purchasing a PowerDAQ board. The PowerDAQ board
was designed from the ground-up to overcome the problems associated
with previous ISA-based data acquisition boards.
The associated PowerDAQ software has been written specifically for
these products, using advanced software design.
Features
The major features of the PowerDAQ board are:
• 24-bit 80/100 MHz Motorola 56301 DSP (Digital Signal
Processor)
• PCI Bus Host PC Interface (PCI 2.1 Compliant)
• Custom designed programmable gain amplifier
• Analog Input - 16/64 channels- 12, 14 or 16 bit AD
resolutions
• Analog Output - 2 channels - 2K DSP based FIFO
• Digital In – 16 inputs (24 on PDL-MF)
• Digital Out – 16 outputs (24 on PDL-MF)
• Three Counter/Timers (8254) – 3 Clock In/Gate control
• Auto calibration (3 24-bit DSP shared counters on PDL-
MF)
• Extensive triggering and clocking of Analog Input
• Extensive triggering and clocking of Analog Output
• Simultaneous Analog In, Analog Out, Digital In, Digital
Out and Counter/Timer operations
Note For the full list of specifications,
see Appendix A:
Specifications.