PCI-ICM-2S

The PCI-ICM-2S serial communications card can be installed in five-volt PCI-bus computer slots and provides effective communication on long lines in noisy environments. Data lines are opto-isolated from the computer and from each other to assure communication even when large common mode voltages and noise are imposed.

By means of jumper placement on the card, each port can be set up for either RS-485 or RS-422 operation. RS-422 operation uses differential balanced line drivers for long range and high noise immunity. RS-485 operation improves on that by providing multi-drop capability for as many as 32 devices. RS-485 communication requires that one device on the network provide a bias voltage to ensure a known "zero" state when all transmitters are off. Also, receiver inputs at each end of the network should be terminated to avoid "ringing". Both ports on PCI-ICM-2S support those needs by means of jumpers on the cards.

The card supports half-duplex and full-duplex communications in 2- and 4-wire cable connections. Half duplex allows traffic to travel in both directions, but only one way at a time. In full-duplex operation, data travels both ways at the same time. Most RS-485 communications use the half-duplex mode because only a single pair of wires needs to be used and installation costs are dramatically reduced. In RS-485 operation the driver must be enabled and disabled as needed to allow all cards to share a two wire or four wire cable. Control circuits on PCI-ICM-2S enable the driver when data are to be transmitted. When transmission is complete, the driver remains enabled for the transmission time of one additional character and then is automatically disabled. The receiver at that port is disabled during transmission time and then enabled at the completion of data transmission.

Type 16550 UART's are used. These include 16-byte FIFO buffers to protect against data loss in multitasking operating systems. A crystal oscillator is located on the card. This oscillator and supporting circuits provides means for precise selection of baud rates up to 115,200. Rates up to 460,800 are available by jumper selection.

Drivers and Downloads

Full list of available Downloads: Software Packages, Drivers, Manuals, and other documents

Information about our Free Software packages:

ACCES is proud to provide a full suite of software support with every Data Acquisition product. We are committed to supporting the most popular operating systems and platforms for our customers. Currently we are actively supporting Windows XP through Windows 10, including "Server 2008," "Embedded," and "Compact" flavors in both 32-bit and 64-bit for all plug-and-play products including PCI, PCI Express, USB, and more. Many products continue to ship with support for additional operating systems such as DOS, Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, and 2000.

Samples

Among the software we deliver with our products are sample programs in a wide variety of programming languages. These samples are used to demonstrate the software interfaces to our products — and many can be used as-is in your production environments, or to test functionality of the devices out-of-the-box. We're currently actively supporting sample programs in Visual C# and Delphi with many devices including samples in Visual Basic and Visual C/C++, as well as Borland C/C++ 3.1 for DOS. Additionally we provide National Instruments LabVIEW compatible DLLs and demonstration VIs for many of our devices.

Drivers

Drivers for various operating systems are also provided, including active support for Windows XP -> 10 — all in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, and including consumer, server, and embedded varieties — as well as the Linux kernels 2.6 and newer and recent macOS versions. Many products continue to ship with driver support for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT4, and Windows 2000, but support for these operating systems is considered deprecated.

Setup Programs and Utilites

Our Data Acquisition devices also include a graphical setup utility that walks you through the process of configuring any option jumpers or switches on the device, as well as explaining a little about the various connectors present.

Many devices also include utility programs - little tools to make your use of the device easier, such as WinRISC, a "Really Incredibly Simple Communications" terminal program that lets you get started instantly with serial devices.

"Register Level" Documentation

Besides all this software in all these languages and operating systems ACCES has a policy of open and transparent development: none of our lowest-level "register" interfaces are hidden from you — we document every register in every bus card, every command in every serial board, and every usb control transfer in every USB Data Acquisition board. These lowest-level interfaces allow you to develop for our products in ANY operating system or language, regardless of our actively supporting it or having a driver for it. We have customers actively developing in ADA, Android, Python, Java, MATLAB, Solaris, and more, just by referring to our complete low-level interface documentation! And we provide the full source code to all of our drivers, regardless of operating system, to give you an even bigger head start in your own development tasks.

No Fees or Royalties

All of this software is provided at no additional charge, and is licensed under any of a variety of flexible — and royalty free — options. Check out our software license explanation if you'd like more information.

Custom Software

ACCES also offers Custom Software Services for our products. Our prices are unbelievably low, often as inexpensive as free! If you need something tweaked to support your needs, or an entire enterprise application developed from scratch, it is definitely worth your time to inquire with us, first.

Further information about available ACCES Software:

Redistributing Windows Drivers

A list of ACCES drivers and the files that compose them under different versions of Windows, so you can easily redistribute ACCES cards and drivers.

Specifications

Communications

• Serial Ports: Two shielded male D-sub 9-pin connectors compatible with RS-485 and RS-422 specifications.
• Serial Data Rates: Up to 115,200 baud, asynchronous. A faster range of rates, up to 460,800 baud, is achieved by jumper selection on the card.
• Asynchronous Communication Element: Type 16550 UART which includes 16-byte FIFO.
• Receiver Input Sensitivity: ±200 mV differential input.
• Common Mode Voltage Rejection: +12V to -7V.
• Transmitter Output Drive Capability: 60 mA.

Environmental

• Operating Temperature Range: 0° to +60° C.
• Storage Temperature Range: -50° to +120° C.
• Humidity: 5% to 95%, non-condensing.
• Power Required: +5VDC at 125 mA typical, +12VDC at 5 mA typical, 750 mW total power consumption.
• Size: 6.15" long (156mm) by 3.875" high (98mm)

Regulatory Compliance

• This product is in full compliance with CE requirements.