8-Channel, Strain Gage Simulator Boards

Jan. 14, 2010 - PRLog -- United Electronic Industries (UEI) is pleased to announce the release of the DNx-AO-358 simulated strain gage output boards. The boards are available in two models — the DNA version, for use with UEI’s popular PowerDNA Cubes and the DNR version, for rack-mounting in a PowerDNR RACKtangle or HalfRACK chassis. Both versions provide eight channels of simulated strain gage output based on signals from real variable resistor bridges that accurately duplicate the behavior of the strain gages simulated.

Each version may be ordered in a full or half/quarter bridge configuration with 120, 350, or 1000 ohm bridge completion resistances. These new boards support both DC and AC excitation (DC to25 kHz range) with a system bandwidth of 250 kHz, minimum. The output update rate is 0 to 5 kHz. As an added feature, each board also includes an on-board A/D converter that monitors excitation voltage to an accuracy of ±10 mV.

The boards are ideal for simulator applications in which an on-board device expects a strain gage signal as an input. They are also useful for testing and diagnosing errors in a wide range of strain gage systems.

The DNx-AO-358 boards include software drivers compatible with all popular operating systems such as Windows, Linux, QNX, VXWorks, RTX, and other popular real-time operating systems. Windows users may also take advantage of the powerful UEIDAQ Framework, which provides a simple-to-use software interface to all popular Windows programming languages as well as DAQ, and control applications such as LabVIEW, DASYLab, and MATLAB.

According to UEI President Shaun Miller, “With the new DNx-AO-358, our customers can now design, build, and test systems that require a dynamic strain gage input without having to build a complex physical input device. For example, we are using the 358 ourselves at UEI for production testing of our strain gage analog input boards.”

Pricing
DNA-AO-358: $4000 — Delivery from Stock
DNR-AO-358: $4150 — Delivery from Stock

About the “Cube”
UEI’s powerful “Cube” architecture is a compact (4 x 4 x 4″ or 4 x 4 x 5.8″) Ethernet based I/O platform. It may be deployed in four different configurations. These are: 1) Ethernet I/O systems slaved to a host PC, 2) Stand alone Data Logger/Recorder, 3) Linux-based Programmable Automation Controller (PAC), or 4) Modbus TCP based I/O slave. Each Cube consists of a core module (that holds the processor and network interface) along with three or six open I/O slots. Users select the deployment option that meets their requirements. Users then match the Cube’s I/O configuration to their application by selecting the appropriate boards. With over 25 I/O boards available, there’s sure to be a configuration to meet almost any application requirement. The six-slot Cube provides up to 150 analog inputs, 192 analog outputs, 288 digital I/O, 48 counter or quadrature channels, 72 ARINC-429 channels, 24 Serial or CAN-bus ports, or 12 1553 channels. A full description of the “Cube” is available at www.ueidaq.com

About the (12-slot) RACKtangle and (6-slot) HalfRACK
UEI’s popular rack-mounted chassis provide convenient, front-loading, easily-serviced, multi-slot, 3U enclosures for the complete range of UEI I/O modules. Both products provide two Gigabit (1000/100/10 Base-T) Ethernet ports with independent IP addresses that can be used either for communication or diagnostic purposes. Passive backplanes with no active electronic components ensure an almost unlimited MTBF for both models, and since all active components are mounted on easily replaceable I/O modules, an extremely short MTTR (mean time to recovery) can be achieved. A 12-slot RACKtangle can handle up to: 300 analog inputs, 384 analog outputs, 576 digital I/O, 96 counter or quadrature channels, 154 ARINC-429 channels, 48, serial or CAN-bus ports, or 24 MIL-STD-1553 communication bus ports. A 6-slot HalfRACK handles half as many. Visit: www.ueidaq.com for a full description.

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UEI is a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance PC-based data acquisition systems (DAQ) including: PXI and PCI I/O boards, Ethernet I/O, data loggers, and Programmable Automation Controllers.