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M3i.48xx / M3i.48xx-exp Manual
Preface
Introduction
Introduction
Preface
This manual provides detailed information on the hardware features of your Spectrum instrumentation board. This information includes tech-
nical data, specifications, block diagram and a connector description.
In addition, this guide takes you through the process of installing your board and also describes the installation of the delivered driver package
for each operating system.
Finally this manual provides you with the complete software information of the board and the related driver. The reader of this manual will
be able to integrate the board in any PC system with one of the supported bus and operating systems.
Please note that this manual provides no description for specific driver parts such as those for LabVIEW or MATLAB. These drivers manuals
are available on CD or on the Spectrum website.
For any new information on the board as well as new available options or memory upgrades please contact our website
http://www.spectrum-instrumentation.com. You will also find the current driver package with the latest bug fixes and new features on our site.
Please read this manual carefully before you install any hardware or software. Spectrum is not responsible
for any hardware failures resulting from incorrect usage.
Overview
The PCI bus was first introduced in 1995. Nowadays it is the most common platform for PC based instrumentation boards. The very
wide range of installations world-wide, especially in the consumer market, makes it a platform of good value. Its successor is the
2004 introduced PCI Express standard. In today’s standard PC there are usually two to three slots of both standards available for
instrumentation boards. Special industrial PCs offer up to a maximum of 20 slots. The common PCI/PCI-X bus with data rates of up
to 133 MHz x 64 bit = 1 GByte/s per bus, is more and more replaced by the PCI Express standard with up to 4 GByte/s data transfer rate
per slot. The Spectrum M3i boards are available in two versions, for PCI/PCI-X as well as for PCI Express. The 100% software compatible
standards allow to combine both standards in one system with the same driver and software commands.
Within this document the name M3i is used as a synonym for both versions, either PCI/PCI-X or PCI Express. Only passages that
differ concerning the bus version of the M3i.xxxx and M3i.xxxx-exp cards are mentioned separately. Also all card drawings will
show the PCI/PCI-X version as example if no differences exist compared to the PCI Express version.
General Information
The M3i.48xx is best suitable for applications that need ultra high sample rates as well as a maximum possible resolution. These boards offer
a resolution 4 times higher than 14 bit boards and even 16 times higher than 12 bit boards.
On the M3i.48xx every channel has its own amplifier and A/D converter. Each input channel can be adapted to a wide variety of signal
sources. This is done by software selecting a matching input path, input range, input impedance, input coupling and anti-aliasing filter. The
user will easily find a matching solution from the six offered models. These versions are working with sample rates of 65 MS/s up to 180 MS/
s and have one or two channels and can also be updated to a multi-channel system using the internal synchronization bus.
Data is written in the internal up to 2 GSample large memory. This memory can also be used as a FIFO buffer. In FIFO mode data will be
transferred online into the PC RAM or to hard disk.
Application examples: Automatic test systems, Supersonics, CCD imaging systems, Vibration analysis, Radar, Sonar.
