SPX SPIDAR NIC-500s, Operation Manual, Page: 40 / 119

SPIDAR Software
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When daisy-chaining more than two NIC-500s, it is recommended to contact Sensors &
Software support for advice on the port connections and physical placement of each
pulseEKKO to optimize data collection. Currently, a maximum of 4 NIC-500s can be daisy-
chained.
NIC-500X
The NIC-500X allows up to eight transmitters and receivers to be connected.
The NIC-500X is unique in that the user can collect data from all transmitter and receiver
pairings simultaneously. This is achieved through Sequencing, described in
Appendix A . For a
given NIC-500, there can be up to 4 Sequences. Firing groups are used to define which
receiver is listening to which transmitter in each sequence.
It is useful to sketch a diagram to help visualize the sequencing. Consider the following
example: a user has four transmitters and four receivers and for each transmitter firing, they
would like to collect data at two different receivers. This is illustrated in Figure 4-16.
Figure 4-16: Conceptual diagram for four transmitters and four receivers connected to a NIC-500X; black lines
illustrate sequence 1 and red lines illustrate sequence 2
This collection process requires two sequences to collect all desired transmitter-receiver
combinations.
•
Sequence 1 (arrows in black)
o
Tx
1
fires, Rx
1
& Rx
2
listen
o
Tx
3
fires, Rx
3
& Rx
4
listen
•
Sequence 2 (arrows in red )
o
Tx
2
fires, Rx
1
& Rx
2
listen
o
Tx
4
fires, Rx
3
& Rx
4
listen
The firing groups must now be specified. A firing group consists of a single transmitter firing,
and the receivers that listen to it. In this example, Tx
1
firing and Rx
1
& Rx
2
listening are