C
HAPTER
5:
PC
I
NTERFACE
This product interfaces with a PC using a PCI Express Mini Card
(mPCIe) connection; a small-form-factor, high-performance,
rugged peripheral interconnect technology first introduced for use
in laptops and other portable computers.
mPCIe’s small size and powerful performance, combined with
perfect software compatibility with PCI and PCIe peripheral
designs, have led to its recent adoption as a go-to standard for
embedded Data Acquisition and Control, and many other
applications.
Although mPCIe is a broadly-adopted industry standard, the actual
connection to the computer shares a specification with mSATA:
both mSATA and mPCIe use the same edge-connector. In fact,
well-designed PCs can automatically detect and configure their
onboard connectors to work with either mPCIe or mSATA devices –
and, according to the standards for mPCIe and mSATA they are
supposed
to do so! However, some PC manufacturers ship
computers that
only
support mSATA devices. Please confirm in
your PC documentation that your edge-connector is
actually
PCI
Express Mini Card compliant before installing this, or any, mPCIe
card. Damage might occur if you install an mPCIe device into a
computer that only supports mSATA.
mPCIe defines mounting holes for securing the otherwise loose
end of the card, so it is impossible for these cards to wiggle or flap
themselves loose (which was a recurring problem with the older
PCI Mini devices). Eliminating this concern for PCI Express Mini
Cards is a major reason this standard has seen rapid adoption by
the Data Acquisition and Control industry.
The mPCIe standard, like its PCI Mini Card predecessor, was
designed assuming use primarily in Laptop or Notebook and similar
devices, where physical dimension is often the paramount design
constraint. In Data Acquisition and Control applications low-weight
combined with vibration tolerance tend to be of more concern.
Caution: Although the 2-Port card is fully compliant with all standard
dimensions for a full-length mPCIe design, the 4-port card violates
the component-height limit on the back of the card, by up to
1.3mm. This may result in mechanical incompatibility with some
motherboard designs, if, and only if, they place other motherboard
components inside the footprint of the full-length mPCIe card. See
the Specification section of this document for dimension details.
C
HAPTER
6:
I/O
I
NTERFACE
This card provides one 5-pin
latching Hirose DF57 connector per
RS232 port. The mating connector
is the Hirose DF57H-5S-1.2C.
Order the CAB-mPCIe-ICM4 or –
ICM2 cable kit accessory to cable
the DF57 connectors to industry
standard DB9 Male connectors.
Alternately, custom hardware
interfaces can be produced to fit your
specific application requirement
The DF57 connector is a low
profile latching device. In order
to operate it correctly, please
note: the front of the cable
connector clicks down, into a
locked position,
after
the rear
has been mated by pushing it
into the socket. To disconnect,
pop the front of the cable
connector upwards to disengage
the latch before moving the
connector away from the card.
C
HAPTER
7:
S
OFTWARE
I
NTERFACE
Although the UARTs provided by this card are fully 16550/16950
compatible, the advanced features are best enabled by using the
provided software drivers.
The card installs ports into the OS as standard serial COM devices.
Therefore, in each OS or programming environment, standard
COM APIs are used to communicate. For example, in the .NET
Common Language Runtime you would use the methods provided
by the System.IO.Ports namespace. In Linux, the ttyS
n
device
controls port
n
. Other operating systems have similar, OS-specific,
standard methods of communication with RS232 devices.
Various sample programs are provided to demonstrate application
programming of the serial ports, in a variety of popular
programming languages.
WinRISC is a serial port utility provided with this card. It is very
useful when working with any serial device: it provides a very
simple, very easy, interface.
The latest information can always be found on the product page on
the website. Here are some useful links:
Links to useful downloads
Main web site
Product web page
This manual
acces.io/MANUALS/mPCIe-ICM232-4.pdf
Windows Software
Install Package
acces.io/files/packages/mPCIe-ICM232
Install.exe
DF57
Pin
Signal
Names
Signal
Descriptions
1 GND
Signal Ground
2 TX
Transmit Data
3 RX
Receive Data
4 RTS Request To Send
5 CTS
Clear To Send
DB-9
Male
Pin
Signal
Names
Signal
Descriptions
1
nc
no connect
2 RX
Receive Data
3 TX
Transmit Data
4
RTS
Request To Send
5 GND
Signal Ground
6
nc
no connect
7 RTS
Request To Send
8 CTS
Clear To Send
9
nc
no connect
ACCES I/O Products, Inc.
MADE IN THE USA
mPCIe-ICM232-4
3
manual revision B2g
