PSI System Controls and Diagnostics
A500 User Manual
A500_UM_090115 Page 10 of 61
6
Intended Use and Key Features
6.1 Intended
Use
The A500 is intended for use in association with devices from the Pyramid Technical
Consultants, Inc. PSI family. These in their turn may be used to control other equipment such as
power supplies, measurement devices and so on, or they may make measurements directly.
Certain I/O board options can be installed in the A500 which can make direct measurements. An
example is the –GC gate counter board option.
The A500 has design features which make it tolerant of electrically noisy environments, but the
place of use is otherwise assumed to be clean and sheltered, for example a laboratory or light
industrial environment. The unit may be used stand-alone (with suitable I/O board options), or
networked with other devices and integrated into a larger system. Users are assumed to be
experienced in the general use of precision electronic circuits for sensitive measurements, and to
be aware of the dangers that can arise in high-voltage circuits.
6.2 Key
Features
Real-time controller dedicated and optimized for the control of multiple devices over fiber-optic
loops.
Five loop ports, expandable to ten loops, each with up to 15 devices.
A500 to A500 communication capability via fiber-optic.
Host communications via 10/100 base T Ethernet, UDP or TCP/IP protocols.
Auto MDIX support (rev 3 hardware, or rev 2 hardware updated with the A30 Ethernet
processor)
I/O expansion ports for integration application-specific I/O boards.
Downloadable application code for both A500 and devices on fiber-optic loops.
Highly-optimized real-time operating system to provide genuine real-time response and
deterministic operation of connected devices.