Instruction manual

AMPDIO DRIVERS
Page 14
The PCI230+ is an enhanced version of the PCI230, with 16-bit ADC, start acquisition control and
extra timer/counter gate controls. It is backwards compatible with the old card except that the
maximum ADC sample rate has been reduced from 312500 to 250000 samples per second.
1.3 Features of the Software
1.3.1 Overview
The software consists of low-level Windows kernel drivers, a Windows Dynamic Link Library (DLL)
and a suite of example software.
The Windows Dynamic Link Library (DIO_TC.DLL) contains over 50 functions and provides a
common Applications Program Interface (API) to the supported boards. The library functions allow
the boards to be easily applied to many different applications, and provide an easy way of
accessing the board's features. The DLL can be used by any language that supports the Windows
‘_stdcall’ calling convention. The programming interface for this DLL is detailed in chapter 5, with
any later updates detailed in the README.TXT file installed in the DIO_CODE subdirectory.
AMPDIO v5.00 and later includes versions of DIO_TC.DLL compiled for IA-32 and x64 processor
architectures. On ‘x64’ editions of Windows, both versions of the DLL are installed to support 32-
bit programs and 64-bit (x64) programs. Earlier versions of AMPDIO only support the IA-32
processor architecture.
The low level kernel drivers provide a common low level interface to supported cards in Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server
2003 and Windows Vista. AMPDIO v5.00 and later includes drivers for the ‘x64’ editions of
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 (in
addition to drivers for the regular IA-32 editions of Windows). A complete description of this
interface is given in the additional document AMPIOCTL.RTF that is installed in the DIO_CODE
directory.
Example programs written in Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, Microsoft Visual
C# .NET, Borland Delphi, Agilent VEE (formerly HP VEE) and Microsoft C are also provided.
Information on how to use the interface in Borland C Builder is given on MEV's web site,
www.mev.co.uk.
Add-on drivers for National Instruments LabVIEW are available for some of the supported boards.
See the Amplicon download area www.amplicon.co.uk/softman.cfm for a list of supported boards.
1.3.2 Typical Applications
The cards supported by these drivers are typically used in the following applications.
 TTL compatible digital input/output
 Relay output with isolated contacts, high level ground referenced source drivers (any
combination)
 Isolated high or low level digital input, ground referenced high or low level digital input (any
combination)
 Elapsed time, period, frequency measurement
 Differential, ratiometric count
 Monostable and astable generation
 Frequency division, frequency multiplication, digitally controlled oscillator
 Voltage controlled oscillator
 Temperature measurement
 4–20 mA / analogue sensor simulation
 Low frequency Signal Generator
 Low frequency PC oscilloscope