Specifications

www.quatech.com
40
Airplane
Cockpit
Quatech
MPAP-200/300
Synchronous
RS-422/485
PCMCIA Card
Notebook
Computer
When synchronous systems were first implemented they were
able to achieve much higher data transfer speeds than
asynchronous systems. However, with the advances in
asynchronous communication, most notably clock-multiplying
enhanced serial cards, asynchronous cards now approach
synchronous speeds. Synchronous transfer is much more software
intensive than other methods, however, it is still the ideal choice
for applications, including:
•Radar Control
•GPS Systems
•T1 and Fractional T1 Pipelines
•Internet Backbones
•Satellite Monitoring
•Accessing Mainframes and AS400 systems
High Speed Data Retrieval
Quatech's MPAP-200/300 RS-422/485 synchronous serial
PCMCIA card is currently being used to interface with the flight
recorders found in a wide variety of military and commercial
aircraft. The flight recorder, commonly known as the “black
box," is responsible for recording what went wrong during a
tragic flight, and is also responsible for recording maintenance,
structural, and engine data. Maintenance personnel at the aircraft
base download this data directly after each flight. Immediate
maintenance can then be performed on the aircraft, reducing
downtime and saving money for the aircraft fleets.
A typical system is pictured above. The recorder stores flight
information and voice data in solid state memory. An operator,
using a portable PC containing a custom version of Quatech's
card, uploads and downloads data to/from the recording system.
The high speed synchronous RS-422 interface (up to 4 Mbps!)
allows data to be downloaded in minutes. The PCMCIA card is
connected to the recorder with a serial interface cable. This
portable arrangement is advantageous because the same system
can be shared among an entire fleet.
The parallel port is a fast, simple way to connect a wide variety
of peripherals to a PC. The high-speed EPP port makes parallel
communication even more attractive by permitting parallel
peripherals to transfer data at speeds virtually equivalent to their
ISA counterparts. Quatech boards allow adding any parallel
peripheral, including:
•Printers
•Zip/Jaz Drives
•CD ROM Drives
•Plotters
•Scanners
•EEG Machines
•Data Acquisition Devices
(Desktop PC with four installed parallel devices)
Expanding a Desktop PC
To show that we actually do use our own products, Quatech's
Media Manager's computer system is pictured above. (This is
the very system on which this catalog was created.) Our DSDP-
100 dual serial, dual parallel interface board is installed in the
system's ISA expansion slot. The built-in parallel port is used to
connect with the Zip drive, upon which the laser printer is
backpacked. One DSDP parallel port is used for the scanner, and
the other for the color ink jet printer. The digital camera with
which this picture was taken also connects to the system via a
parallel port. These peripherals could be added to a laptop
computer using Quatech's SPP-100 parallel PCMCIA card.
Medical Applications
Because of the high speed (up to 2 Mbps) EPP port made
available by Quatech's SPP-100, it is an ideal choice for a variety
of portable medical applications. Several companies have
developed proprietary EEG machines which connect with a laptop
computer via Quatech's card. The parallel port on many laptop
computers will not function in EPP mode under Windows 95/
98. Quatech's SPP-100 will. In fact, our card is the only one
available that completely adheres to the IEEE 1284 EPP
specification.
(Flight recorder data retrieval system)
Application Examples