EX7000-OEM SCALABLE OPEN-ARCHITECTURE MICROWAVE INTERFACE USER’S MANUAL P/N: 82-0118-000 Release December 19, 2007 VXI Technology, Inc.
VXI Technology, Inc.
www.vxitech.com TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Certification ..........................................................................................................................................................5 Warranty ...............................................................................................................................................................5 Limitation of Warranty .....................................................................................................
VXI Technology, Inc. SECTION 4..................................................................................................................................................................27 WEB PAGE OPERATION...........................................................................................................................................27 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................
www.vxitech.com CERTIFICATION VTI Microwave, a business unit of VXI Technology, Inc. (VTI) certifies that this product met its published specifications at the time of shipment from the factory.
VXI Technology, Inc. DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY Declaration of Conformity According to ISO/IEC Guide 22 and EN 45014 MANUFACTURER’S NAME VXI Technology, Inc. MANUFACTURER’S ADDRESS 2031 Main Street Irvine, California 92614-6509 PRODUCT NAME Scalable Open-Architecture Microwave Interface MODEL NUMBER(S) EX7000-OEM PRODUCT OPTIONS All PRODUCT CONFIGURATIONS All VXI Technology, Inc.
www.vxitech.com GENERAL SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS Review the following safety precautions to avoid bodily injury and/or damage to the product. These precautions must be observed during all phases of operation or service of this product. Failure to comply with these precautions, or with specific warnings elsewhere in this manual, violates safety standards of design, manufacture, and intended use of the product. Service should only be performed by qualified personnel.
VXI Technology, Inc. SUPPORT RESOURCES Support resources for this product are available on the Internet and at VXI Technology customer support centers. VTI Microwave A VXI Technology Business Unit World Headquarters VXI Technology, Inc.
www.vxitech.com SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION The EX7000-OEM family is the first scalable series of microwave subsystems built on an openarchitecture Ethernet/LXI platform. It provides a common hardware platform and software communications interface that is designed to simplify the development of custom radio frequency interface unit (RFIU) requirements, while maintaining the look and feel of a standard product.
VXI Technology, Inc. INTERACTIVE CONTROL As an LXI-compliant device, the EX7000-OEM has an embedded web server running which provides a JAVA applet for interactively configuring the box for its specific configuration as well as allowing for the direct control of components. Configurations are stored on the EX7000-OEM’s non-volatile memory to simplify the software development cycle.
www.vxitech.com Each driver board has a single programmable delay parameter. The programmable delay for any board should be set to the maximum value required by any component connected to that board. Data is latched to the gate of the FET dictating whether or not the FET will sink current and energize the relay coil. There is an optionally populated pull-up resistor from the FET drain to +5 V for connection to devices which require TTL control. This is detailed in the section below.
VXI Technology, Inc. Configuration Table The information included in the Configuration File allows the user to establish a complete signal route by indicating only the end points in an IVISwitch compliant Connect statement, thus simplifying the programming task. Programmable MBB and BBM The application code can globally define whether or not the relays ‘break-before-make’ or ‘makebefore-break’ when sequencing through relay setups.
www.vxitech.com EX7000-OEM SPECIFICATIONS DIGITAL INTERFACE BOARD PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS 15.2 cm (width) x 8.8 cm (depth) x 2.
VXI Technology, Inc.
www.vxitech.com SECTION 2 PREPARATION FOR USE OVERVIEW This section provides a step-by-step process for setting up the EX7000-OEM for use. It covers hardware installation, input connections, and software installation. UNPACKING When the EX7000-OEM is unpacked from its shipping carton, the contents should include the following items: • • • • EX7000-OEM (plus options, if applicable) EX7000-OEM User’s Manual (this manual) VXI Technology, Inc.
VXI Technology, Inc. EX7000-OEM HARDWARE SETUP To properly set up the EX7000-OEM for use, the following cabling connections must be made: • • • • The DCB must be connected to the RDB via the Digital Interface Cable provided with the EX7000-OEM. This cable should connect J1 on the DCB to either J1 or J1A on the RDB. The selection of RDB connector is made by positioning the jumper at J20. For more information on J1, J1A, and J20, please refer to the Digital Interface Controller Connectors section.
www.vxitech.com OPEN-COLLECTOR VS. TTL DRIVE LINES The RDBs of the EX7000-OEM may have varying quantities of open-collector and TTL drive lines, depending on the model ordered. This property is linked to the relay drive connector banks, as illustrated in Figure 3-3. The following table indicates how banks are used according the part number assigned.
www.vxitech.com SECTION 3 HARDWARE DESCRIPTION OVERVIEW An EX7000-OEM consists of the following, constituent parts: • • • • Digital Controller Board, or DCB Relay Driver Board, or RDB (may be one to eight boards depending on the model) A ribbon cable to connect the DCB to the RDB If multiple RDBs are used, a special ribbon cable with multiple connectors is required The DCB provides the user interface to the host PC, via a LAN connection, and controls the action of the associated RDB cards.
VXI Technology, Inc. Please note that Figure 3-1 depicts the EX7000-OEM mounted in an optional, single-high stacking frame. Additional sections can be added for up to eight relay driver boards stacked on top of the digital controller board. Trigger Bus Connectors The EX7000-OEM provides an LXI compatible trigger bus connector. For more information on the LXI Trigger Bus and creating an appropriate cable, please visit www.lxistandard.org and refer to LXI Standard Revision 1.
www.vxitech.com When enabled as an output, each channel also has the ability to generate a 1 µs pulse upon command. An example application of this pulse is to use the EX7000-OEM to externally trigger another piece of test equipment. The specific operation of the pulse depends on the static level programmed for that channel. When a channel is programmed with a static level of high, the pulse will be low-going. When a channel is programmed with a static level of low, the pulse will be high-going.
VXI Technology, Inc. Reset Button The reset button on the rear panel of the EX7000-OEM, implemented according to the LXI LAN Configuration Initialize (LCI) Mechanism specification, can be used to restore default network settings. This is useful for recovery from an incorrect or unknown network configuration. To perform a network reset: 1) Press and hold the reset button. 2) Continue to hold the reset until the LAN LED flashes (approximately 5 s). 3) Release the reset button.
www.vxitech.com Digital Interface Controller Connectors The J1 and J1A connectors are used to connect the relay driver board to the controller board. J1 and J1A are interchangeable for ease of usage. When J20 is jumpered, J1A will be utilized, otherwise, J1 is used. Relay Drive Connectors Connectors J2 through J13 are Relay Drive connectors.
VXI Technology, Inc. LED Connectors A header is provided here for compliance with the LXI Standard. For more information, please visit www.lxistandard.org and refer to LXI Standard Revision 1.1 for LED function.
www.vxitech.com Fan Power Connectors J16 and J17 provide the power to the fan. Note, the voltage at J16/J17 come from PWR_BANK2. Designator J16 & J17 Connector Pin Locations Mating Connector Fan Power Connectors Signal Pin PWR_BANK2 2 Pin 1 1 Signal GND 2 Tyco P/N: 3-640441-2 Address Switch The rotary switch located at S1 sets an RDB’s address. The 16 position is only valid in the 0 through 7 range. Setting an RDB to addresses 8 through F is not defined and should not be used.
VXI Technology, Inc.
www.vxitech.com SECTION 4 WEB PAGE OPERATION INTRODUCTION The EX7000-OEM offers an embedded web page which provides network configuration control, soft front panel access, time configuration, and the ability to perform firmware upgrades. To open this web page, enter the EX7000’s assigned IP address or host name into an Internet browser application, as shown in Figure 4-1.
VXI Technology, Inc. Use of the entry-type web pages in the EX7000-OEM are governed by a common set of operational characteristics: • • • Pages initially load with the currently-entered selections displayed. Each page contains a Submit button to accept newly entered changes. Leaving a page before submitting any changes has the effect of canceling the changes, leaving the instrument in its original state. Navigation through a parameter screen is done with the Tab key.
www.vxitech.com FIGURE 4-3: EX7000-OEM PASSWORD PAGE NOTES 1) The instrument password uses lower-case letters. 2) This password mechanism provides only the most basic security. Applications requiring additional security should consider using private, dedicated subnets, firewalls, etc. to limit access to the instrument on the network. VXI Technology Logo The VXI Technology logo that appears on the upper left of all EX7000-OEM web pages is a link to the VXI Technology, Inc. corporate website: http://www.
VXI Technology, Inc. SOFT FRONT PANEL The EX7000-OEM Soft Front Panel page can be seen in Figure 4-4. By accessing this page, the various switch modules, attenuators, and other devices connected to the EX7000-OEM can be viewed, identified, and commanded. FIGURE 4-4: EX7000-OEM SOFT FRONT PANEL PAGE NETWORK CONFIGURATION The EX7000-OEM Network Configuration page can be seen in Figure 4-5. By default, the EX7000-OEM will attempt to locate a DHCP server.
www.vxitech.com To illustrate the AutoIP mechanism, Table 4-1 lists the AutoIP default address for some example MAC addresses. MAC Address 00:0D:3F:01:00:01 00:0D:3F:01:01:01 00:0D:3F:01:A3:28 00:0D:3F:01:FE:FE 00:0D:3F:01:FF:FE AutoIP Default Address 169.254.1.1 169.254.1.1 169.254.163.40 169.254.254.254 169.254.254.254 TABLE 4-1: AUTOIP DEFAULT ADDRESS ASSIGNMENT If a static IP address assignment is preferred, one can be optionally assigned via the embedded web page interface.
VXI Technology, Inc. However, a much more convenient and recommended way to obtain the benefits of a static IP address is to employ DHCP, but assign the instrument a reserved IP address in your company’s DHCP server configuration. This reserved address, linked to the EX7000’s MAC address on the DHCP server, would be assigned to the EX7000-OEM at power up initialization without having to manually set it on the EX7000.
www.vxitech.com Optionally, the EX7000-OEM supports SNTP (Simple Network Time Protocol), allowing it to receive its time from an SNTP server. The Time Zone control provides a pull-down selection in which the user’s specific time zone is selected. SNTP or PTP (Peer-To-Peer Time Synchronization or IEEE 1588) servers are specified in the Server configuration panel, by IP Address or hostname. An instrument reboot is then required to activate the new selection.
VXI Technology, Inc. FIGURE 4-8: TIME CONFIGURATION WEB PAGE – PTP NOTE Specifying SNTP or NTP servers by hostname requires that the instrument be configured for DNS, either by DHCP or Static IP. DEVICE IDENTIFY This action page is used to identify the EX7000-OEM that is being commanded in the current session. When the “Turn on” button is pressed, the LAN LED located on the rear panel of the EX7000-OEM will blink. When the “Turn off” button is pressed, the LAN LED returns to its normal operation.
www.vxitech.com UPGRADE This action page is used to upgrade the embedded firmware of the EX7000-OEM. Prior to initiating the firmware upgrade process, a new, uncompressed firmware image must be obtained from VXI Technology and be accessible from the computer that is connected to the EX7000-OEM. Unless specifically noted by VXI Technology, firmware upgrades do not alter the calibration or non-volatile configuration settings (network configuration, time configuration) of the EX7000-OEM.
VXI Technology, Inc.
www.vxitech.com SECTION 5 THEORY OF OPERATION INTRODUCTION This section expands on the description of the EX7000-OEMs features and explains how to best use them. A functional block diagram is provided below. FIGURE 5-1: FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM SYSTEM OVERVIEW Using the drivers provided with the EX7000-OEM, commands are issued from the host PC to the Digital Controller Board (DCB). The DCB, in turn, controls the operation of the Relay Driver Boards (RDBs).
VXI Technology, Inc. RDBs can either be commanded one board at a time or several RDBs may be commanded simultaneously. The RDB has 72 relay control drive lines capable of sinking 200 mA and twelve high-current reset lines capable of sinking 800 mA. They are divided into three banks, each can be powered separately. Each bank consists of four 20-pin connectors.
www.vxitech.com Continuous Mode Connecting non-latching devices to any bank of the Relay Driver Board will dictate that bank must be operating in continuous mode. Commanded by software, the latch signal driving the FET will change state to activate/deactivate FETs and continuously stay in that state until the next command. All Relay Control Drive bits within a bank will change state at the same time. Continuous mode requires a power supply capable of sustaining the high current requirement.
VXI Technology, Inc.
www.vxitech.com INDEX A AutoIP.......................................................................................17, 30 B BBM ............................................................. See break-before-make break-before-make..........................................................................12 C configuration table..........................................................................12 D DCB ........................................................
