Specifications:
- Measures 3.6x2.3x0.7inches
- Power: 20 mA @ 5V
- Power input: regulated 5V, or +8.5V w/ on-board linear regulator
- Temperature: -40 to +85 Celsius
- 68-pin PCMCIA ATA Flash cards up to 420 MB
- Up to 6 24-bit ADCs (LTC2400)
- 2.5 V reference, temperature sensor
- Up to 33 ch. 12-bit ADC (TLC2543)
- RS-232 drivers and 5V regulator
- 10 BASE-T RJ45 Ethernet interface (CS8900)
Description:
The MemCard(MM) from TERN provides a variety of functionalities to expand upon TERN controllers' capabilities. It supports PCMCIA ATA type flash memory cards, 24-bit and 12-bit ADCs, and a 10BASE-T Ethernet interface. It provides a high performance mass data storage and general I/O expansion solution to many portable embedded applications.
PCMCIA cards eliminate the problemsof weight, power-consumption and reliability associated with electro-mechanical disk-based systems. A low power version VE +MM unit only consumes less than 5 mA in the standby mode. It is an ideal low cost, low power system for portable applications.
With a 68-pin PCMCIA-ATA interface, the MemCard supports Flash cards up to 220 MB from SanDisk, and M-Systems.
5V Flash memory chips (128/512 KB each) are also available for non-removable data storage. It provides I/O mapping access and interrupt support for PCMCIA I/O cards. These credit-card-sized 68-pin cards can be used as portable data carriers and provide a reliable and efficient method to transfer useful data or programs among embedded controllers, PCs, and different systems. With TERN's software support, you can access any of the sectors within the Flash card memory. An optional ejecting mechanism is also available.
Up to six 24-bit ADC (LTC2400) chips, each providing one channel of 0-2.5V analog inputs, can be installed. The LTC2400 is a 24-bit analog-to-digital converter with an integrated oscillator. It uses delta-sigma technology, providing a typical conversion time of 160ms.
The MM uses a 2.5V precision reference (LT1019-2.5) for the 24-bit ADC. The LT1019 has a typical ultra-low temperature drive of 3ppm/C and a built-in temperature sensor. For applications that use thermocouples, the LT1019 can be used to measure board or ambient temperatures.
Up to three TLC2543 chips can also be installed, providing a total of 33 12-bit ADC inputs. The 12-bit ADC has sample-and-hold, a high-impedance reference input, 11 single-ended 0-5V (or 0 to REF) inputs, and a 10 kHz sample rate while driven by a 40 MHz A-Engine.
An Ethernet LAN controller (CS8900, Crystal Semiconductor Corporation) can be installed on the MM. The CS8900 includes on-chip RAM and 10BASE-T transmit and receive filters. The CS8900 directly interfaces to the TERN controller's data bus, providing high-speed, full duplex operation. A standard RJ45 8-pin connector can be installed for the Ethernet LAN connection. Due to mechnical constraints, the Ethernet RJ45 connector and the 68-pin PCMCIA socket cannot be installed at the same time on the MM. A flat cable with an off-board Rj45 may be connected to the MM if the PCMCIA socket is installed.
The CS8900 offers a broad range of performance features and configuration options. It can increase system efficiency and minimize CPU overhead in a 10BASE-T network. The MM with CS8900 provides a true full duplex Ethernet solution, incorporating all of the analog and digital circuitry needed for a low cost complete C/C++ programmable Ethernet node controller. Software support for transport level protocol stacks such as TCP/IP are also impending.
The MemCard is installed directly via a 20x2 header onto controllers that support its use. Within a 3.6x2.3x1.2 inches space, you can fit in A-Engine+MemCard system to collect and record ADC readings, making it incredibly powerful in portable data collection applications.
The MemCard also supports an optional RS-232 driver and 5V linear voltage regulator, making a MM + engine combination standalone capable.
For applications that only require the 39 channels of 12-bit and 24-bit ADCs, users can interface to the MM via a single 5x2-pin header with five TTL outputs and two TTL inputs. A sample program for driving the MM with TTL I/Os is available.
FLASH FILE SYSTEM
Flash memory disks can be formatted with a PC-compatible FAT-12/FAT-16 filesystem. This allows them to be accessed as normal drives on any ordinary PC with a PCMCIA/CompactFlash port; users can access files on the Flash disk as easily as any file on the hard-drive
A new suite of software libraries makes it possible for you to directly access this filesystem from your embedded device, as well. By using TERN boards offering access to Flash memory devices (the FlashCore and Memcard), your embedded application can open, read, write, and delete files.
Click here to download the header file for these libraries, describing the software interface available to access the file system.
Now, the TERN filesystem can also be directly accessed through the serial port without requiring the rest of the TERN development environment. A simple menu-driven interface for accessing the file-system can be directly programmed into the on-board Flash. Contact TERN for more details.
PRODUCT COMPARISON
The FlashCore can be seen as an updated and more specialized version of the Memcard expansion controller. The MM provides more analog and digital I/O pins, and also includes an Ethernet interface. The MM also supports standard PCMCIA ATA Flash disks. The FC, however, strictly provides access to the newest CompactFlash technology in a smaller and lower cost controller.
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