AS5643 Advanced Interface Card - FireTracx424bT/x824bT

FireTrac® 3424bT/4424bT

Advanced AS5643 I/O adapter

The FireTrac3424bT and FireTrac4424bT feature the FireTrac® family functionality in the widely used PCI Express form factor and host conenctivity. Both use the latest versions off-the-shelf PHY layer silicon (TSB41BA3) together with Dap's FireLink® Extended IP Core. Both cards are also available in an S800 version.

FireTrac3424bT offers a three node (bus) solution whereas FireTrac4424bT features a novel solution with four nodes (buses).

The HW also provides IRIG time-stamping of monitored events and accepts IEEE1344 IRIG-B122 as well as IRIG-B002 inputs.

Both cards are also avaiable in versions supporting S100 as well as S800.

Key features

  • AS5643 compliant
  • IEEE 1394b-2008 compliant
  • Supported Speeds*: S100B, S200B, S400B, S800B
  • 3 (4) independent 1394 nodes
  • Link Layer: FireLink Extended with Mil1394 Extensions
  • PHY Layer:
    • FT4424bT: Texas Instruments TSB41BA3DIPFP (or newer)
    • FT4824bT: Texas Instruments TSB81BA3EPFP (or newer)
  • 9 (12) active transformer-coupled 1394 ports
  • 3x SFF-8614 connectors
    • ports A0, B0, C0, (D0 only on 4-bus version)
    • ports A1, B1, C1, (D1 only on 4-bus version)
    • ports A2, B2, C2, (D2 only on 4-bus version)
  • Field-upgradable
  • PCI Express 2.0 x4
  • Sustained multi-bus IEEE-1394 traffic at S400/S800
  • IRIG Time Synchronization
    • IRIG-B122 (IEEE1344) modulated
    • IRIG-B002 (IEEE1344) TTL
    • IRIG-B002 (IEEE1344) RS422
  • C/C++ and Python Application Programming Interface (API)
  • Support for:
    • MS Windows
    • Linux
    • VxWorks
    • LabVIEW (RT)
    • QNX
    • RTX64

*) Depending on exact model

Offboard SFF-8614 bus connectivity

For these versions of FireTrac® DapTechnology has opted to implement an innovative off-board connectivity, rather than the SCSI2 connector (used on the FT3460bT) and FT3x24bT as well as FT4x24bT use SFF-8614 connectors. SFF-8614 originates from the miniSAS HD interconnectivity technology which has proven its benefits with regards to signal integrity, data throughput, durability and usability. Customers will benefit for the selected port-to-connector routing (A0-D0, A1-D1, A2-D2) as the need for cables can be adjusted to the specific usage scenario, therefore simplifying harnesses and reducing costs for unneeded cables.

For example, with just one (1) harness the ‘0”-ports on all 4 nodes (A-D) can be connected as leave nodes. Additional harnesses would only have to be added for daisy-chain or star connectivity.