The Universal Fibre Hub (UFH) is a multi-format I/O signal concentrator and redistribution unit. It is highly configurable and is suitable for use in a wide range of I/O monitoring and control applications.

The device is a single board computer in the CompactPCI (3U) formfactor and has a rich feature list, including an array of analogue and digital I/Os, UART serial I/O channels, USB host interfaces, CAN interfaces and an ATA (hard disk drive) or Compact Flash (memory card) interface.

The UFH is also available as a standalone unit for use in smaller embedded applications.

Architecture

The UFH incorporates two processor domains. Digital and analogue I/O processing is off-loaded to an onboard I/O Processor (16-bit RISC Microcontroller), whilst serial I/O, data communications and other higher level functions are handled by the System Processor (32-bit PowerPC Microprocessor).

It has an onboard 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet interface which is configurable for use with either fibre optic or copper media types. The UFH also features an onboard 32-bit 33/66 MHz PMC site, which offers I/O and processing expansion capabilities through the use of a third party PMC adapter. One example of this would be the use of a C²I² Systems Dual Gigabit Ethernet PMC adapter, which provides a dual-redundant Gigabit Ethernet link via either fibre optic or copper media.

The UFH can be connected as System Board to a compatible 32-bit CompactPCI backplane and can manage up to five CompactPCI Peripheral Boards, providing excellent scalibility.
 

Universal Fibre Hub Block Diagram

Features

• VxWorks and Linux Operating Systems supported

• 32-bit Freescale MPC5200B PowerPC Microprocessor as System Processor

• 16-bit Fujitsu MB96350 Series Microcontroller as I/O Processor

• 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI : one PMC site and five cPCI Peripherals (on a compatible backplane)

• 32 Mbyte user / application Flash

• One ATA or CompactFlash UDMA4 interface

• 256 Mbyte 132 MHz DDR-SDRAM

• Two 1 Mbit/s isolated CAN interfaces

• One 10/100 Base-T Ethernet interface, configurable for fibre or copper I/O media types

• Optional Power over Ethernet (PoE) modules, available as Powered Device (PD) or Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE)

• Three 1 Mbit/s UART serial I/O interfaces, configurable as either RS-232 or RS-485

• Two 12 Mbit/s USB 1.1 Host interfaces (Full Speed, 12 Mbit/s)

• Eight 8-bit D/A Outputs

• Four 10-bit A/D Inputs, also configurable as digital inputs

• Four dedicated digital Inputs

• Four 6 A Open Drain MOSFET Outputs (with onboard LED indicators)

• Four 100 mA Open Collector BJT Outputs (with onboard LED indicators)

• Four programmable PWM Outputs