IbaLink-SM-128V-i-2O VMEbus interface board

IbaLink-SM-128V-i-2O VMEbus interface board: high-performance data acquisition and system integration solution

Introduction: A Bridge Connecting the VME World with Modern Data Systems

As a mature and reliable industrial bus standard, VMEbus has been widely used in high-performance PLCs, CNC systems, military, aerospace and other fields for a long time. However, with the development of Industry 4.0 and intelligent manufacturing, the requirements for real-time data collection, synchronization, and data volume are increasingly increasing. Traditional VME systems have limitations in data analysis, storage, and visualization.

IbaLink-SM-128V-i-2O is designed to address this contradiction. It is a multifunctional, bidirectional VMEbus interface card designed to serve as a high-speed bridge between VME compatible PLC or computer systems and iba data acquisition and control products such as ibaPDA and ibaLogic. This board is capable of synchronously transmitting a large amount of analog and digital signals at millisecond speed, thereby efficiently and accurately sending key process data from the VME system into modern IT environments, achieving deep data analysis and process optimization.

Core features and technical specifications

The design of SM128V board embodies the perfect combination of high performance and flexibility, and its core characteristics make it stand out in many application scenarios.

High speed fiber optic communication:

Channel 1: Provides bidirectional fiber optic links, supporting 64 analog and 64 digital inputs/outputs, with a transmission rate of 3.3 Mbps.

Channel 2: Provides unidirectional fiber optic link, supporting 64 analog and 64 digital outputs.

Synchronous transmission: All channels transmit synchronous messages at a rate of 1ms, ensuring real-time and consistent data.

Flexible VMEbus interface:

Compatible with VME32 and VME64 systems, supporting A24 and A32 address modes.

Supports multiple VMEbus data formats such as D08 (EO), D16, D32, etc.

As a passive board on VMEbus, it does not actively access or interact with the bus and only occupies 256 kByte of address space.

Supports both Big Endian and Little Endian byte orders, which can be configured through DIP switches.

Powerful system compatibility and scalability:

Cascade mode: Channel 1 supports up to 8 SM128V cards for daisy chain cascading, together forming a complete fiber optic packet containing 64 signals.

Device compatibility: Compatible with a wide range of I/O devices in the IBA series, such as ibaPADU-8, ibaFOB series, ibaNet750-BM, etc., it can be used as a process I/O bus extender.

Dedicated mode: Supports peer-to-peer mode, which can directly connect two SM128V cards to achieve data exchange between two VME systems.

Hardware specifications:

Power supply: Provided by VMEbus with a 5V power supply and a maximum current consumption of 1A.

Physical specifications: Standard 6U/4HP front panel, occupying one VME slot, with dimensions of 233.6 mm x 160 mm.

Environmental requirements: Operating temperature range of 0 ℃ to 50 ℃, natural convection cooling.

Fiber optic distance: Using appropriate optical cables, the maximum transmission distance can reach 2000 meters.

Detailed explanation of hardware installation and configuration

Proper hardware installation and configuration are the foundation for stable system operation. The configuration of SM128V is mainly completed through the operation switch on the front panel and the DIP switch on the board.

3.1 Front panel operating components

The front panel design of SM128V is intuitive, making it easy for on-site operation and status monitoring.

Fiber optic interface:

TX (5)&RX (6): Bidirectional communication interface for channel 1, using standard ST type connectors.

TX (10): Unidirectional output interface for channel 2, using standard ST type connectors.

Mode Switch S1: Set the operating mode of the board.

0 (RUN): Normal operation mode or cascade operation mode.

8 (Peer to Peer): Peer to Peer mode, used for direct coupling of two SM128V blocks, does not support cascading at this time.

Range Switch S2 and Address Switch S3:

These two switches together define the position of the board in the cascaded message of the fiber optic link. The message is divided into 8 groups, each with 8 signals.

S3 (Address): Define the starting position (1-8) of the card data in the message.

S2 (range): Define the number of signal groups (1-8) occupied by the board, i.e. occupied

range×eight

Range x 8 signals.

Example: If S2=2 (occupying 16 signals), S3=5， The board will occupy the signals of the 5th and 6th groups in the message (i.e. signals 32-47). If S2=4 (occupying 32 signals), S3=5， Then occupy the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th group signals (signals 32-63). In non cascading mode, it is recommended to set S2=8 and S3=1.

Reset Button: Press to hardware reset SM128V.

Status LED indicator light:

Run (green): Flashing indicates that the device is powered on and functioning properly.

Link (yellow): It lights up to indicate that data transmission and reception are normal.

Error (red): It lights up to indicate an internal error and will automatically turn off after the error is resolved.

3.2 On board DIP switch configuration

The onboard DIP switch (located at the bottom of the board) is used to configure deeper system parameters such as interrupts, data formats, memory addresses, etc. The factory default settings are usually marked with a yellow background.

Byte order and data format:

CH1/CH2-BIG-ENDIAN/LITTLE-ENDIAN: Set the byte order of channel 1/2.

CH1/CH2-REAL/INTEGER: Set the format of channel 1/2 analog data (IEEE floating-point or integer).

VME address mode and address settings:

A24/A32: Select 24 bit or 32-bit address mode.

A31... A18: Used to set the starting address of VMEbus. The board occupies 256 kByte of space, and the lower 18 bits of the address (A17... A0) are fixed to 0. Therefore, in the hexadecimal representation of the starting address, the last 5 bits are always 0 (such as 0xE0000000).

Special mode switch:

TEST: Only used for factory testing and must be set to OFF during normal use.

IRQ2/IRQ6: Interrupt setting, default turned off.

XXX: No functionality, keep default.

Configuration guide for specific PLC systems

The manual provides configuration recommendations for several common VME control systems, simplifying the integration process.

ALSPA CP80/A800 (AEG Logidyn D): A modified version SM128V with a 16 bit VME backplane is required. Recommend using A24 mode, starting address 0xE40000, Big Endian, integer data format. Manage memory mapping in LogiCAD through subroutines (UP).

ALSPA C80 HPC (Logidyn D2): Standard version SM128V can be used. The system has reserved a memory range of 512 kByte for up to 4 SM128V cards (actually using 256 kByte). The starting address is 0x7790000, in A32 mode. The parameter block "IBA_SM128V" needs to be used for programming in the application.

ALSPA C80 HPCI: The system is VxWorks and the programming system is ALSPA P80i. Configuration similar to HPC, starting address 0x7790000, A32 mode. Data needs to be written to VME memory using the VMEWRT function block.

GE 90/70: Recommended to use A24 mode, starting address 0xA00000, Big Endian, floating-point data format. During installation, it should be noted that the GE 90/70 chassis does not have guide pin holes, and it may be necessary to remove the guide pins on the SM128V.

Simatic TDC: Supports standard VME modules starting from D7-SYS 6.0 version. The address needs to be obtained by configuring the SB950 universal module. Special attention should be paid: No TDC module (such as CP51M1, CP52A0) should be inserted on the right side of the SM128V card, otherwise it will cause the system to fail to start. The reason is that the SM128V slot will block the initialization signal to the right TDC module.

System topology and application scenarios

The flexibility of SM128V is reflected in its ability to adapt to various system topologies and meet different application requirements.

5.1 Peer to Peer Operations

Scenario: Connect two VME systems to achieve data exchange between them.

Configuration: Set at least one SM128V mode switch to 8. At this time, the memory data of the two VME systems will be periodically (1ms) transmitted to each other, with 64 analog and digital signals in each direction.

Advantage: No additional software or power is required, enabling direct and high-speed communication between VME systems.

5.2 ibaPDA Data Collection Application

Scenario: Collect data from the VME system into ibaPDA software on the PC for recording, analysis, and visualization.

Topology: The SM128V fiber optic output interface (Tx) is connected to the input interface of the PC side ibaFOB-io or ibaFOB-4i (- S) acquisition card. Both channel 1 and channel 2 can be used as outputs.

Engineering note: In ibaPDA 5.20 and above versions, two "SM128" modules can be assigned to each fiber link, supporting gain and bias scaling of signals. Early versions required the allocation of the "ibaLink-SM-64-io" module, which does not support scaling.

5.3 ibaLogic Control Application

Scenario: Use the VME system as I/O and collaborate with ibaLogic soft PLC on the PC to achieve closed-loop control.

Topology: The output (Tx) of SM128V is connected to the ibaFOB acquisition card (input to ibaLogic). At the same time, the input (Rx) of SM128V is connected to the ibaFOB output card (output from ibaLogic). Form a bidirectional data stream.

Engineering note: In ibaLogic, use FOB-F/FOB-IO resources to receive data from SM128V, and use FOB-F OUT/FOB-IO OUT resources to send data to SM128V.

5.4 Cascade Mode

Scenario: When the number of signal points to be collected exceeds the 64 channels of a single SM128V, the number of channels is expanded through cascading.

Topology: Up to 8 SM128V modules can be connected via daisy chain. The output of the first block (Tx) is connected to the input of the second block (Rx), and so on. The complete message (64 signals) containing all board data will ultimately be transmitted to the backend acquisition or control system.

Configuration: Set the mode switch S1 of each board to 0, and allocate their respective positions in the total message through the S2 (range) and S3 (address) switches. Attention should be paid to the data flow: the incoming message will overwrite the corresponding part in the local RAM.

5.5 Process I/O Mode

Scenario: Use SM128V as a remote I/O expansion module for VME PLC and connect it to ibaPADU-8 or ibaNet750-BM series field I/O devices.

Topology: Each fiber output channel can connect up to 8 output type I/O devices (such as ibaPADU-8-O). Supports only daisy chain structure.

Advantage: Extend the I/O capability of the VME system to the field and achieve distributed control.

VMEbus interface and address space mapping

Understanding the VME address space of SM128V is crucial for PLC programming. The board occupies 256 kByte of memory and its internal structure is divided into multiple functional areas.

Hardware control area (0000H-003FH): includes hardware reset registers, etc. Writing 5AH to address 08H can trigger a hardware reset.

Version Information Area (0040H-007FH): Stores hardware, firmware, and standard version information, such as "SM128-VME".

Status indicator area (0080H-00FFH): Contains a Life counter that increments every 0.8 seconds to monitor the health status of the board.

Input data area (received message):

Binary input (2400H): 64 numerical values, stored in bit packed form in 8 bytes.

Analog input (3000H): 64 analog input values, each value occupies 4 bytes (IEEE floating point or integer), and the byte order is determined by DIP switches.

Input status (1800H): Indicates the status of the input channel, such as whether a message has been received, data format, etc.

Output data area (message to be sent):

Analog output (3800H channel 1, 3900H channel 2): 64 analog output values.

Binary output (3E00H channel 1, 3F00H channel 2): 64 digital output values, stored in the form of DWOs, with each LSB being valid. At addresses 2420H and 2428H, binary outputs in bit packing form are also provided, and the results of the two regions will be sent after an OR operation.