EMBEDDED PC BASED CONTROLLER FOR USE IN VME BUS BASED DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM

An embedded PC based Controller module, named System Controller Module (SCM), has been developed at Reactor Control Division (RCnD), BARC. This module uses standard PC-104 bus based CPU module integrated with a protocol translator card to provide an interface between the CPU module and VME bus. The signal interface between PC-104 bus of CPU module and translator card is achieved through stackable connectors. SCM can be interfaced with 16- bit slave I/O modules on VME bus for Data Acquisition and Control. This development provides low cost PC based platform for developing I/O intensive embedded system requiring high processing power. SCM module is fully compatible with PC architecture and is available in Double Euro modular form factor. Module has self diagnostics features to test software integrity using onboard watchdog timer. The module provides dual Ethernet link for communication. The SCM has been assembled, integrated and successfully tested along with VME based high speed data acquisition system (Machinery Protection System), which has been developed in RCnD for condition monitoring of rotating machines. SCM acts as a configuration controller and data manager for this system.