The UEINet chassis provides ultra-compact Ethernet based I/O module suitable for a wide variety of distributed data acquisition, control and SCADA applications. Based on UEI's popular PowerDNA Cube architecture, the new series is designed for applications requiring distributed I/O with a very small footprint.
The UEINet chassis is an extremely rugged, Gigabit Ethernet-based I/O interface. The wide variety of allows you to configure one or more cubes to match the specific I/O requirements of your application. The PowerDNA Cube is ideally suited for a wide variety of industrial, aerospace and laboratory data acquisition and control applications.
UEINet chassis are 2.7" x 4.1" x 4" and are packed with power and flexibility. Each UEINet module consists of two primary subsections: a Core Module and and an I/O board.
The “standard" UEINet is designed to run as a slave I/O unit controlled directly by a host PC. The UEINet PAC UPG option allows the unit to run as a stand-alone device running an application you write in either Linux or VxWorks operating systems. Simulink users can use the UEINet SIM UPG option to enable the ability to build applications in Simulink. These Simulink modules may be run on a host PC, stand-alone on the UEINet, or in a SCADA mode where a stand-alone application runs, but can be tuned by the host PC. Finally, there the UEINet Mod UPG allows the UEINet to run as a MODBUS TCP node.
The Core Module occupies the top portion of the chassis and provides two independent Gigabit Ethernet Network Interface Controllers (NICs) with separate IP addresses. These may be configured as a control port and a diagnostic port or they may be teamed/bonded to allow redundant network access. The control port is the primary interface from the host PC. The diagnostics port allows other computers (or a different thread on the host) to interrogate the I/O and system status of the Cube.
The Core module also provides provides the 8347 series PowerPC CPU, two USB 2.0 controller ports (active only with the UEIPAC option), indicator lights, timing/trigger interface, configuration ports and internal power supply. It's the brains of the UEINet and controls the unit's operations including the interface with the host Controller (and other Cubes), acting as the primary processor in stand alone deployments as well as supervising the activity of the I/O board.
The remainder of the chassis contains the I/O board. A custom (though fully COTS) I/O configuration is possible by specifying the UEINet with any of UEI's DNA-series I/O boards. An overview of these board is also provided on the following pages, while detailed specifications can be obtained from the various I/O boards' datasheets. With over 60 different I/O boards available we're sure to have just what your application requires.
The UEINet-FLANGE, mounting option allows the UEINet series to be easily mounted to any flat surface. The UEINet-DR, DIN rail mount allows the unit to be mounted to any standard 35 mm DIN rail.
UEI provides a development kit that allows you to develop applications for the UEIPAC (programmable automation controllers. Here is a brief video the shows you how to install it on a Linux PC or a Linux virtual machine.
The UEIPAC offers an unprecedented combination of flexibility, high performance, low cost and small size. The unit is an ideal solution in a wide variety of measurement and control applications including: Temperature control, Remote/unmanned vehicle control, Hardware in-the-loop (HIL) and more.
In this Master Class, we look at two popular Industrial Communication Protocols, Modbus, and also a newer protocol, OPC-UA. Takeaways include providing an overview of the two protocols, highlighting the benefits and limitations of each, and demonstrating UEI hardware using each of them.