The VSER8 interfaces eight programmable serial I/O channels to VMEbus and optionally STEbus. The board uses four 8530 Serial Communication Controllers (SCCs) to provide eight synchronous or asynchronous serial channels. These devices offer programmable character length, stop bits and baud rates. Eight channels can operate in synchronous or asynchronous mode. In synchronous mode, the board will work at baud rates to 921.6Kbaud. Used for asynchronous communications, the board will work at rates to 57.6Kbaud.
The board can easily be configured for different I/O interface levels, with each channel being link-selectable as RS232 or RS485/RS422. As RS232, each channel has data in and out, and four handshake lines. As RS485/RS422, each channel has a bi- directional tri-statable data pair and a tri-statable output control pair.
The VSER8 has a VMEbus slave interface and optional STEbus interface and can be controlled from both. With the STEbus interface installed, communications between the buses is by two 16-bit wide data latches which can cause interrupts when written to. The VSER8 has two 50-way connectors each carrying four serial I/O channels. They are compatible with Arcom's Signal- Conditioning Bus, which includes D25 connector panels and current-loop convertors.