UEINet Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) Cube with Linux Operating System

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. It's flexibility 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 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 and UEINet OPC-UA UPG.

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 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 boards is also provided on the following pages, while detailed specifications can be obtained from the various I/O boards' datasheets. With over 80 different I/O boards available we're sure to have just what your application requires.

Your application runs as a regular Linux process giving you access to the standard POSIX API provided by the GNU C runtime library (glibc) as well as any other library that can be compiled for Linux (for example: libxml, libaudiofile…). We also support the Linux_rt preempt patch for real-time support.

To develop programs for the UEIPAC, you will need to purchase a copy of the UEIPAC Linux TK programmers toolkit. The toolkit provides the various items needed to write applications for the UEIPAC. Regardless of the number of cubes you deploy, you need only purchase one programming toolkit. UEIPAC is an embedded Linux-based system with no graphical interface. It is very good at network connectivity, which makes it possible to create remote graphical user interfaces (also known as HMI Human-Machine-Interface).

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.

Mathworks Embedded Coder® & UEI Solutions

Mathworks Embedded Coder® generates readable, compact, and fast C and C++ code for embedded processors used in mass production. Embedded Coder is available for use on UEIPAC and UEISIM systems. The choice of Embedded Coder versus Simulink Coder is done when selecting the system target file (same as what you would do to select PowerPC, SoloX ARM, or Zynq UltraScale+ CPU targets).

For information on Embedded Coder® used with UEI solutions, please contact sales@ueidaq.com.