A municipal centre shall be equipped with modern building technology. The energy costs of the control unit and of the facility shall thereby be reduced. Various actuators, the room temperature, humidity and the central fire alarm system shall be regulated with the help of acquisition and control of different signals.

Real time, immediately and speed are expressions that are often confused even if they do not have the same meaning. They are related to each other, though.

The importance of energy efficiency is continuously growing in the sector of measurement and automation. The MSX-Box helps you improve the energy balance.

The programs of the MSX-Box are mainly written in C or C++. However, not every end user is able to work with these programming languages. Therefore, the MSX-Box offers the opportunity to use low- level programming languages. Thus people who are not software engineers can also use the MSX-Box.

A data logger is used for avalanche warning in the mountains. It captures different signals: Temperature (ambient temperature and snow temperature in different snow layer depths), vibration sensors (standardised on +/- 10V) and serial sensors (humidity of the different snow layer depths). A local power supply exists but no network connection is available. Thus only a stand-alone data logger can be used for the long-term acquisition and data processing.

For quality control, the surface roughness of a test item is to be tested and its contour recorded.

The installation consists of four surface roughness gauges which are connected via four serial interfaces (RS232), a laser micrometer and a glass scale.

For the acquisition, the compact real-time PAC system MSX-Box is used, which includes PC boards with the following functions: counter, analog I/O, serial interfaces. In this case, the version of the MSX-box with PCI backplane is used.

For extremely harsh environments, it is also possible to use the compact PCI version with the corresponding CompactPCI boards.

PID controls are standard tasks in measurement and automation technology.

PID controllers in fact involve a lot of computational output, but they enable very fast control procedures. However, the control itself must be fast enough.

The MSX-Box is best equipped for such a task. As the floating point calculation runs directly in the real-time kernel mode, not in the user mode, the cycle times are reduced. The control is therefore faster overall, with the possibility of achieving PID controls of under 50 µs.

If you develop your control with a PID controller, you can use our new programming sample for the MSX-Box PAC system.

The Open Source real-time PAC system MSX-Box from Addi-Data is now available under the designation MSX-Box-CPCI as a CompactPCI version. The system is suitable for measurement and control tasks in harsh industrial environments, where there are shocks and vibrations.

Properties

• CompactPCI backplane
• Functionality by adding CompactPCI boards, also other boards on the market
• Version with 4 CompactPCI slots, further versions on request
• Self-developed CPU (64 bit MIPS processor) with Ethernet connection onboard
• Interfaces: RS232, RS485, CAN or Profibus, Ethernet
• Synchronisation of several MSX-Box-CPCI over RTSync
• Operating system Linux
• Live DVD with free development tools

More information
Product information MSX-Box-CPCI

Learn how to quickly and simply install a control of the MSX-Box with a Simatic® S7 via Ethernet.
In this case we will give you a special explanation how a S7 controls the 16 digital inputs and outputs of the MSX-Box. The digital I/O come from the PCI board APCI-1500 by ADDI-DATA which is mounted on the PCI backplane of the MSX-Box.

Several MSX-Boxes can be synchronised with the Network Time Protocol (NTP) service in order to coordinate the distributed MSR tasks as regards time.

More information about Network Time Protocol

Network Time Protocol practical knowledge

Download the new MSX-Box Live DVD today and use the free development tools to programm your application under Linux.
Follow this link for the download.

We can also send you the Live DVD by post. Fill in this form and send it to us. You will receive the Live DVD within a few days.

You will discover on the new Live DVD the free package Scilab®. for the direct processing and the convenient graphical display of measured values.

Visit us and discover how to boost your measuring and control projects with the MSX-Box.
We are looking forward to your visit!

Nuremberg, 26th to 28th February 2008
Hall 9, booth 625.
www.embedded-world.de

Request your free admission ticket today: info@addi-data.com

The new Live DVD with development tools for the MSX-Box is now available for free!
With the MSX-Box Live DVD, you can develop measurement and control applications easily under Linux, even if you do not use the MSX-Box. The MSX-Box Live DVD is based on the Debian distribution and the efficient development environment Eclipse with GNU C compiler. We have added new programs and functionalities to the numerous development tools.
Firstly, the free software package Scilab® has been integrated for the direct processing and the convenient graphical display of measured values. Scilab® is a Matrix-based scientific software package resembling MATLAB® and Xmath®. Therefore you can dispense with expensive software packages and high licence costs.
Then we have implemented the drivers and samples of the most current ADDI-DATA boards in order to allow you to use the developments tools of the MSX-Box Live-DVD to program your applications easily under Linux.

Make use of the MSX-Box Live DVD for designing your applications! Request your free Live DVD today!

Request the Live DVD
The direct download on www.msx-box.com will be possible from 27. February, 2008, just in time with the Embedded World.

Use the opportunity and get the Live DVD already today!
Fill in the form and mention whether you want to receive the Live DVD by post or if you wish the link for a direct download.

Please note that the german version of the MSX-Box website has a new address: http://www.msx-box.de

We make it easier for you to start working with the MSX-Box with a step-by-step guide: the Quick Installation.
This instruction accompanies you from connecting the MSX-Box to the first developments.
Learn how convenient hardware and development tools of the Live Live DVD interact and how individually you can structure your application thanks to the access right to the kernel source code.

Quick installation as PDF file

The MSX-Box constists of two principal parts: The powerful hardware based exclusively on standards and the free open source software on the Live DVD.

The Live DVD includes all development tools you may need to run the MSX-Box. It is based on the 5.1.1 Knoppix version. We have selected Eclipse as development environment because it has become a standard.

Learn more about the MSX-Box Live DVD: Developing with the MSX-Box Live DVD.

Request your free Live DVD at info@addi-data.com

Openness and transparency are two important foundation stones for your measurement and control applications.
Why?
This is the only option which allows you to make in-depth adaptations right down to the kernel source code. Individual system design is not an empty word anymore, it is a reality.
What is precisely behind the MSX-Box design you can learn in the "What is the MSX-Box" brochure.

The technical datasheet provides you with detailed information on the MSX-Box PAC system.
We will be happy to answer your questions. Please simply call: +49 7223/9493-0.