Signal capture cards
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Often referred to as PC oscilloscope, transient recorder or digitiser
(digitizer) cards, all of these are used to record analogue signals at high speed
and with a very high level of instrumentation accuracy |
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Spectrum M2p digitiser cards.
The M2p card series has our greatest selection of channel
and resolution combinations to provide exceptional performance for applications
such as radar, telecommunications, ultrasonics and spectroscopy...to name but a
few. In fact just about any application that requires ultra high-speed signal
capture in the MHz range. A/D converter speeds range from 5 to 125 mega samples per second.
Each channels of the M2p signal capture card is equipped with its own A/D
converter, ensuring perfect synchronisation hence zero phase difference between
input channels. High channel count, wide gain ranges and software selectable
single-ended or differential inputs provides exceptional operating versatility.
These cards are physically compact (half-length) and have a fast x4-lane PCIe interface
making them commaptable to a very wide range of computer motherboards and chassis sizes.
M2p cards ship with driver software, which allows the cards to be programmed
in the Windows or Linux enviroments. This can be performed using one of the
text base languages such a C/C++, Visual Basic, Python, etc. Alternatvley LabVIEW
or MATLAB. Or simply use
SBench6 which requires no programming experience to capture, record, display
and process the data. It's all menu driven and wit the Professional version data
can be exported in a number of formats. |
Spectrum M4i digitiser cards.
Using a high bandwidth multi-lane PCI Express Gen 2.0 interface
(physically PXI Express in the case of M4x series), data streaming to the
host computer is greatly enhanced with giga byte transfer capability. Fitted
with 8 bit, or high resolution 14 / 16 bit A/D ulta high speed A/D converters,
sampling speeds up to 5 giga samples per second are possible. This makes
the M4i / M4x card series of particular value to users acquiring ultra fast signals
- if necessary over long periods.
Up to eight M4i PCIe cards can
be perfectly synchronised to provide up to 32 channels for signal capture.
The number of M4x PXIe cards is only limited by the number of available PXIe
or PXI hybrid slots in the chassis as all synchronisation performed via the
back-plane.
The M4i / M4x series also shares the
same comprehensive well proven software driver set as the M2p cards, which includes
support for all common programming languages and packages such as LabVIEW and
MATLAB.
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Spectrum M2p / M4i / M4x series card feature summary |
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Up to 8 fully synchronous channels on one card. |
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| Synchronisation of multiple cards possible, both for sampling and trigger |
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Versatile trigger features with fast auto re-arm |
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Large standard memory, 4 Gbytes on M4i & M4x, 1 Gbyte on M2p |
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Multiple Recording / Gated Sampling † with pre-trigger,
post-trigger, fast rearm & time stamp |
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ABA mode available. Go from slow continuous to rapid
acquisition on trigger events. |
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Optimised clock section, internal or external clock reference |
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M2p, M4i & M4x have a multi-lane PCI-Express interface for GByte streaming with the PC* |
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Versatile and wide ranging software support, all cards use a universal driver set for Windows® and Linux® |
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Spectrum's digitizerNETBOX places the ultra
fast instrumentation card technology described on this page into a robust enclosure
that can be attached to the Gbit Ethernet port of a computer. Combine with a notebook PC and
DC option for portability, or within an extended Ethernet network which may include more
digitizerNETBOX units. This unit includes its own Web server which gives the facility
to remotely view and configure the setup. It also has its own IP address so that captured data can
be streamed back over the network to a client PC. The digitizerNETBOX is very portable
and can be taken with the operator, (e.g within a vehicle) using a notebook PC and
DC option. For complete independence from a host computer, an embedded server option,
with installed CPU, RAM and SSD is also available as an upgrade option.
The digitizerNETBOX docking station package includes
SBench6 Professional for easy set up, log, view and signal processing.
whilst Windows/Linux drivers provide programming in MATLAB™, LabVIEW™, or one of the
popular programming languages such as Visual Basic or C. Interested?
Click here for more details and a complete list of models!
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A/D SIGNAL CAPTURE CARD SELECTION TABLES - multi-lane PCI Express format
| This versatile card range fits into a wide range of computers,
most commonly a desktop but also some types of industrial computers too. A choice
of A/D converters are available, so whilst sampling speeds below are
the maximum, slower converters are fitted to certain models to best match
an application and help ensure the most cost effective solution. |
| M2p (PCIe - x4 lane) |
MODEL SERIES
Please click on the images for more information |
RESOLUTION | MAXIMUM SAMPLE RATE
(GS/s = Giga samples per second)
(MS/s = Mega samples per second) | NUMBER OF CHANNELS |
 M2p.59xx |
16 bit | 125 MS/s | 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 |
| M4i (PCIe - x8 lane) |
 M4i.22xx |
8 bit | 5GS/s | 1 , 2 , 4 |
 M4i.44xx |
14 to 16 bit | 500MS/s | 1 , 2 , 4 |
| For existing users of the older PCI and PCI-Express M2i and M3i series cards,
who simply wish for a drop-in replacement, we can still supply. Please
contact us for further information. For new applications
we now recommend the M2p and M4i series cards.
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A/D SIGNAL CAPTURE CARD SELECTION TABLES - Formats 3U PXIe
| This card range provides a particularly modular and robust format,
most popular in the industrial environment. All are notable by the fact that
synchronisation and triggering is neatly connected across a back plane of the
mating enclosure. The latest generation of fast data streaming 3U PXI-Express
signal capture cards is offered by the M4x range. |
| M4x (PXIe - x4 lane) |
MODEL SERIES
Please click on the images for more information |
RESOLUTION | MAXIMUM SAMPLE RATE
(GS/s = Giga samples per second)
(MS/s = Mega samples per second) | NUMBER OF CHANNELS |
 M4x.22xx |
8 bit | 5GS/s | 1 , 2 , 4 |
 M4x.44xx |
14 to 16 bit | 500MS/s | 1 , 2 , 4 |
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