Spectrum MI.20xx Mounting instructions

SPECTRUM SYSTEMENTWICKLUNG MICROELECTRONIC GMBH · AHRENSFELDER WEG 13-17 · 22927 GROSSHANSDORF · GERMANY
PHONE: [phone] · FAX: [phone] · E-MAIL: in[email protected] · INTERNET: http://www.spec.de
MI.20xx
fast 8 bit transient recorder,
A/D converter board
for PCI bus
Hardware Manual
Software Driver Manual
English version April 1, 2005

(c) SPECTRUM SYSTEMENTWICKLUNG MICROELECTRONIC GMBH
AHRENSFELDER WEG 13-17, 22927 GROSSHANSDORF, GERMANY
SBench is a registered trademark of Spectrum Systementwicklung Microelectronic GmbH.
Microsoft, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Windows, Windows 98, Windows NT, Window 2000 and Windows XP are tradenarks/registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
LabVIEW, DASYLab, Diadem and LabWindows/CVI are tradenarks/registered trademarks of National Instruments Corporation.
MATLAB is a tradenark/registered trademark of The Mathworks, Inc.
Agilent VEE, VEE Pro and VEE OneLab are tradenarks/registered trademarks of Agilent Technologies, Inc.
FlexPro is a registered trademark of Weisang GmbH & Co. KG.

3
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 6
Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................... 6
General Information ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Different models of the MI.20xx series .................................................................................................................................... 7
Additional options................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Extra I/O (Option -XMF).................................................................................................................................................. 8
Extra I/O (Option -XIO)................................................................................................................................................... 8
Starhub ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Timestamp ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
The Spectrum type plate ...................................................................................................................................................... 10
Hardware information......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Block diagram.............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Technical Data ............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Dynamic Parameters ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Order information......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Hardware Installation ..................................................................................................... 13
System Requirements .......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Warnings.......................................................................................................................................................................... 13
ESD Precautions ........................................................................................................................................................... 13
Cooling Precautions...................................................................................................................................................... 13
Sources of noise ........................................................................................................................................................... 13
Installing the board in the system.......................................................................................................................................... 13
Installing a single board without any options.................................................................................................................... 13
Installing a board with digital inputs/outputs.................................................................................................................... 14
Installing a board with extra I/O (Option -XMF) ............................................................................................................... 14
Installing multiple boards synchronized by starhub............................................................................................................ 15
Installing multiple synchronized boards ........................................................................................................................... 16
Software Driver Installation............................................................................................. 17
Interrupt Sharing ................................................................................................................................................................ 17
Windows 98 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Installation ................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Version control ............................................................................................................................................................. 18
Driver - Update............................................................................................................................................................. 19
Windows 2000 ................................................................................................................................................................. 20
Installation ................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Version control ............................................................................................................................................................. 20
Driver - Update............................................................................................................................................................. 21
Windows XP...................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Installation ................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Version control ............................................................................................................................................................. 22
Driver - Update............................................................................................................................................................. 23
Windows NT..................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Installation ................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Adding boards to the Windows NT driver ....................................................................................................................... 24
Driver - Update............................................................................................................................................................. 24
Linux................................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Overview .................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Installation ................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Software ......................................................................................................................... 27
Software Overview............................................................................................................................................................. 27
First Test with SBench.......................................................................................................................................................... 27
C/C++ Driver Interface....................................................................................................................................................... 28
Header files ................................................................................................................................................................. 28
Microsoft Visual C++ .................................................................................................................................................... 28
Linux Gnu C................................................................................................................................................................. 28
Other Windows C/C++ compilers ................................................................................................................................. 29
National Instruments LabWindows/CVI........................................................................................................................... 29
Driver functions ............................................................................................................................................................ 29
Delphi (Pascal) Programming Interface .................................................................................................................................. 32
Type definition ............................................................................................................................................................. 32
Include Driver............................................................................................................................................................... 32
Examples..................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Driver functions ............................................................................................................................................................ 32
Visual Basic Programming Interface ...................................................................................................................................... 34
Include Driver............................................................................................................................................................... 34
Visual Basic Examples................................................................................................................................................... 34
VBA for Excel Examples ................................................................................................................................................ 34
Driver functions ............................................................................................................................................................ 34

4
Programming the Board .................................................................................................. 36
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Register tables ................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Programming examples....................................................................................................................................................... 36
Error handling.................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Initialization....................................................................................................................................................................... 37
Starting the automatic initialization routine ...................................................................................................................... 37
PCI Register ................................................................................................................................................................. 37
Hardware version......................................................................................................................................................... 38
Date of production........................................................................................................................................................ 38
Serial number .............................................................................................................................................................. 38
Maximum possible sample rate ...................................................................................................................................... 38
Installed memory .......................................................................................................................................................... 38
Installed features and options ......................................................................................................................................... 39
Used interrupt line ........................................................................................................................................................ 39
Used type of driver ....................................................................................................................................................... 39
Powerdown and reset ......................................................................................................................................................... 40
Analog Inputs.................................................................................................................. 41
Channel Selection .............................................................................................................................................................. 41
Important note on channels selection............................................................................................................................... 41
Setting up the inputs ........................................................................................................................................................... 42
Input ranges................................................................................................................................................................. 42
Input offset................................................................................................................................................................... 43
Input termination........................................................................................................................................................... 44
Automatical adjustment of the offset settings..................................................................................................................... 44
Standard acquisition modes ............................................................................................ 45
General Information ........................................................................................................................................................... 45
Programming..................................................................................................................................................................... 45
Memory, Pre- and Posttrigger ......................................................................................................................................... 45
Starting without interrupt (classic mode)........................................................................................................................... 46
Starting with interrupt driven mode ................................................................................................................................. 46
Data organization ........................................................................................................................................................ 47
Sample format.............................................................................................................................................................. 47
Reading out the data with SpcGetData............................................................................................................................ 47
FIFO Mode....................................................................................................................... 49
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................... 49
General Information...................................................................................................................................................... 49
Background FIFO Read ................................................................................................................................................. 49
Speed Limitations.......................................................................................................................................................... 49
Programming..................................................................................................................................................................... 50
Software Buffers ........................................................................................................................................................... 50
Buffer processing.......................................................................................................................................................... 51
FIFO mode .................................................................................................................................................................. 52
Example FIFO acquisition mode ..................................................................................................................................... 52
Data organization ........................................................................................................................................................ 52
Sample format.............................................................................................................................................................. 53
Clock generation ............................................................................................................. 54
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................... 54
Internally generated sample rate .......................................................................................................................................... 54
Standard internal sample rate ........................................................................................................................................ 54
Using plain quartz with no PLL........................................................................................................................................ 55
Direct external clock ..................................................................................................................................................... 55
External clock with divider ............................................................................................................................................. 57
Trigger modes and appendant registers .......................................................................... 58
General Description............................................................................................................................................................ 58
Software trigger ................................................................................................................................................................. 58
External TTL trigger ............................................................................................................................................................. 58
Edge triggers ............................................................................................................................................................... 59
Pulsewidth triggers........................................................................................................................................................ 60
Channel Trigger ................................................................................................................................................................. 62
Overview of the channel trigger registers......................................................................................................................... 62
Triggerlevel.................................................................................................................................................................. 63
Detailed description of the channel trigger modes............................................................................................................. 65

5
Option Multiple Recording ............................................................................................... 73
Recording modes ............................................................................................................................................................... 73
Standard Mode............................................................................................................................................................ 73
FIFO Mode .................................................................................................................................................................. 73
Trigger modes.................................................................................................................................................................... 73
Option Gated Sampling ................................................................................................... 75
Recording modes ............................................................................................................................................................... 75
Standard Mode............................................................................................................................................................ 75
FIFO Mode .................................................................................................................................................................. 75
Trigger modes.................................................................................................................................................................... 75
General information and trigger delay ............................................................................................................................ 75
Allowed trigger modes .................................................................................................................................................. 76
Example program............................................................................................................................................................... 77
Option Timestamp ........................................................................................................... 78
General information ........................................................................................................................................................... 78
Timestamp modes............................................................................................................................................................... 78
Standard mode ............................................................................................................................................................ 78
StartReset mode............................................................................................................................................................ 78
RefClock mode (optional) .............................................................................................................................................. 78
Timestamp Status................................................................................................................................................................ 79
Reading out timestamp data ................................................................................................................................................ 79
Functions for accessing the data ..................................................................................................................................... 79
Data format ................................................................................................................................................................. 80
Example programs ............................................................................................................................................................. 81
Standard acquisition mode ............................................................................................................................................ 81
Acquisition with Multiple Recording ................................................................................................................................ 81
Option Extra I/O ............................................................................................................. 82
Digital I/Os....................................................................................................................................................................... 82
Channel direction ......................................................................................................................................................... 82
Transfer Data ............................................................................................................................................................... 82
Analog Outputs.................................................................................................................................................................. 83
Programming example ........................................................................................................................................................ 83
Synchronization (Option) ................................................................................................. 84
The different synchronization options .................................................................................................................................... 84
Synchronization with option cascading ........................................................................................................................... 84
Synchronization with option starhub ............................................................................................................................... 84
The setup order for the different synchronization options ......................................................................................................... 85
Setup Order for use with standard (non FIFO) mode and equally clocked boards ................................................................. 85
Setup synchronization for use with FIFO mode and equally clocked boards ......................................................................... 89
Additions for synchronizing different boards.......................................................................................................................... 91
Additions for equal boards with different sample rates ...................................................................................................... 93
Resulting delays using different boards or speeds ............................................................................................................. 93
Appendix ........................................................................................................................ 94
Error Codes....................................................................................................................................................................... 94
Pin assignment of the multipin connector ............................................................................................................................... 95
Extra I/O with external connector(Option -XMF) ............................................................................................................... 95
Pin assignment of the multipin cable ..................................................................................................................................... 95
Pin assignment of the internal multipin connector.................................................................................................................... 96
Extra I/O with internal connector (Option -XIO)................................................................................................................ 96

6 MI.20xx Manual
Preface Introduction
Introduction
Preface
This manual provides detailed information on the hardware features of your Spectrum instrumentation board. This information includes tech-
nical data, specifications, block diagram and a connector description.
In addition, this guide takes you through the process of installing your board and also describes the installation of the delivered driver package
for each operating system.
Finally this manual provides you with the complete software information of the board and the related driver. The reader of this manual will
be able to integrate the board in any PC system with one of the supported bus and operating systems.
Please note that this manual provides no description for specific driver parts such as those for LabVIEW or MATLAB. These drivers are provi-
ded by special order.
For any new information on the board as well as new available options or memory upgrades please contact our webside
http://www.spectrum-instrumentation.com. You will also find the current driver package with the latest bug fixes and new features on our site.
Please read this manual carefully before you install any hardware or software. Spectrum is not responsible
for any hardware failures resulting from incorrect usage.
General Information
The 4 models of the MI.20xx series are designed for the fast and high quality data acquisition. Every of the up to four input channels has its
own A/D converter and it's own programmable input amplifier.
This allows to record signals with 8 bit resolution without any phase delay between them. The inputs could be selected to one of seven input
ranges by software and could be programmed to compensate an input offset of ±400% of the input range. The extremely large on-board
memory allows long time recording even with highest sample rates. A FIFO mode is also integrated on the board. This allows to record data
continuously and to process it in the PC or to store it to hard disk.
Several boards of the MI.xxxx series may be connected together by the internal standard synchronisation bus to work with the same time base.
Application examples: Laboratory equipment, Supersonics, LDA/PDA, Radar, Spectroscopy, production test.

Introduction Different models of the MI.20xx series
(c) Spectrum GmbH 7
Different models of the MI.20xx series
The following overwiew shows the different available models of the MI.20xx series. They differ in the number mounted generation modules
and the number of available channels. You can also see the model dependant allocation of the output connectors.
• MI.2020
• MI.2030
•
• MI.2021
• MI.2031

8 MI.20xx Manual
Additional options Introduction
Additional options
Extra I/O (Option -XMF)
With this simple-to-use enhancement
it is possible to control a wide range
of external instruments or other
equipment. Therefore you have 24
digital I/O and the 4 analog outputs
available.
The asynchronous I/Os of the extra
I/O option are useful if an external
amplifier should be controlled, any
kind of signal source must be pro-
grammed, an antenna must be adju-
sted, a status information from
external machine has to be obtained
or different test signals have to be
routed to the board.
The additional inputs and outputs
are mounted on an extra bracket.
The figure shows the allocation of the two connectors.
The shown option is mounted exemplarily on a board with two modules. Of course you can also combine this option as well with a board
that is equipped with only one module.
It is not possible to use this option together with the star hub or timestamp option, because there is just space for
one piggyback module on the on-board expansion slot.
Extra I/O (Option -XIO)
With this simple-to-use enhancement
it is possible to control a wide range
of external instruments or other
equipment. Therefore you have 16
digital I/O and the 4 analog outputs
available.
The asynchronous I/Os of the extra
I/O option are useful if an external
amplifier should be controlled, any
kind of signal source must be pro-
grammed, an antenna must be adju-
sted, a status information from
external machine has to be obtained
or different test signals have to be
routed to the board.
The additional inputs and outputs
are not mounted on an extra brak-
ket, but are available on an internal connector. The figure shows the position of this connector on the bottom side of the extra I/O piggy-back
module.
The shown option is mounted exemplarily on a board with two modules. Of course you can also combine this option as well with a board
that is equipped with only one module.
It is not possible to use this option together with the star hub or timestamp option, because there is just space for
one piggyback module on the on-board expansion slot.

Introduction Additional options
(c) Spectrum GmbH 9
Starhub
The star hub module allows the syn-
chronisation of up to 16 MI boards.
It is possible to synchronise boards
of the same type with each other as
well as different types.
The module acts as a star hub for
clock and trigger signals. Each
board is connected with a small ca-
ble of the same length, even the ma-
ster board. That minimises the clock
skew between the different boards.
The figure shows the piggyback mo-
dule mounted on the base board
schematically without any cables to
achieve a better visibility.
Any board could be the clock ma-
ster and the same or any other
board could be the trigger master. All trigger modes that are available on the master board are also available if the synchronisation star hub
is used.
The cable connection of the boards is automatically recognised and checked by the driver at load time. So no care must be taken on how to
cable the boards. The programming of the star hub is included in the standard board interface and consists of only 3 additional commands.
It is not possible to use this option together with the timestamp or extra I/O option, because the is just space for one
piggyback module on the on-board expansion slot.
Timestamp
The timestamp module was desi-
gned to record the exact time infor-
mation between trigger events.
The timestamp reset command sets
an internal counter to zero. The
counter is running with the same re-
solution as the sample rate. On each
trigger event a timestamp is recor-
ded in an extra FIFO. The recorded
timestamps are read out asynchro-
nously to the board sampling.
If the absolute time information is of
interest it is possible to synchronise
the timestamp counter with a 1 Hz
"seconds" signal of a radio clock or
a GPS receiver. In that case the 64
bit timestamp information is split up
in two parts. The one part counts the number of seconds starting with the reset command, the other part is set to zero on every rising edge
of the seconds signal and specifies the exact time position in relation to the seconds signal.
The figure shows the piggyback module installed on the on-board expansion slot. The shown option is mounted exemplarily on a board with
two modules.
It is not possible to use this option together with the star hub or extra I/O option, because the is just space for one
piggyback module on the on-board expansion slot.

10 MI.20xx Manual
The Spectrum type plate Introduction
The Spectrum type plate
The Spectrum type plate, which consists of the following components, can be found on all of our boards.
The board type, consisting of the two letters describing the bus (in this case MI for the PCI bus) and the model number.
The size of the on-board installed memory in MSamples. In this example there are 8 MS (16 MByte) installed.
The serial number of your Spectrum board. Every board has a unique serial number.
The board revision, consisting of the base version and the module version.
A list of the installed options. A complete list of all available options is shown in the order information. In this example the options
’Multiple recording’ and ’Extra I/O with external outputs’ are installed.
The date of production, consisting of the calendar week and the year.
Please always supply us with the above information, especially the serial number in case of support request. That
allows us to answer your questions as soon as possible. Thank you.

Introduction Hardware information
(c) Spectrum GmbH 11
Hardware information
Block diagram
Technical Data
Resolution 8 bit Dimension 312 mm x 107 mm
Differential linearity error (ADC) 0.5 LSB typ. Width (Standard) 1 full size slot
Integral linearity error (ADC) 0.5 LSB typ. Width (with star hub option) 2 full size slots
Multi: Trigger to 1st sample delay fixed Analogue Connector 3 mm SMB male
Multi: Recovery (re-arm) time < 20 samples Overvoltage protection (range < ±500 mV) ±5 V
Trigger accuracy 2/4 channel mode 1 Sample Overvoltage protection (range > ±500 mV) ±50 V
Trigger accuracy 1 channel mode 2 Samples Warm up time 10 minutes
Ext. clock: delay to internal clock 42 ns ± 2 ns Operating temperature 0°C - 50°C
input signal with 50 ? termination max 5 V rms Storage temperature -10°C - 70°C
Trigger output delay 1 Sample Humidity 10% to 90%
Input impedance 50 Ohm / 1 MOhm || 25 pF
Min internal clock 1 kS/s Power consumption 5 V @ full speed max 3.4 A (17.0 Watt)
Min external clock 1 MS/s Power consumption 5 V @ power down max 1.9 A (9.5 Watt)
Trigger input:Standard TTL level Low: -0.5 > level < 0.8 V
High: 2.0 V > level < 5.5 V
Trigger pulse must be valid > 2 clock periods.
Clock input: Standard TTL level Low: -0.5 > level < 0.8 V
High: 2.0 V > level < 5.5 V
Rising edge is used.
Required duty cycle: 50% ± 5%
Trigger output Standard TTL, capable of driving 50 Ohm.
Low < 0.4 V (@ 20 mA, max 64 mA)
High > 2.4 V (@ -20 mA, max -32 mA)
One positive edge after the first internal trigger
Clock output Standard TTL, capable of driving 50 Ohm
Low < 0.4 V (@ 20 mA, max 64 mA)
High > 2.4 V (@ -20 mA, max -32 mA)
Input range ±50 mV ±100 mV ±200 mV ±500 mV ±1 V ±2 V ±5 V
Software programmable offset ±200 mV ±400 mV ±800 mV ±2 V ±4 V ±8 V ±20 V
Offset error < 1 LSB, adjustable by user
Gainerror <2%<2%<2%<2%<2%<2%<2%
MI.202x: Noise (rms): 50 Ohm, 50 MS/s < 0.5 LSB < 0.5 LSB < 0.5 LSB < 0.5 LSB < 0.5 LSB < 0.5 LSB < 0.5 LSB
MI.203x: Noise (rms): 50 Ohm, 100/200 MS/s < 2.0 LSB < 1.5 LSB < 1.0 LSB < 1.0 LSB < 1.0 LSB < 1.0 LSB < 1.0 LSB
Crosstalk 5 MHz signal, ±50 mV input, 50 Ohm < 62 dB

12 MI.20xx Manual
Hardware information Introduction
Dynamic Parameters
Dynamic parameters are measured at ± 1 V input range (if no other range is stated) and 50 Ohm termination with the samplerate specified in the table. Measured parameters are avera-
ged 20 times to get typical values. Test signal is a pure sine wave of the specified frequency with > 99% amplitude. SNR and RMS noise parameters may differ depending on the quality
of the used PC. SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio, THD = Total Harmonic Distortion, SFDR = Spurious Free Dynamic Range, SINAD = Signal Noise and Distortion, ENOB = Effective Number
of Bits. For a detailed description please see application note 002.
Order information
MI.2020
MI.2021
MI.2030
MI.2031
max internal clock 50 MS/s 200 MS/s
max external clock 50 MS/s 100 MS/s
-3 dB bandwidth > 25 MHz > 90 MHz
MI.2020
MI.2021
MI.2030
MI.2031
Test - Samplerate 50 MS/s 100 MS/s
Testsignal frequency 1 MHz 1 MHz
SNR (typ) > 47.5 dB > 45.9 dB
THD (typ) < -52.5 dB < -49.1 dB
SFDR (typ), incl harm. > 57.0 dB > 55.5 dB
SINAD (typ) > 46.0 dB > 44.2
ENOB (based on SINAD) > 7.3 > 7.1
Order No Description Order No Description
MI2020 MI.2020 with 16 MSample memory and drivers/SBench 5.x MI2xxx-32M Option: 32 MSample memory instead of 16 MSample standard mem
MI2021 MI.2021 with 16 MSample memory and drivers/SBench 5.x MI2xxx-64M Option: 64 MSample memory instead of 16 MSample standard mem
MI2030 MI.2030 with 16 MSample memory and drivers/SBench 5.x MI2xxx-128M Option: 128 MSample memory instead of 16 MSample standard
mem
MI2031 MI.2031 with 16 MSample memory and drivers/SBench 5.x MI2xxx-256M Option: 256 MSample memory instead of 16 MSample standard
mem
MI2xxx-512M Option: 512 MSample memory instead of 16 MSample standard
mem
MI2xxx-smod Star Hub: Synchronisation of 2 - 16 boards, one option per system MI2xxx-up Additional handling costs for later memory upgrade
MIxxxx.xio Extra I/O, internal connector: 16 DI/O, 4 Analog out
MIxxxx-xmf Extra I/O, external connector: 24 DI/O, 4 Analog out, incl. cable MI2xxx-mr Option Multiple Recording: Memory segmentation
MI2xxx-time Timestamp option: Extra memory for trigger time MI2xxx-gs Option Gated Sampling: Gate signal controls acquisition
MI2xxx-cs Synchronisation of 2 - 4 boards, one option per system
Cab-3f-9m-80 Adapter cable: SMB female to BNC male 80 cm
Cab-3f-9m-200 Adapter cable: SMB female to BNC male 200 cm MI20xx-dl DASYLab driver for MI.20xx series
Cab-3f-9f-80 Adapter cable: SMB female to BNC female 80 cm MI20xx-hp VEE driver for MI.20xx series
Cab-3f-9f-200 Adapter cable: SMB female to BNC female 200 cm MI20xx-lv LabVIEW driver for MI.20xx series
MATLAB MATLAB driver for all MI.xxxx, MC.xxxx and MX.xxxx series.

Hardware Installation System Requirements
(c) Spectrum GmbH 13
Hardware Installation
System Requirements
All Spectrum MI.xxxx instrumentation boards are compliant to the PCI standard and require in general one free full length slot. Depending
on the installed options additional free slots can be necessary.
Warnings
ESD Precautions
The boards of the MI.xxxx series contain electronic components that can be damaged by electrostatic discharge (ESD).
Before installing the board in your system or even before touching it, it is absolutely necessary to bleed of
any electrostatic electricity.
Cooling Precautions
The boards of the MI.xxxx series operate with components having very high power consumption at high speeds. For this reason it is absolutely
required to cool this board sufficiently. It is strongly recommended to install an additional cooling fan producing a stream of air across the
boards surface. In most cases professional PC-systems are already equipped with sufficient cooling power. In that case please make sure that
the air stream is not blocked.
During longer pauses between the single measurements the power down mode should be called to reduce the heat production.
Sources of noise
The boards of the MI.xxxx series should be placed far away from any noise producing source (like e.g. the power supply). It should especially
be avoided to place the board in the slot directly adjacent to another fast board (like the graphics controller).
Installing the board in the system
Installing a single board without any options
Before installing the board you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-bracket usually mounted to cover unused slots of your
PC. Please keep the screw in reach to fasten your Spectrum board afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length PCI slot with a track
at the backside to guide the board by it’s retainer. Now insert the board slowly into your computer. This is done best with one hand each at
both fronts of the board.
While inserting the board take care not to tilt the retainer in the track.
Please be very carefully when inserting the board in the PCI slot, as most of the mainboards are mounted
with spacers and therefore might be damaged if they are exposed to high preasure.
After the board’s insertion fasten the screw of the bracket carefully, without overdoing.

14 MI.20xx Manual
Installing the board in the system Hardware Installation
Installing a board with digital inputs/outputs
Before installing the board you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-brackets usually mounted to cover unused slots of your
PC. Please keep the screws in reach to fasten your Spectrum board and the extra bracket afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length
PCI slot with a track at the backside to guide the board by it’s retainer. Now insert the board and the extra bracket slowly into your computer.
This is done best with one hand each at both fronts of the board.
While inserting the board take care not to tilt the retainer in the track.
Please be very carefully when inserting the board in the PCI slot, as most of the mainboards are mounted
with spacers and therefore might be damaged they are exposed to high preasure.
After the board’s insertion fasten the screws of both brackets carefully, without overdoing. The figure shows an example of a board with two
installed modules.
Installing a board with extra I/O (Option -XMF)
Before installing the board you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-brackets usually mounted to cover unused slots of your
PC. Please keep the screws in reach to fasten your Spectrum board and the extra bracket afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length
PCI slot with a track at the backside to guide the board by it’s retainer. Now insert the board and the extra bracket slowly into your computer.
This is done best with one hand each at both fronts of the board.
While inserting the board take care not to tilt the retainer in the track.
Please be very carefully when inserting the board in the PCI slot, as most of the mainboards are mounted
with spacers and therefore might be damaged they are exposed to high preasure.
After the board’s insertion fasten the screws of both brackets carefully, without overdoing. The figure shows an example of a board with two
installed modules.

Hardware Installation Installing the board in the system
(c) Spectrum GmbH 15
Installing multiple boards synchronized by starhub
Hooking up the boards
Before mounting several synchronized boards for a multi channel system into the PC you can hook up the boards with their synchronization
cables first. If there is enough space in your computer’s case (e.g. a big tower case) you can also mount the boards first and hook them up
afterwards. Spectrum ships the boards together with the needed amount of synchronization cables. All of them are matched to the same
length, to achieve a zero clock delay between the boards.
Only use the included flat ribbon cables.
All of the boards, including the board that carrys the starhub piggy-back module, must be wired to the starhub as the figure is showing ex-
emplarily for three synchronized boards.
It does not matter which of the 16 connectors on the starhub module you use for which board. The software driver will detect the types and
order of the synchronized boards automatically. The figure shows the three cables mounted next to each other only to achieve a better visi-
bility.
As some of the synchronization cables are not secured against wrong plugging you should take
care to have the pin 1 markers on the multiple connectors and the cable on the same side, as the
figure on the right is showing.
Mounting the wired boards
Before installing the boards you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-brackets usually mounted to cover unused slots of your
PC. Please keep the screws in reach to fasten your Spectrum boards afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length PCI slot with a track
at the backside to guide the board by it’s retainer. Now insert the board and the extra bracket slowly into your computer. This is done best
with one hand each at both fronts of the board. Please keep in mind that the board carrying the starhub piggy-back module requires the width
of two slots.
While inserting the boards take care not to tilt the retainers in the tracks.
Please be very carefully when inserting the boards in the PCI slots, as most of the mainboards are mounted
with spacers and therefore might be damaged if they are exposed to high preasure.
After the boards insertion fasten the screws of all brackets carefully, without overdoing. The figure shows an example of three boards with
two installed modules.

16 MI.20xx Manual
Installing the board in the system Hardware Installation
Installing multiple synchronized boards
Hooking up the boards
Before mounting several synchronized boards for a multi channel system into the PC you can hook up the boards with the synchronization
cable first. If there is enough space in your computer’s case (e.g. a big tower case) you can also mount the boards first and hook them up
afterwards. Spectrum ships the boards together with the needed synchronization cable.
All of the possible four boards must be wired with the delivered synchronization cable. The figure is showing an example of three synchro-
nized boards.
The outer boards have a soldered termination for the sync bus. These boards are marked with an additional sticker.
Only mount the cluster of synchronized boards in a row with the dedicated boards on the outer sides.
Mounting the wired boards
Before installing the boards you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-brackets usually mounted to cover unused slots of your
PC. Please keep the screws in reach to fasten your Spectrum boards afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length PCI slot with a track
at the backside to guide the board by it’s retainer. Now insert the boards slowly into your computer. This is done best with one hand each
at both fronts of the board.
While inserting the boards take care not to tilt the retainers in the tracks.
Please be very carefully when inserting the boards in the PCI slots, as most of the mainboards are mounted
with spacers and therefore might be damaged if they are exposed to high preasure.
After the boards insertion fasten the screws of all brackets carefully, without overdoing. The figure shows an example of three boards with
two installed modules.

Software Driver Installation Interrupt Sharing
(c) Spectrum GmbH 17
Software Driver Installation
Before using the board a driver must be installed that matches the operating system. The installation is done in different ways depending on
the used operating system. The driver that is on CD supports all boards of the MI, MC and MX series. That means that you can use the same
driver for all boards of theses families.
Interrupt Sharing
This board uses a PCI interrupt for DMA data transfer and for controlling the FIFO mode. The used interrupt line is allocated by the PC BIOS
at system start and is normally depending on the selected slot. Because there is only a limited number of interrupt lines available on the PCI
bus it can happen that two or more boards must use the same interrupt line. This so called interrupt sharing must be supported by all drivers
of the participating equipment.
Most available drivers and also the Spectrum driver for your board can manage interrupt sharing. But there are also some drivers on the
market that can only use one interrupt exclusively. If this equipment shares an interrupt with the Spectrum board, the system will hang up if
the second driver is loaded (the time is depending on the operating system).
If this happens it is necessary to reconfigure the system in that way that the critical equipment has an exclusive access to an interrupt.
On most systems the BIOS shows a list of all installed PCI boards with their allocated interrupt lines directly after system start. You have to
check whether an interrupt line is shared between two boards. Some BIOS allow the manual allocation of interrupt lines. Have a look in your
mainboard manual for further information on this topic.
Because normally the interrupt line is fixed for one PCI slot it is simply necessary to use another slot for the critical board to force a new
interrupt allocation. You have to search a configuration where all critical boards have only exclusive access to one interrupt.
Depending on the system, using the Spectrum board with a shared interrupt may degrade performance a little. Each interrupt needs to be
checked by two drivers. For this reason when using time critical FIFO mode even the Spectrum board should have an exclusively access to
one interrupt line.

18 MI.20xx Manual
Windows 98 Software Driver Installation
Windows 98
Installation
When installing the board in a Win-
dows 98 system the Spectrum board
will be recognized automatically on
the next start-up.
The system offers the direct installa-
tion of a driver for the board.
Let Windows search automatically
for the best driver for your system.
Select the CD that was delivered
with the board as installation source.
The driver files are located on CD in
the directory
\Driver\Win98_2k_XP.
The hardware assistant shows you
the exact board type that has been
found like the MI.3020 in the exam-
ple. Older boards (before june
2004) show „Spectrum Board“ in-
stead.
The drivers can be used directly after installation. It is not necessary to restart the system.
The installed drivers are linked in the device manager. Below you’ll see how to examine
the driver version and how to update the driver with a newer version.
Version control
If you want to check which driver version is installed
in the system this can be easily done in the device
manager. Therefore please start the device manager
from the control panel and show the properties of the
installed driver.
On the property page Windows 98 shows the date
of the driver.

Software Driver Installation Windows 98
(c) Spectrum GmbH 19
After clicking the driver info button the detailed version information of the driver is shown. In the case
of a support question this information must be presented together with the board’s serial number to
the support team to help finding a fast solution.
Driver - Update
If a new driver version is to be installed no Spectrum board should be in use. So please stop and exit all software that could access the boards.
New drivers are available at http://www.spectrum-instrumentation.com. After down loading the driver unzip it to a temporary folder.
A new driver version is directly in-
stalled from the device manager.
Therefore please open the properties
page of the driver as shown in the
section before. As next step click on
the update driver button and follow
the steps of the driver installation in
a similar way to the previous board
and driver installation.
Please select the path where the new
driver version was unzipped to. If
you’ve got the new driver version on
CD please select the
\Driver\Win98_2k_XP path on the
CD containing the new driver ver-
sion.
The new driver version can be used directly after installation without restarting the system.
Please keep in mind to update the driver of all installed Spectrum boards.

20 MI.20xx Manual
Windows 2000 Software Driver Installation
Windows 2000
Installation
When installing the board in
a Windows 2000 system the
Spectrum board will be rec-
ognized automatically on the
next start-up.
The system offers the direct in-
stallation of a driver for the
board.
Let Windows search automa-
tically for the best driver for
your system.
Select the CD that was deliv-
ered with the board as instal-
lation source. The driver files
are located on CD in the di-
rectory
\Driver\Win98_2k_XP.
The hardware assistant
shows you the exact board
type that has been found like
the MI.3020 in the example.
Older boards (before june
2004) show „Spectrum
Board“ instead.
The drivers can be used di-
rectly after installation. It is
not necessary to restart the
system. The installed drivers
are linked in the device man-
ager.
Below you’ll see how to ex-
amine the driver version and
how to update the driver with
a newer version.
Version control
If you want to check which driver version
is installed in the system this can be eas-
ily done in the device manager. There-
fore please start the device manager
from the control panel and show the
properties of the installed driver.
On the property page Windows 2000
shows the date and the version of the in-
stalled driver.
After clicking the driver details button the
detailed version information of the driver
is shown. In the case of a support questi-
on this information must be presented to-
gether with the board’s serial number to
the support team to help finding a fast so-
lution.