Helios PC/104 SBC

PC/104 SBC with Vortex86DX CPU and Integrated Autocalibrating Data Acquisition

Helios with heat sink and flashdisk installed Helios AV model with DAQ Helios DV model with DIO Helios AV model (heat sink removed for visibility) Helios AV model with DAQ bottom side
Description System Block Diagram Integrated Data Acquisition Development Kits Cable Kit Pandora and Panel I/O Board Specifications Get an online quote

Description

Helios is a low power, mid-range performance PC/104 form factor single board computer combining a highly integrated CPU with Diamond Systems’ renowned high-accuracy data acquisition circuitry on a single board, reducing size and cost while increasing ruggedness. Helios utilizes a Vortex integrated single chip CPU operating at 800MHz or 1GHz, and 256MB of DRAM soldered on-board.

Helios incorporates advanced features such as four USB 2.0 ports, an IDE hard drive interface, mounting capability for a solid state flashdisk up to 4GB, and CRT/LVDS LCD graphics. Helios also provides a 10/100Base-T Ethernet interface, two RS-232 serial ports, two RS-232/422/485 serial ports and legacy keyboard and mouse interfaces.

Helios includes an on-board 2MB bootable flash drive with FreeDOS installed. This flash drive offers additional cost savings for DOS applications, since no additional storage medium is required. It also enables you to quickly verify Helios's operation. Just connect keyboard, monitor, and power, and Helios boots up to DOS so you can verify proper working condition as well as test the various features on the single board computer.

Helios is extremely rugged, featuring on-board soldered DRAM and -40°C to +85°C fan-less operation. Optional hardwired jumpers and latching connectors are available for increased resistance to shock and vibration. Conformal coating is available as an extra cost option.

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	System Block Diagram

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	Integrated Data Acquisition

Helios includes a complete autocalibrating jumper-less analog and digital I/O circuit similar to our top-of-the-line PC/104 analog I/O board. It contains 16 analog inputs with 16-bit resolution and 250KHz sample rate, backed by a 2048 sample FIFO with programmable threshold. Programmable input ranges from a wide-range +/-10V down to 0-1.25V are provided. The analog circuitry also includes 4 D/A channels with 12-bit resolution and jumperless output range selection and simultaneous update capability. On the digital side, Helios provides 40 digital I/O lines with programmable direction, as well as two counter/timers for A/D sample rate control, pulse counting, frequency generation, or other applications. Its advanced control logic has more features and flexibility to fit almost any application, such as internal/external A/D clock source, scan and single-sample modes, and our exclusive programmable FIFO threshold that lets you tune the board's performance to your application. The data acquisition circuit is fully supported by our Universal Driver software for a wide range of operating systems.

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	Helios Development Kits

A Helios System Development Kit (DK-HLV800A-01) is available with all the components you need to get started on your embedded design project. The kit contains a Helios 800MHz SBC with 256MB of RAM and integrated data acquisition, 128MB flashdisk module with a bootable Linux image installed, cable kit, and software CD.

Two software development kits are also available for Helios; a Linux kit and a Windows CE kit. The Helios Linux Kit (SDK-HLV-LNX) contains a 256MB flashdisk with a bootable linux image pre-loaded, a software CD with the linux tool chain and a backup image, and documentation. The Helios Windows CE Kit (SDK-HLV-WCE) contains a 128MB flashdisk with a bootable Windows CE image pre-loaded, a software CD with development tools and a backup image, and documentation.

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	C-HLV-KIT: Cable kit for Helios PC/104 SBC

The Helios cable kit includes cables for Helios input and output. Many cables are also available individually.

C-HLV-KIT includes the following cables:

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	Pandora and Panel I/O Board

Helios single board computers can be mounted inside Diamond's Pandora PC/104 enclosure with a cable-free panel I/O board to form a rugged, compact, completely self-contained industrial computer system. The Pandora enclosure, coupled with the panel I/O board, features fast and easy assembly due to the fact that most or all internal cables can be eliminated. Rather than requiring the installation of special corner mounts or forcing the stack into a set of corner guides, the entire stack is bolted directly to the front plate of the case, forming a rugged, easily-handled assembly. Click here for more information on the Pandora PC/104 Enclosure.

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Transition Cables or PC-Style Connectors

All I/O on Helios is made available on 2mm pitch pin headers for use with low-cost cables. To enhance the use of Helios in harsh environments requiring outstanding resistance to shock and vibration, Diamond Systems offers our rugged Pandora PC/104 enclosure that provides a cable-free configuration via a small panel I/O board that installs directly on top of the Helios to instantly convert all I/O to PC-style connectors:

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	Specifications