ioWrx's application-specific, plug-and-play I/O peripheral

The I/O and nothing but the I/O

ioWrx is all about applications that deal with real-world I/O: voltages, temperatures, pressures, relays, selenoids, switches, keypads, LED and LCD displays.

ioPanel is the ioWrx component that provides the physical connection between I/O and the rest of the ioWrx ... and little else.

ioPanel uses inexpensive, pre-programmed, highly integrated micro controllers that make ioPanels easy to make, robust, cheap and easy to use.

High speed serial links allow one or more ioPanels to plug-and-play with ioBlok – ioWrx's off-the-shelf embedded computer. Thereafter, the I/O on an ioPanel is available to any associated ioWrx application, anywhere on the network.

ioBlok is designed to be network-aware and “smart” so that ioPanels can remain relatively “dumb,” and more to the point, inexpensive, reusable, interchangeable, more robust and less-power hungry.

ioWrx applications are developed for, and run entirely on, ioBlok and integrating I/O only requires plugging in one or more ioPanels.

ioPanels are easy to customize, providing the exact I/O required by an application, wherever it's required, at the lowest manufacturing cost and with the optimum form factor.

ioPanel firmware configures micro controller I/O resources - analog-to-digital converters, pulse-width modulators, digital inputs and outputs - directly from ioBlok. No application-specific micro controller programming is required.

This architecture dramatically reduces the design effort for new ioPanels, allowing emclouded to offer ioPanel customization at a reasonable cost, even for projects with modest production volumes.

The resulting custom ioPanel can then plug-and-play with any ioBlok, including future upgrades, providing protection against hardware obsolescence.

ioPanel design encourages smart I/O, with built-in diagnostics and remote monitoring, fully supported by the larger ioWrx environment.

ioPanels attach with a single cable, an ioWrx "link", which supplies low-voltage power and robust serial communications. This makes it possible to locate ioPanels where most convenient for the application, for example, outdoors, deep inside a piece of equipment, or in a different part of the building.

ioPanel links digitize and multiplex I/O signals, and can be located "outside the box" to reduce the cost and complexity of long wiring runs, and help avoid induced noise on analog signals.

Also, due to its simpler design, an ioPanel is less expensive to specify for high voltages, extreme temperatures or harsh environments.

ioWrx supports both USB links and UTP^* links. USB links can be used directly with PCs or lower cost ioBlok models, but offer modest power and range. UTP links offer significantly more power and a range of over 100 meters (300 ft).

ioPanel provides a simpler environment for I/O processing, allowing for so called "bare-metal" real time processing. The lowest level and most time sensitive I/O operations are handled entirely on the ioPanel, which provides tight control of latency. For example, operations such as the averaging of analog input samples to reduce noise, or the strobing a matrix of LEDs, or the debouncing of key presses are all handled on ioPanel.

I/O Pizza!

emclouded offers a number of off-the-shelf ioPanel reference designs which demonstrate a variety of common I/O types:

• relays
• triacs
• 0-10V analog inputs and outputs
• thermistor inputs
• AC and DC digital inputs
• LED and LCD drivers

Because ioWrx API abstracts I/O, these off-the-shelf ioPanels can be used as a placeholder for any required custom I/O, allowing software development and testing to begin and even be completed independently of custom ioPanel hardware development.

Better still, new ioPanels can easily be specified from different combinations of the I/O interfaces proven by these ioPanels. This often makes specifying custom I/O as easy as ordering designer pizza from a menu of available toppings!