PACs have become a popular alternative to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) in many control applications; the primary difference between a PLC and a PAC is the way it is programmed
United Electronic Industries (UEI) announces the release of the UEIPAC series of programmable automation controllers (PACs).
The UEIPAC offers a unique combination of compact size, industrial ruggedness and flexibility.
The new family is an ideal solution is applications as varied as unmanned vehicle controllers (UAV and ULV), environmental controllers, test stand controllers as well as hardware-in-the-loop simulators.
The UEIPAC Cube is a complete, self contained controller and includes; An embedded computer running standard Linux operating system, two ethernet ports, a serial port, an SD Card interface, an inter-PAC sync interface and either three or six slots for I/O boards.
The Cubes are very rugged, having been tested from -40C to +85C, at 5g vibration, 50g shock and up to 70,000 feet.
Using the UEIPAC, applications written on your PC are deployed on the cube and run fully standalone.
This allows smaller, faster, more reliable and higher performance systems than possible using an external host computer.
It also eliminates the cost of the dedicated host PC and guarantees long term availability of the identical hardware.
This is critical when certifying products for military use, through the FDA etc.
The UEIPAC 300 allows the installation of up to three I/O boards.
The UEIPAC 600 is slightly larger at 4x4.1x5.8inch and allows the installation of up to six I/O boards (containing up to 150 analogue inputs or 288 DIO).
The I/O boards installed are determined by the user's application.
There are currently over 20 different I/O boards available including analogue input, analogue output, digital I/O, counter/timer, quadrature encoder, serial I/O, Can bus and Arinc-429 interfaces.
"The UEIPAC is an excellent solution in a wide variety of industrial and embedded control applications" according to UEI president Shaun Miller.
"The combination of small size, industrial ruggedness and wide variety of I/O interfaces is unmatched in the industry.
"The UEIPAC is based on a standard Linux operating system, ensuring long term viability, high performance, excellent support and straightforward application development".
UEIPAC 300 costs $1495 and is available now.
UEIPAC 600 costs $1795 and is available now.
For complete details on the UEIPAC series please visit: www.ueidaq.com/PAC.
Programmable automation controllers are typically programmed in 'ladder logic' diagrams, while PACs are programmed in standard programming languages (e.g C, or Visual Basic).
