Meinberg TCR170PEX User Manual
Technical Information
Operating Instructions
TCR170PEX
Impressum
Meinberg Funkuhren GmbH & Co. KG
Lange Wand 9
D-31812 Bad Pyrmont
Telefon: ++49 (0) 52 81 / 9309-0
Telefax: ++49 (0) 52 81 / 9309-30
Internet: http://www.meinberg.de
Email: info@meinberg.de
October 15, 2009
Table of Contents
Impressum............................................................................................ 2
Content of the USB stick ..................................................................... 5
Introduction.......................................................................................... 5
Description of IRIG-Codes .................................................................. 6
IRIG-Standard format .......................................................................... 7
AFNOR-Standard format ..................................................................... 8
PCI Express (PCIe) .............................................................................. 9
Features TCR170PEX ........................................................................ 10
Block diagram TCR170PEX .................................................... 12
Functional description of receiver..................................................... 13
Input signals ............................................................................. 14
Input impedance ....................................................................... 15
Photocoupler input ................................................................... 15
Master oscillator ................................................................................ 16
Functionality of the generator ........................................................... 16
Outputs ..................................................................................... 16
Modulated output ............................................................ 16
Unmodulated outputs ...................................................... 17
Pulse outputs ...................................................................................... 17
Asynchronous serial port ......................................................... 18
Enabling of outputs ............................................................................ 18
Time capture inputs ........................................................................... 19
Connectors and LEDs in the bracket ........................................ 20
Pin assignments of the D-Sub connector ................................. 21
Jumper and contact strips .................................................................. 22
Frequency synthesizer ....................................................................... 23
Putting into operation ........................................................................ 23
Installing the TCR170PEX in your Computer ......................... 23
Power supply ............................................................................ 23
Configuration of TCR170PEX ................................................. 24
Firmware Updates .............................................................................. 24
Replacing the Lithium Battery .......................................................... 25
Technical specification TCR170PEX ................................................ 26
Format of the Meinberg Standard Time String ....................... 30
Format of the Capture String ................................................... 31
Format of the time string Uni Erlangen (NTP) ....................... 32
Format of the SAT-Time String ............................................... 34
Konformitätserklärung ............................................................. 35
4
Content of the USB stick
The included USB stick contains a driver program that keeps the computer´s system
time synchronous to the received IRIG-time. If the delivered stick doesn’t include a
driver program for the operating system used, it can be downloaded from:
http://www.meinberg.de/english/sw/
On the USB stick there is a file called „readme.txt“, which helps installing the driver
correctly.
Introduction
The transmission of coded timing signals began to take on widespread importance
in the early 1950´s. Especially the US missile and space programs were the forces
behind the development of these time codes, which were used for the correlation of
data. The definition of time code formats was completely arbitrary and left to the
individual ideas of each design engineer. Hundreds of different time codes were
formed, some of which were standardized by the „Inter Range Instrumantation
Group“ (IRIG) in the early 60´s.
Except these „IRIG Time Codes“ other formats, like NASA36, XR3 or 2137, are
still in use. The board TCR170PEX however only decodes IRIG-A, IRIG-B or
AFNOR NFS 87-500 formats. The AFNOR code is a variant of the IRIG-B format.
Within this code the complete date is transmitted instead of the ‘Control Functions’
of the IRIG-telegram.
5
Description of IRIG-Codes
The specification of individual IRIG time code formats is defined in IRIG Standard
200-98. They are described by an alphabetical character followed by a three-digit
number sequence. The following identification is taken from the IRIG Standard 20098 (only the codes relevant to TCR170PEX are listed):
character bit rate designation A 1000 pps
B 100 pps
1st digit form designation 0 DC Level Shift
width coded
1 sine wave carrier
amplitude modulated
2nd digit carrier resolution 0 no carrier (DC Level Shift)
1 100 Hz, 10 msec resolution
2 1 kHz, 1 msec resolution
3 10 kHz, 100 μsec resolution
3rd digit coded expressions 0 BCD, CF, SBS
1 BCD, CF
2 BCD
3 BCD, SBS
BCD: time of year, BCD-coded
CF: Control-Functions (user defined)
SBS: seconds of day since midnight (binary)
6
IRIG-Standard format
7
AFNOR-Standard format
8
PCI Express (PCIe)
The main technical inovation of PCI Express is a serial data transmission compared
to the parallel interfaces of other computer bus systems like ISA, PCI and PCI-X.
PCI Express defines a serial point-to-point connection, the so-called Link:
The data transfer within a Link is done via Lanes, representing one wire pair for
sending and one wire pair for receiving data:
This design leads to a full duplex connection clocked with 2.5 GHz capable of
transfering a data volume of 250 MB/s per lane in each direction. Higher bandwith is
implemented by using multiple lanes silmutaneously. A PCI Express x16 slot for
example uses sixteen lanes providing a data volume of 4 GB/s. For comparison: when
using conventional PCI the maximum data transfer rate is 133 MB/s, PCI-X allows 1
GB/s but only in one direction respectively. A PCIe expansion board (x1 like
TCR170PEX for example) can always be used in slots with a higher lane width
(x4, x8, x16):
ytilibareporetnIytilibareporetnI
ytilibareporetnIytilibareporetnI
ytilibareporetnI
tolStolS
tolStolS1x1x1x1
x1x4x4x4x4x4x8x8x8x8x8x61x61x
tolS
draCdraC
draCdraC
draC
1x1x1x1x1xseYseY
4x4x4x4x4xoNoNoNoNoNseYseY
8x8x8x8x8xoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNseYseY
1x
seYseYseYseY
seYseYseYseY
seY
seY
seYseYseYseY
seY
61x61xoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNseYseY
61x6
61x
seYseYseYseY
seY
seYseYseYseY
seY
seYseYseYseY
seY
61x61x
61x
seYse
Y
seY
seYseY
seY
seYseY
seY
seYseY
seY
One of the strong points of PCI Express is the 100% software compatibility to the
well known PCI bus, leading to a fast spreading. The computer and the operating
system are „seeing“ the more powerfull PCIe bus just as the convetional PCI bus
without any software update.
9
Features TCR170PEX
The board TCR170PEX is designed as a standard height board for computers with
PCI Express interface. The data transfer to the computer is done by using a single PCI
Express Lane (x1 board). TCR170PEX serves to decode and generate modulated
(AM) and unmodulated (DC Level Shift) IRIG and AFNOR time codes. AM-codes
are transmitted by modulating the amplitude of a sine wave carrier, unmodulated
codes by variation of the width of pulses.
As standard the module TCR170PEX is equipped with a TCXO (Temperature
Compensated Xtal Oscillator) as master oscillator to provide a high accuracy in
holdover mode of +/- 1 * 10E-8. Optionally an OCXO (Oven Controlled Xtal
Oscillator) is available for better accuracy.
Receiver:
Automatic gain control within the receive circuit for unmodulated codes allows
decoding of IRIG or AFNOR signals with a carrier amplitude of 600 mVpp to 8 Vpp.
The input stage is electrically insulated and has an impedance of either 50 Ω, 600 Ω
or 5 kΩ, selectable by a jumper. The unmodulated input is accessible via a BNCconnector in the bracket of TCR170PEX.
Unmodulated or ‘DC Level Shift’ time codes must be connected to the D-Sub-plug
of the module. The receive circuit is insulated by an onboard photocoupler which can
be driven by TTL or RS-422 signals for example. In delivery state of TCR170PEX the
contacts of the D-Sub-plug are not connected to the photocoupler. Two DIP-switches
must be set to the ‘ON’ position for making this connection.
Generator:
The generator of TCR170PEX is capable of producing time codes in IRIG-B or
AFNOR format. They are available as modulated (3 Vpp/1 Vpp into 50 Ω) and
unmodulated (DC Level Shift) signals (TTL into 50 Ω and RS-422). A jumper on the
board allows selection of active-high or active-low time codes.
Regarding time code and its offset to UTC, the receiver and the generator can be
configured independantly. Thus TCR170PEX can be used for code conversion.
As an option the module can be delivered with optical inputs/outputs instead of the
modulated signal paths.
The board TCR170PEX provides two configurable serial interfaces (RS-232).
COM0 is available via the Sub-D connector, COM1 can be found at a contact strip of
the board. Two programmable pulse outputs can be connected to the D-Sub-plug by
setting DIP-switches into the ‘ON’ position.
A contact strip on the board provides two TTL inputs (CAP0 and CAP1) that can be
used to capture asynchronous time events. These time stamps are readable via the
PCI-bus or the serial interface and can be evaluated by user software.
10
TCR170PEX provides a synthesizer which can generate output frequencies from 1/
8 Hz up to 10 MHz with TTL level into 50 Ω and as a sine signal.
11
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