VXI EX7000 SERIES, EX71HD, EX72SF, EX7400 User Manual

EX7000 SERIES

MICROWAVE SWITCH ASSEMBLIES WITH

LXI-C

OMPLIANT LAN INTERFACE

USER’S MANUAL

P/N: 82-0121-000

Release December 14, 2007

VXI Technology, Inc.

2031 Main Street

Irvine, CA 92614-6509

[phone]

VXI Technology, Inc.

2 EX7000 Series Preface

www.vxitech.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Certification..........................................................................................................................................................5

Warranty...............................................................................................................................................................5

Limitation of Warranty.........................................................................................................................................5

Restricted Rights Legend......................................................................................................................................5

DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY...............................................................................................................................6

GENERAL SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS.............................................................................................................................7

Terms and Symbols..............................................................................................................................................7

SUPPORT RESOURCES ...............................................................................................................................................8

SECTION 1....................................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................................9

Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................9

EX71HD: High-Density 26 GHz Modular Microwave Switching, Non-Latching.........................................9

EX72SF: High-Density 26 GHz Modular Microwave Switching, Latch w ith Self-Terminating Options....10

EX7400: LXI Based Custom RF Interface Platform.....................................................................................10

Common Features...............................................................................................................................................10

Interactive Control..............................................................................................................................................11

Relay Drive Control............................................................................................................................................12

Interfacing with Other Components ...................................................................................................................13

Features............................................................................................................................................................... 13

Relay Odometer.............................................................................................................................................13

Exclude Lists.................................................................................................................................................13

Scan Lists......................................................................................................................................................13

Configuration Table ......................................................................................................................................13

Programmable MBB and BBM.....................................................................................................................13

EX7000 Specifications.......................................................................................................................................14

SECTION 2..................................................................................................................................................................15

PREPARATION FOR USE...........................................................................................................................................15

Overview ............................................................................................................................................................15

Unpacking...........................................................................................................................................................15

Installation Location...........................................................................................................................................15

Driver Installation...............................................................................................................................................16

EX7000 Hardware Setup....................................................................................................................................16

Network Configuration.......................................................................................................................................16

SECTION 3..................................................................................................................................................................19

BASIC OPERATION..................................................................................................................................................19

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................19

Rear Panel View.................................................................................................................................................19

Trigger Bus Connectors.................................................................................................................................20

Digital I/O Connector....................................................................................................................................20

General Purpose I/O......................................................................................................................................21

Reset Button..................................................................................................................................................22

Front Panel View................................................................................................................................................22

EX71HD........................................................................................................................................................22

EX72SF.........................................................................................................................................................23

EX7400 .........................................................................................................................................................24

SECTION 4..................................................................................................................................................................25

WEB PAGE OPERATION...........................................................................................................................................25

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................25

General Web Page Operation .............................................................................................................................25

Password Protection......................................................................................................................................26

EX7000 Series Preface 3

VXI Technology, Inc.

VXI Technology Logo..................................................................................................................................27

EX7000 Title Block ......................................................................................................................................27

Soft Front Panel..................................................................................................................................................28

Network Configuration.......................................................................................................................................29

Time Configuration ............................................................................................................................................31

Device Identify...................................................................................................................................................33

Upgrade ..............................................................................................................................................................33

Reset...................................................................................................................................................................34

Reboot.................................................................................................................................................................34

SECTION 5..................................................................................................................................................................35

THEORY OF OPERATION..........................................................................................................................................35

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................35

System Overview................................................................................................................................................35

Open-Collector vs. TTL Drive Lines..................................................................................................................36

Relay Access & Control .....................................................................................................................................37

Continuous Mode..........................................................................................................................................37

Pulse Mode....................................................................................................................................................38

INDEX.........................................................................................................................................................................39

4 EX7000 Series Preface

www.vxitech.com

CERTIFICATION

VTI Microwave, a business unit of VXI Technology, Inc. (VTI) certifies that this product met its published
specifications at the time of shipment from the factory. VTI Microwave further certifies that its calibration
measurements are traceable to the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly National
Bureau of Standards), to the extent allowed by that organization’s calib ration facility, and to the calibration facilities
of other International Standards Organization members.

WARRANTY

The product referred to herein is warranted against defects in material and workmanship for a period of one year
from the receipt date of the product at customer’s facility. The sole and exclusive remedy for breach of any warranty
concerning these goods shall be repair or replacement of defective parts, or a refund of the purchase price, to be
determined at the option of VTI Microwave.

For warranty service or repair, this product must be returned to a VXI Technology authorized service center. The
product shall be shipped prepaid to VTI and VTI shall prepay all returns of the product to the buyer. However, the
buyer shall pay all shipping charges, duties, and taxes for products returned to VTI from another country.

VTI Microwave warrants that its software and firmware designated by VTI Microwave for use with a product will
execute its programming when properly installed on that product. VTI Microwave does not however warrant that the
operation of the product, or software, or firmware will be uninterrupted or error free.

LIMITATION OF WARRANTY

The warranty shall not apply to defects resulting from improper or inadequate maintenance by the buyer, buyer­supplied products or interfacing, unauthorized modification or misuse, operation outside the environmental
specifications for the product, or improper site preparation or maintenance.

VTI Microwave and VXI Technology, Inc. shall not be liable for injury to property other than the goods th emselves.
Other than the limited warranty stated above, VXI Technology, Inc. makes no other warranties, express or implied,
with respect to the quality of product beyond the description of the goods on the face of the contract.
VTI Microwave specifically disclaims the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND

Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the
Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause in DFARS 252.227-7013.

VTI Microwave
A VXI Technology, Inc. Business Unit
2031 Main Street
Irvine, CA 92614-6509 U.S.A.

EX7000 Series Preface 5

VXI Technology, Inc.

D ECLARATION OF C ONFORMITY

Declaration of Conformity According to ISO/IEC Guide 22 and EN 45014

ANUFACTURER’S NAME VXI Technology, Inc.

M

ANUFACTURER’S ADDRESS 2031 Main Street

M

Irvine, California 92614-6509

RODUCT NAME Microwave Switch Assembly with LAN Interface

P

ODEL NUMBER(S) EX7000 Series Microwave Switch Assemblies

M

RODUCT OPTIONS All

P

RODUCT CONFIGURATIONS All

P

VXI Technology, Inc. declares that the aforementioned product conforms to the requirements of

the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC and the EMC Directive 89/366/EEC (inclusive 93/68/EEC)

and carries the “CE” mark accordingly. The product has been designed and manufactured

according to the following specifications:

AFETY EN61010 (2001)

S

EMC EN61326 (1997 w/A1:98) Class A

CISPR 22 (1997) Class A
VCCI (April 2000) Class A
ICES-003 Class A (ANSI C63.4 1992)
AS/NZS 3548 (w/A1 & A2:97) Class A
FCC Part 15 Subpart B Class A
EN 61010-1:2001

I hereby declare that the aforementioned product has been designed to be in compliance with the relevant sections
of the specifications listed above as well as complying with all essential requirements of the Low Voltage Directive.

December 2007

6 EX7000 Series Preface

Steve Mauga, QA Manager

www.vxitech.com

Review the following safety precautions to avoid bodily injury and/or damage to the product.
These precautions must be observed during all phases of operation or service of this product.
Failure to comply with these precautions, or with specific warnings elsewhere in this manual,
violates safety standards of design, manufacture, and intended use of the product.

Service should only be performed by qualified personnel.

TERMS AND SYMBOLS

These terms may appear in this manual:

WARNING

CAUTION

These symbols may appear on the product:

GENERAL SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

Indicates that a procedure or condition may cause bodily injury or death.

Indicates that a procedure or condition could possibly cause damage to
equipment or loss of data.

ATTENTION - Important safety instructions

WARNINGS

Frame or chassis ground

Indicates that the product was manufactured after August 13, 2005. This mark is
placed in accordance with EN 50419, Marking of electrical and electronic
equipment in accordance with Article 11(2) of Directive 2002/96/EC (WEEE).
End-of-life product can be returned to VTI by obtaining an RMA number. Fees
for take-back and recycling will apply if not prohibited by national law.

Follow these precautions to avoid injury or damage to the product:

Use Proper Power Source
Operating Conditions

Improper Use

To avoid electrical overload, electric shock, or fire hazard, do not
use a power source that applies other than the specified voltage.
To avoid injury, electric shock or fire hazard:

- Do not operate in wet or damp conditions.

- Do not operate in an explosive atmosphere.

- Operate or store only in specified temperature range.

- Provide proper clearance for product ventilation to prevent
overheating.

- DO NOT operate if any damage to this product is suspected.

Product should be inspected or serviced only by qualified
personnel.

The operator of this instrument is advised that if the equipment is
used in a manner not specified in this manual, the protection
provided by the equipment may be impaired.
Conformity is checked by inspection.

EX7000 Series Preface 7

VXI Technology, Inc.

Support resources for this product are available on the Internet an d at VXI Technology customer
support centers.

VTI Microwave
A VXI Technology Business Unit
World Headquarters

VXI Technology, Inc.
2031 Main Street
Irvine, CA 92614-6509

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

VXI Technology
Cleveland Instrument Division

5425 Warner Road
Suite 13
Valley View, OH 44125

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

VXI Technology
Lake Stevens Instrument Division

VXI Technology, Inc.
1924 - 203 Bickford
Snohomish, WA 98290

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Technical Support

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail:

http://www.vxitech.com for worldwide support sites and service plan information.

Visit

SUPPORT RESOURCES

[e-mail]

8 EX7000 Series Preface

www.vxitech.com

SECTION 1

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

The EX7000 series of modular microwave switch assemblies consist of standard products as well
as custom factory configured enclosures. All are rack mountable and range in size from 1U to 4U.
The standard products include the EX71HD, a 1U high-density, 26 GHz non-latching microwave
switch mainframe; the EX72SF, a 2U high-density, 26 GHz latching microwave switch
mainframe; and the EX7400, a 4U switching platform that is custom built per customer
specifications, but contains the same LAN interface, relay driver boards, and power supply as the
EX71HD and EX72SF. The EX7400 can contain an assortment of electromechanical relays, plus
any additional active or passive components that may be required. Every member of the EX7000
series comes with an LXI compliant LAN interface.

EX71HD: High-Density 26 GHz Modular Microwave Switching, Non-Latching

F

IGURE 1-1: EX71HD (SHOWN WITH A FULL COMPLIMENT OF HIGH-DENSITY SWITCHES)

The EX71HD measures only 1U (1.75”) in height yet is configured for a family of miniature
microwave switches and contains twelve front panel slots that can be configured with any of the
following switches in any order desired:

7102 Dual SPDT
7104 SP4T
7106 SP6T
7122 Transfer

The unit can be delivered preconfigured from the factory with any twelve of the above devices or
can be purchased with less than the full compliment of switches. Additional switches can b e add ed
by the customer at later dates. The EX71HD is a totally self contained unit with EX7000-OEM
board set and ac power supply built in to the assembly.

EX7000 Series Introduction 9

VXI Technology, Inc.

EX72SF: High-Density 26 GHz Modular Microwave Switching, Latch with Self-Terminating
Options

The EX72SF is a 2U (3.5”) enclosure that can house up to six Agilent SPDT switches as well as
up to six full-size Agilent multi-pole single throw latching terminated or unterminated switches. It
can be delivered preconfigured from the factory with twelve switches or can be purchased with
less than the full compliment of switches. Additional switches can be added by the customer at
later dates. The EX72SF is totally self contained unit with EX7000-OEM board set and ac power
supply built into the assembly. Also provided on the EX72SF is a 3 2-ch annel, gen eral purpose I/O
bus. Access to this bus is through a front panel-mounted 37-pin D-sub connector. Further details
on this bus can be found in

F

IGURE 1-2: EX72SF (SHOWN WITH A FULL COMPLIMENT OF AGILENT SWITCHES)

Section 3.

Section 3, Basic Operation, for a complete list of Agilent switch modules that can be used

See
with the EX72SF.

EX7400: LXI Based Custom RF Interface Platform

The EX7400 is built around the same internal components as the EX71HD and EX72SF. It starts
life as a 4U high and 24” deep rack mountable enclosure. It can be purchased in this configuration
allowing a customer to add their own RF and microwave components to the front and rear panels
as well as the removable mezzanine that is located at approximately the mid way point between
the top and bottom covers. It may also be supplied as a custom or special unit which is
preconfigured at the factory with all of the components and inter-connect cabling specified by the
customer.

COMMON FEATURES

Preconfigured units, whether an EX71HD, EX72SF, or the EX7400, are delivered with a complete
Configuration File that contains all the pertinent details about each programmable device mounted
inside. In the case of the EX7400, which may contain internal inter-connect path cabling, the
Configuration File also contains all of the point-to-point signal path information. The information
included in the Configuration File allows the user to establish a complete signal route by
indicating only the end points in a compliant IVI-Switch Connect statement, thus simplifying the
programming task.

The EX7000 series assemblies, referred to here after as EX7000, consists of an LXI Class A
compliant digital controller interface, one or more 72-channel relay driver board, integral ac power
supply, and a selectable assortment of electromechanical microwave switches. More than one
relay driver boards are used in custom applications where the internal number of coils exceeds the
72 coil capacity of one relay driver board. As many as four relay driver boards, one plus three

10 EX7000 Series Introduction

www.vxitech.com

expansion boards, are available for large designs. Extremely large designs, that require five to
eight relay driver boards, can be accommodated with special HW and SW updates. Consult the
factory for details.

F

IGURE 1-3: POPULATED EX7400 MAINFRAME

NOTE The EX7000 series assemblies, including the EX71HD, EX72SF, and EX7400 may be referred to

in this manual as simply EX7000

INTERACTIVE CONTROL

As an LXI-compliant device, the EX7000 has an embedded web server running which provides a
JAVA applet for interactively configuring the box for its specific configuration as well as allowing
for the direct control of components.

A functional list of the actual components within the enclosure is stored on-board in non-volatile
memory. Opening of the Soft Front Panel (SFP) results in a graphical depiction of the various
switching components along with an indication of the current state of their contacts. Simple mouse
clicks on the web browser can easily and quickly open and close any contact.

The embedded configuration file can be edited using a simple SW tool called the Configurator.
This is especially convenient when additional microwave switches are added in the field.

EX7000 Series Introduction 11

VXI Technology, Inc.

RELAY DRIVE CONTROL

The EX7000 contains a proprietary circuit board set consisting of a Relay Driver Board (RDB)and
LXI LAN Interface Board, which is known as the EX7000-OEM when supplied as a set without
an enclosure. They have been designed to provide maximum flexibility fo r controlling virtually
any type of RF/microwave relay or component. Each RDB provides 72 high-current drivers,
which are divided into twelve sections of six lines. Each section consists of:

• six high-current drive lines

• six indicator/status bits

• one reset line

• four relay ID bits

• one relay power input

• one 5 V input

• one ground

Each driver board is capable of recognizing and controlling either latch ing or non-latching switch
modules. A programmable delay (per driver board) dictates the amount of time allocated to relay
settling times and current cutoffs (for latching relays).

Each driver board has a single programmable delay parameter. The programmable delay for any
board should be set to the maximum value required by any component connected to that board.

F

IGURE 1-4: JAVA-BASED GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

12 EX7000 Series Introduction