E-I-E-I/O: With a Terminal Block Here, and an I/O Module There

摘要

JUST AS OLD MacDonald had a farm filled with different animals, the marketplace is stocked with many choices for the I/O and terminal blocks that serve as the connectivity core of every modern machine. "Ethernet is the modern approach to I/O," claims Jim Lam-berson, senior design engineer from Sensoray (sensoray.com). "It is electrically isolated, so pesky communication ground loops can be eliminated. A single, standardized cable connects the control computer to the I/O system, reducing cable clutter and cost. An Ethernet I/O system can be located far from the host computer and distributed so its I/O interfaces reside at optimal locations close to the field wiring. Since field wiring connects directly to the remote I/O system, there is no need for external termination boards. Perhaps most importantly, Ethernet offers protection from obsolescence. Ethernet is available for virtually every hardware platform and will be available for the foreseeable future."