Diamond Systems Poseidon

Introduction

Diamond Systems Poseidon is a high performance EPIC form factor single board computer combining state of the art CPU and peripheral technology with Diamond Systems renown high accuracy data acquisition circuitry on a single board. Poseidon utilizes the VIA C7® and VIA Eden® ULV based on the C5J "Esther" core, operating at speeds up to 2.0GHz. The 1.0GHz VIA Eden ULV version of Poseidon operates fanless over the extended operating temperature range of -40°C to +85°C. The 2.0GHz VIA C7 version of Poseidon operates with a fan from -20°C to +70°C.

Poseidon incorporates VIA's advanced CX700 single chip digital media chipset, providing advanced features such as a 400MHz Front Side Bus (FSB), four USB 2.0 ports, S-ATA hard drive interface and advanced VIA UniChrome™ Pro 2D / 3D graphics with AGP 8x level performance and integral MPEG-2 hardware acceleration. The dual graphics display engines on Poseidon support Dual Independent Display functionality with simultaneous CRT and LVDS flat panel displays (up to dual channel 24-bit) which can display different images with different pixelization and different resolutions.

Like other Diamond Systems CPU-Plus SBCs, Poseidon features soldered DRAM for increased resistance to shock and vibration. Poseidon offers either 256MB or 512MB of DDR2 DRAM operating at 400MHz. 1GB of DRAM is available as a special order.

Poseidon also provides an Intel 82541 Gigabit Ethernet controller, four RS-232 serial ports (two have RS422/485 multiprotocol capability) and legacy keyboard / mouse and IDE hard drive interfaces.

Poseidon System Block Diagram

Integrated Data Acquisition

Poseidon's integrated data acquisition functions incorporate the same circuitry as Diamond Systems' DMM-32X-AT PC/104 module. It utilizes Diamond Systems' patented Automatic Autocalibration technology to calibrate its A/D and D/A circuits automatically whenever required, without user intervention. This means you get analog I/O performance with the maximum possible accuracy over the life of the product, without doing anything at all.

Poseidon has 32 analog inputs with 16-bit A/D and 250KHz sample rate, 4 analog outputs with 12-bit D/A and 100KHz waveform output capability, 24 digital I/O lines, and 2 counter/timers. It supports both interrupt and DMA A/D transfers, and it uses an enhanced 1,024-sample FIFO with programmable threshold for maximum flexibility and data reliability. Diamond Systems' free Universal Driver programming software for Linux, Windows 98/2000/XP/CE.NET, DOS, QNX, and VxWorks is included.

Poseidon DAQ Block Diagram

Transition Cables or PC-Style Connectors

To enhance the use of Poseidon in harsh environments requiring outstanding resistance to shock and vibration, Poseidon is engineered with all on-board I/O brought to pin headers within the I/O zones identified in the EPIC specification. I/O that can utilize PC-style connectors is placed such that a small I/O Panel Board can be utilized to instantly convert Poseidon to PC-style connectors for use in a traditional enclosure.

Flashdisk Solid-State Storage

Install an IDE flashdisk module onto Poseidon for lightweight, rugged mass storage. The flashdisk module works like a hard drive and provides high-speed nonvolatile solid-state storage in sizes of 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB & 4GB.

I/O Panel Board

Development Kit

A development kit is available with all the hardware you need to get started on your embedded design project. The kit contains a CPU board, flashdisk module, cable kit, I/O panel board and software CD.

Enclosure

The new Triton enclosure from Diamond Systems is ideally suited to house the Poseidon (when used with the panel I/O board).