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About Microcomputer Systems, Inc.

Microcomputer Systems, Inc., located in Baton Rouge, LA, was established in 1976 for the design and fabrication of state-of-the-art industrial instrumentation systems. The personnel of our company are highly trained individuals who specialize in hardware and software design, and in the fabrication of microcomputer networks. Our engineering personnel are well qualified having degrees ranging from the B.S.E.E. to the Ph.D. with years of practical experience in the industrial environment. Our people have been intimately involved in board level microcomputer design since the introduction of the microprocessor into the marketplace in the early 1970's. Notable works include renovation of the scoreboard and pylon systems of the New Orleans Superdome, design and manufacture of Auto/Manual Back-up Controllers used by Exxon/Esso in their worldwide refining operations, and the Lock and Dam instrumentation for navigation control on the Red River.

Custom Designs are our Specialty

We specialize in custom board design for your specific application to minimize your product cost and to maximize your product reliability by eliminating unused hardware of general purpose cards. Our custom designs for clients range from multi-processor cards (e.g., nine MC68HC811E microcontrollers on an inter-module bus) to special I/O cards, both digital and analog. Recent developments include isolated analog input cards for the Mexican Metro system, special MODEM and Tone Decoder cards for the FAA Instrument Landing System (ILS) in commercial aviation, and a 16-channel serial multiplexer card for a major U.S. corporation.

ISA Products

We presently offer two IBM ISA Bus products to serve the embedded control marketplace:

ISA Bus Cards

MSI-4020 Analog Output Card
The MSI-4020 is a high performance 12-bit analog output card that offers up to 20 output channels on a standard full-length IBM PC AT card. Jumper selectable output ranges are 0-5V, 0-10V, -5V/+5V and -10V/+10V. Output resistor sites provide voltage dividers for other output ranges. Jumper selectable I/O-mapped card addressing provides for up to 32 cards in a single system. The card uses Analog Devices AD7247 dual-channel D/A converters with high output current buffer amplifiers that provide up to 250 mA when used with external excitation. The card operates from +5V only. Four models offer 8, 12, 16 or 20 output channels for $595, $795, $995 and $1195, respectively.

MSI-4032 - Analog Input Card
A low-cost, high performance 12-bit analog input card, 1/2 LSB linearity with up to 32 channels that operate from a single +5V supply. Software programmable input ranges are 0-5V, 0-10V, -5V/+5V and -10V/+10V with input protection to 16.5V and two power down modes. Conversion times of 332 ksps for 32 channels. Four models offer 8, 16, 24 or 32 channels for $200, $250, $300 or $350.

MSI-4022 - 4/20 mA Analog Output Card
Provides up to 8 channels of 12-bit, 4-to-20 mA outputs with open-loop alarm status and indication, and requires no adjustments. Two models provide 4 and 8 channels for $295 and $395.

MSI-4000 - Isolated Analog Input Card
The MSI-4000 isolated analog input card is designed for acquiring analog data in harsh electrical environments with all IBM ISA BUS systems. The unit is particularly useful in RTU, SCADA, and monitoring and control applications. Commonly encountered ground loop currents and voltages and large common-mode voltages associated with industrial monitoring applications are eliminated by onboard circuitry. The card provides four isolated input channels by utilizing individual onboard dc-to-dc converters for powering isolation amplifiers of each channel giving an isolation of 750V between input-to-input and input-to-bus with an input surge protection of 100V. Jumper selectable input ranges are 0-1V, 0-5V, 0-10V, -1 to +1V, -5 to +5V, -10 to +10V, 0-20 mA, and 4-20 mA. The 4-20 mA range provides an isolated source for exciting transducer transmitters such as thermocouple, RTD, and strain gauge sensors for temperature, pressure, level, flow, weight, etc. measurements. Card addresses are switch selectable in HEX ranges of 0 to 3FF with switch selectable interrupts IRQ2, IRQ3 and IRQ5. Requires +5V only. The unit is implemented on a 4-layer card using low-power CMOS components for operating in a temperature range from -25øC to 85øC. Contact us today to receive a brochure containing complete specifications.

MSI-2001 - Isolated RS-232 Serial I/O Card
The card provides an isolated RS-232 serial port in harsh environments for eliminating ground loops associated with serial communications between computers and peripherals. Gives protection of monitoring equipment from electrical surges and large common-mode voltages. The card uses an industry standard 16550 UART that is software compatible with IBM PC systems with BAUD rates up to 9600. I/O card addresses are switch selectable from hex 0 to 3F8 which include COM1 thru COM4 with selectable interrupts IRQ2, IRQ3 and IRQ4. Three optically isolated digital inputs and two SPDT relays are also provided for monitoring status and controlling functions of peripheral equipment. Requires +5V only. Contact us today to receive a brochure containing specifications.

PC/104 Cards

See our descriptions under the PC/104 section of the journal.

STD Bus Cards

See our descriptions under the STD BUS section of the journal.

How to Contact Us

You can request additional information about our embedded computing products by filling out this form or by contacting us at:

Microcomputer Systems, Inc.
1814 Ryder Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70808-9078 USA
Phone: (225) 769-2154
Fax: (225) 769-2155
Email: staff@microcomputersystems.com
Web: http://www.microcomputersystems.com