Connect Tech Inc. Introduces FreeForm/104 for FPGA and Digital I/O Applications.

Guelph, Ontario - September  2006

Connect Tech Inc., designer and manufacturer of multi-port serial adapters, external Wireless Radio Modems, engineering tools and Ethernet-to-serial and USB-to-Serial devices, is pleased to announce the addition of FreeForm/104 to our product line.

PC/104 modules are ideal for embedded systems.  Small, modular and expandable, they offer a cost-effective, mechanically rugged solution for embedded system developers and designers. The FreeForm/104 module enables users to take full advantage of the FPGA for reconfigurable computing along with Digital I/O functionality.    

Based on Xilinx’s Spartan 3E FPGA, FreeForm/104 is fully programmable.   Unlike its predecessors, FreeForm/104 offers users full, in-system reconfigurability, allowing designs to be changed at run time.   The FreeForm/104’s on-board FPGA is ideal for high speed, compute-intensive, reconfigurable applications.  Since the Spartan 3E is a high capacity, high speed FPGA, it offers flexibility for a wide range of designs.   

FreeForm/104 can be used in many design applications including generating, measuring, monitoring and controlling digital inputs or values.  The Digital I/O is 8255 compatible allowing 96 digital I/O or 48 Opto-22 compatible digital I/O to be utilized. Highly adaptable, every pin on the FreeForm/104 card is uniquely configurable.  A variety of counting and timing functions are implemented by adding 6 counter/timers to FreeForm/104’s design benefiting the user with greater precision in timing applications.  

FreeForm/104 offers off-the-shelf flexibility, a high speed processing core, less than 25 ns transfer function, within a rugged design making it ideal for real-time applications including; DSP, software-defined radio, aerospace, defense systems, computer hardware emulation, production or laboratory testing and industrial process monitor and control. 

FreeForm/104 Features:

FPGA
Customizable PC/104 board based on Xilinx’s Spartan 3E, 500,000 gates
On-board flash memory
Reprogrammable in the field for standard and custom designs
External 5V power connection for stand-alone usage
Stand-alone controller 

Digital I/O
96 digital I/O, 8255 compatible
6 counter/timers, 8254 compatible
48 Opto-22 compatible digital I/O with 8254 counter/timers

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About Connect Tech:
Since 1985, Connect Tech has provided the globe with high quality, cost-effective connectivity solutions. Committed to excellence in both product design and customer satisfaction, Connect Tech continues to build on a reputation for manufacturing high performance multi-port serial adapters, engineering tools, wireless radio modems and Ethernet-to-serial devices for the Industrial and Embedded PC market. Specializing in customization, Connect Tech's products include PCI, PCI Express, CompactPCI, PC/104, PC/104-Plus, and ISA bus compatible boards, and external USB-to-serial and Ethernet-to-serial devices.

Contact:
sales@connecttech.com
800-426-8979 (North America)
519-836-1291