ULV Controller App Note #020

© 2007 United Electronic Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 ULV Controller — Application:

A large military operation in the development of an Unmanned Land Ve-

hicle needed a rugged, low power, high density controller for the vehicle,
as well as a comprehensive and flexible system to handle all of the unit’s I/O.
The UEIPAC components used in the various systems include (depending on
the end application and the sensors required):

The unit also needed to be very flexible as depending on the end application Product Description / Usage
of the ULV, many different types of sensors and controls would be installed. UEIPAC 600 6 slot, UEILogger Cube, (which includes all software)
Finally in order to preserve experience with other vehicles and to ensure fast
DNA-AI-207 18-bit analog input boards are used for temperature and
and robust system operation, the unit must be based upon the Linux operat- general voltage measurements
ing system. DNA-AO-308 8-channel analog output board provides control signals
for a variety actuators and power controllers.
The UEIPAC, Programmable Automation Controller was the perfect solution. It DNA-CT-601 8-channel counter timer boards are used as counters to
provides the environmental (tested: -40° to +85°C), and physical ruggedness monitor the quadrature encoder input signals.
(50 g shock, 5 g vibration) required and allows the installation of up to 6 I/O DNA-QUAD-604 4-channel quadrature encoder input monitors the rota-
boards in a single 4” x 4” x 5.8” Cube. It runs a standard Linux operating system tion of each of the ULV’s wheels.
and has the ability to be easily configured with a wide variety of analog, digi- DNA-SL-501 4-port RS-232/422/485 to interface to a variety of RS-232
tal, counter/timer, quadrature encoder, Serial and GPS interfaces. devices installed in the cab as well as the DNA-GPS.
DNA-GPS High performance GPS receiver device providing < 3 me-
The software is written on a standard Linux PC (or may be written in a Win- ter position accuracy (using WAAS) and 0.1 mph velocity
data.
dows environment under Cygwin) using UEI’s powerful and yet simple
UEIDAQ Framework. The Framework provides complete support for all com- DNA-DIO-404 24 point digital I/O boards are used to monitor limit
switches, control relay contacts and Annunciator LEDs.
mon versions of Linux as well as all popular Windows and Vista programming
languages and applications.

© 2007 United Electronic Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Page: 

 ULV Controller — UEI Products Used:
UEIPAC 600
The UEIPAC offers an unprecedented combina-
tion of flexibility, performance, low cost and small
size. The unit is an ideal solution in a wide variety
of measurement and control applications includ-
ing: Temperature control, Remote vehicle control
(UAV and ULV), Hardware in-the-loop (HIL) as well
as embedded DAQ applications.
© 2007 United Electronic Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DNA-AI-207:
18-bit analog input boards are
used for temperature and general
voltage measurements
DNA-AO-308:
8-channel analog output board
provides control signals for a variety
actuators and power controllers.
DNA-CT-601:
8-channel counter timer boards
are used as counters to monitor
the quadrature encoder input
DNA-SL-501:
4-channel quadrature encoder input boards are
used to monitor various rotational aspects.
DNA-QUAD-604:
4-channel quadrature encoder input monitors the
rotation of each of the ULV’s wheels.
DNA-GPS:
High performance GPS receiver device providing
< 3 meter position accuracy (using WAAS) and 0.1
mph velocity data.
DNA-DIO-404:
24 point digital I/O boards are used to monitor
limit switches, control relay contacts and Annun-
ciator LEDs.
Page: 
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trol industry. Serving customers world-wide, UEI products based upon PCI, PXI, ISA

and Ethernet interfaces offer unequaled performance as well as flexibility. We are

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abling engineers and scientists to interface data-acquisition and control hardware

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© 2007 United Electronic Industries, Inc.