Design & Development of I/O Modules

Executive Summary

Our customer is a diversified manufacturer of highly engineered intrinsically safe electronic products for industrial usage.

Customer engaged eInfochips to design the IO modules and required firmware of a very complex system since they wanted to focus on the critical functionality of the system design. The design is meant for Explosive environment, intrinsically safe and inline.

The I/O modules form an interface between the central system and various sensors, devices used in industrial automation. The project includes design of 3 types of interfacing modules, Digital I/O, Analog I/O and Temperature module.

The Customer

Our customer is a diversified manufacturer of highly engineered industrial products. The Company’s products have primary application in the aerospace, electronics, hydrocarbon processing, petrochemical, and chemical, power generation, and automated merchandising and transportation industries. 
They are focused on serving five business segments – Aerospace & Electronics, Fluid Handling, Engineered Materials, Merchandising Systems and Controls. 

The Challenge

• Project documentation was very limited
• We had to meet a predetermined fixed project cost
• Project needed to be completed in a short span of time as the customer’s other project was dependent on this one

The Solution

Project Scoping
Since the customer lacked detailed documentation for the project since it was ongoing at their end, eInfochips deputed an “onsite champion” for the project.  Our champion travelled to customer site, where he worked for 1 month to completely understand and document the project requirements and design considerations.  This information was then used by our offshore team to define the accurate project requirements for development purposes.
Design & Development
The system consists of a Master connected to various I/O modules via Interface. Various devices are connected to the I/O modules (4 devices per module). They are categorized as analog, digital and temperature based devices. The master controls the devices over Interbus with interface provided by the I/O modules.

• Engaged in R&D for proper understanding of the intrinsically safe hardware design which was critical for the project of I/O module design and development
• Developed and Manufactured multiple prototype versions
• Developed complete Firmware which was very critical for the system
• Integrated and Calibrated the final development of IO modules

Testing
For the successful operation team eInfochips has developed test suites and performed testing in operational environment which gave an edge to the customer in getting benefits from the system.

The Technology

• Compiler/ Tool chain: IAR, PC Worx
• Software Debugger: IAR
• Development Environment: IAR

The Benefit

• eInfochips leveraged expertise to develop full solution which enhanced the customer’s working efficiency and cut the project development lifecycle duration by over 15%
• Though there was little support from the customer’s side eInfochips has developed full solution in short span of time which allowed the customer in concentrating on their core operational functions