GPIB Products

GPIB products include a wide range of peripherals that are designed to function in conjunction with the General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) protocol.  The main types of PMC products are GPIB controller and interface boards, GPIB converters, GPIB extenders, GPIB expanders and isolators, and GPIB switches.

GPIB controllers are interface boards, which control the flow of information on the bus.  The controller commands the instruments to talk or to listen, and responds to service requests from the devices in the GPIB network. A controller can control up to 14 GPIB instruments.  If there is a need to control more than 14 instruments, then an expander is needed.

GPIB converters simply translate the data from one bus type to another.  For instance, a RS232 to GPIB converter translates the serial commands generated by the RS232 interface to GPIB commands. Many converters are also controllers.

GPIB extenders remove the restrictions on cable length specified in IEEE 488 (GPIB) while maintaining optimal performance (maximum data rate, etc.).  The IEEE 488 standards specify that the total cable length of a GPIB system cannot exceed 20 meters.  With an extender it is possible to extend the cable length to several kilometers without lowering the overall performance of the system.

GPIB expanders allow the GPIB system to interface more than the maximum number of devices specified in IEEE 488.1.  According to this standard, a GPIB system cannot interface more than 14 electrical devices. An expander increases the maximum number of devices that can be connected to the GPIB network.

GPIB switches enable several GPIB controllers to share one or more GPIB devices, or let a single GPIB controller operate multiple GPIB bus systems.

The General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) protocol, also known as IEEE 488 or HPIB (Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus), was designed to connect computers and peripherals to share data and control information from many sources. Hewlett-Packard developed this bus and called it HPIB. Later it was defined in the IEEE 488 Standards. Every GPIB network must have a GPIB adaptor card. Up to fourteen devices can be connected to each GPIB adaptor.

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Part Numbers for GPIB Products