Agilent Technologies E3632A manual Earth-Referenced Logic, Front Panel

Chapter 4 Theory of Operation

Earth-Referenced Logic

Earth-Referenced Logic

Referring to the schematic shown on page 125, the earth referenced logic circuits schematic provides all rear panel input/output capability. Microprocessor U4 handles GPIB (IEEE-488) control through bus interface chip U3 and bus receiver/driver chips U1 and U2. The RS-232 interface is also controlled through microprocessor U4. RS-232 transceiver chip U17 provides the required level shifting to approximate ±9 volt logic levels through on-chip charge-pump power supplies using C5 and C15. Communication between the earth referenced logic interface circuits and the floating logic is accomplished through an optically-isolated bi-directional serial interface. Isolator U7 couples data from U4 to processor U17. Isolator U6 couples data from U17 to microprocessor U4.

Front Panel

Referring to the schematic shown on page 127, the front panel circuits consist of vacuum fluorescent display control, display high voltage drivers, and keyboard scanning. Communication between the front panel and floating logic circuits is accomplished through a 4-wire bi-directional serial interface. The main controller U17 can cause a hardware reset to front-panel controller by signal IGFPRES. The front panel logic operates from -12.4 volts (logic 1) and -

17.4volts (logic 0). The front panel logic high supply (-12.4 volts) is produced by the -17.4 volts bias supply and the voltage regulator U2 on the front panel board. The four serial communication signals are level shifted by the comparator U8 from the floating logic 0 V to 5 V levels to the -17.4 V to -12.4 V levels present on the front panel assembly. U6 acts as the serial shift register interface for the front-panel controller U7 on the front panel board.

Display anode and grid voltages are +17.4 volts for an "on" segment and -17.4 volts for an "off" segment. The -11.2 V cathode bias for the display is provided by filament winding center tap bias circuit VR1, R18, and C25 on the main board. Keyboard scanning is accomplished through a conventional scanned row-column key matrix. Keys are scanned by outputing data at front-panel controller U7 port pins P0.0 through P0.3 to poll each key column for a key press. Column read-back data are read by the microprocessor at port pins P1.0 through P1.3 for decoding and communication to the floating logic circuits.

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