XiO Inc

If you need to measure temperature for your application, you will select a temperature sensor such as thermocouple, an RTD or a thermistor depending on range, precision, accuracy and cost parameters. The trouble is that traditional Input/output systems require you to purchase different hardware designed to handle these very different sensors. There are tens of thousands of sensors that have dozens of different electrical properties. After all, you can measure pH, weight, flow, pressure, temperature, turbidity and so on. Some sensors are continuously variable such as temperature and some are discrete, such as switches and photo sensors. These discrete sensors have their own interface modules. And we have not even gotten to actuators, the devices that provide the action of the control system. Actuators turn on pumps and heaters, open valves, light warning indicators and produce motion with motors and cylinders. Soft-I/O is totally different than old-style I/O such as Programmable Logic Controllers, known as PLC's or PAC's. Whereas the old, traditional way employs many dozens of different hardware modules, Soft-I/O is a single part number product. That's right, there is only one Soft-I/O module that can hook up to virtually any sensor or actuator. How is this possible? Soft-I/O has 25 completely configurable connector pins.



Any Soft-I/O pin can be an input, and output, even power or ground. And the inputs can be either on/off discrete or continuously variable. So, if you want to hook up a sensor--any kind of sensor--you simply pick unused pins and hook up the device and then configure it using Soft-I/O's built in web server. The same goes for actuators. Yes, you can put any sensor or any actuator on any Soft-I/O pin. It turns out that the benefits of Soft-I/O don't stop with the dramatic reduction in part count. It's great to use a single Soft-I/O module, but there is more. Wiring is dramatically simplified because of the way that the old-iron PLC's and I/O modules work. If you go online and search for input/output (or I/O) modules, you will see that they do not provide the power for the sensors and actuators. So, you have to run about seven wires to hook up a three-wire proximity sensor, one of the most common sensors in use. The same goes for actuators. You need to hook up a power supply, deal with grounding and make sure that your old-style I/O module is correctly referenced. With Soft-I/O, it could not be simpler. Why? Unlike the old-style technology, Soft-I/O provides power on its connector pins. So, if you have a three-wire sensor, you simply pick out three Soft-I/O pins and hook up your sensor. You then use your browser to go to the Soft-I/O module website and "wire" the sensor. It's a couple of mouse clicks and drag-and-drops and you are done.

So, when you ask, "Why is Soft-I/O so unique?" We answer, "because we have invented an entirely new way to hook up sensors and actuators." Compared to Soft-I/O, the old-style I/O is kind of like...a buggy whip...

You may download the latest Soft-I/O Data Sheet by clicking the link below.