The brief for AMC was to design and manufacture a rackmount monitoring system based around IBM PC architecture. Since the equipment was to be used throughout the Broadcast and Telecom industry it had to be manufactured to a high standard and have high reliability.
The system AMC designed incorporates passive backplane technology. This has enabled the client to have use of 12 ISA expansion slots allowing the system to be built to a single channel monitoring system, up to a maximum of four channels.
The front panel had to incorporate a TFT LCD display, a bank of 12 tri-colour LED's and 8 key switches. Front accessible DVD and floppy drives were also part of the brief as were front accessible mouse and keyboard ports.
The AMC System Monitor card was a key component for this system. The initial brief was to monitor all mechanical fans for failure and to monitor internal voltages and temperature. Once the client saw the capabilities of the SYSMON card, additional requirements of TTL and relay outputs were added. AMC technical staff provided software drivers for the SYSMON card and additional software to produce scrolling displays.
In order to provide a fully CE compliant system, AMC worked closely with the client and an EMC test house. Several modifications were made to reduce rf emissions, the final production system being fully compliant.
All assembled systems passed through our rigorous quality control systems, and all parts were serial numbered for full traceability.
Several hundred systems were manufactured during the product lifetime.
