GPIB (general purpose interface bus) Converters serve as both the interfaces as well as controllers.

GPIB Interface

As an interface a GPIB converter converts the data from one bus type to another. Consider an RS232 interface attached to a GPIB converter. GPIB Converter converts RS232 commands to GPIB commands. So RS232 interface gets converted to GPIB interface. On the whole as an interface a GPIB converter operates as a bridge between computer bus and GPIB device.

GPIB Controller

The second functionality that a GPIB Converter may offer is controller. As controller GPIB Converter not only transfers the data but also manages and controls the data flow over the bus. The controller sends commands and routes data within the GPIB network. Overall a GPIB converter can serve as both interface and controller when required.

GPIB Converter Standards

GPIB Converters follow the standards defined by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). So far GPIB Converters follow three standards. These are IEEE 488.2, IEEE 4888.1, and HS 488. IEEE 488.2 defines the data formats, status reporting, controller commands, and error handling. IEEE 488.1 standardizes the protocol specifications for interconnecting mechanical and electrical programmable instruments. This allows data transfer rate of 1 MBps supporting 14 devices. HS (high speed) 488 standard is faster of all allowing data transfer rate of 8 MBps. Moreover it also works with Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) is also referred to as Hewlett Packard Interface Bus (HPIB) after the name of Hewlett Packard.

GPIB and other protocols

The main purpose of a GPIB Converter is to able communication between computer and other devices that support no standard other than common bus standards. A GPIB Converter can translate serial ports including RS232, RS422, and RS485, universal serial bus (USB), SCSI, Ethernet, and also the parallel ports such as SPP, EPP, etc. GPIB Converters translates a number of computer buses for industrial applications including peripheral component interconnect (PCI), compact PCI, PXI, STD (simple to design or debug) bus, VME32 & VME66, multi-bus, and extended ISA (EISA). Multibus architecture supports the embedded applications.

GPIB Converter Specifications

Number of ports, direct memory access (DMA), maximum data transfer rate, first-in first-out (FIFO) buffers, and product certifications are the important specifications concerning a GPIB Converter module or board. Number of I / O ports define how many devices can be attached to the converter. FIFO buffers are the stacks to store data temporarily. With this buffering both the host bus and GPIB device can access data simultaneously. Direct Memory Access is a method of transferring data to the memory. In such method the data is transferred to the main memory directly without passing through the Central Processing Unit (CPU). This speeds up the data processing or transfer. Product certification involves the authorization from U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Some products contain CE mark that confirms the relevant EU (European) Standards.