Data Acquisition

uses to read voltages on electronic equipment. Windows software graphically displays thevoltmeter on the screen. Now you can turn your $5,000 laptop into a $29 voltmeter!Recently a few manufacturers have developed a global positioning system that works on aPC Card. This device will tell you your location and the time anywhere in the world in amatter of seconds. The price of these units will soon rival stand-alone units. Additionalfeatures that are in the pipeline are multi-functional units with, faxes to download weathermaps from satellites, and voice mail.The pocket organizer is becoming more powerful every day. The users are demandinggreater versatility and usability. This has pushed the manufacturers to include a PC Cardslot on their pocket organizers. The UK HP OMNIGO 100 is just one product that has aPC Card slot on board. This slot gives the user access to many features that otherorganizers lack. It also will insure the future usability of the pocket organizer as PC Cardtechnology expands.Although the PC Card was developed as a PC interface, its uses have not gone unnoticedby other product manufacturers. Some products have been using memory cards for a longtime. Data logger manufacturers use memory cards in their products to increase thememory size, download data and programs. Banks are now starting to use the PC Card toreplace credit and debit cards. JVC is producing an overhead LCD projection viewer thathas a PC Card slot. This will let the user carry only the viewer and a PC Card containingthe graphics and text for the lecture. It is said that some day almost all electronic productswill be PC Card compatible.At the moment portable computers make up the biggest users of PC Cards, but this willsoon change. Already the US government requires all PCs to be equipped with a PC Cardinterface. PC Card drives can be purchased for about the cost of a floppy drive. Theseinterfaces have a cable attached that plugs into the standard bus sockets inside thecomputer. Computer manufacturers such as IBM (Optiva model) are including theadapters as standard equipment. The trend is that the PC Card will replace the floppydrive and eventually the hard disk on all full-size computers.12.4 ConstructionThe construction of the PC Card is very simple from the user’s point of view, but becauseit is so small it is very difficult from a manufacturing point of view. All of the electroniccomponents are flat pack instead of the usual dual inline pin type. The PCB has to be verythin and this causes problems when soldering the part to the board. Special hightemperature boards have been specially developed for PC Cards. Normal PCBs are eithertoo thick or too flexible. The large number of parts that need to be put on the board causesits own problems. Manufacturers are constantly searching for ways to overcome theseproblems.