KAD/IBM/101 2 Channel IMB Serial Bus Monitor

The KAD/IBM/101 is a two-channel serial bus monitor which combines the capabilities of a coherent message parser with the flexibility of an iNET-X packetizer on a single module.

The parser parses up to 1024 messages per channel and their associated time and status tags. Each message has a stale bit (word read before), skipped bit (buffer overwritten), and empty bit (no message received since power-on). Intermodule Data Bus (IMB) messages can be parsed based on the 16-bit Label field in each IMB message. Each parser slot can hold a message of up to 65, 16-bit words long.

Every message received from each of the two busses is captured and packetized—along with the time tags and a bus tag—with other received messages in a packetized buffer. The packetizer contents can be assembled into Ethernet frames by an iNET-X controller or transmitter, for example, the KAD/BCU/140, for transmission over Ethernet

To ensure efficient use of the bandwidth, iNET-X packets are only generated once a payload threshold has been reached. Additionally, a programmable timeout ensures that smaller packets are generated even during periods of low activity on the bus, thereby allowing real-time analysis and processing of the acquired messages. When there is no traffic, no packets are generated. Both channels have outputs and therefore are not end-terminating nodes. All IMB messages received at each channel are re-transmitted in a passthrough fashion.