GSA Technology Council

Product Highlights:

• Configurable for RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, RS-530, RS-530A, or V.35


• Z85230 Enhanced Serial Communications Controller (ESCC™)


• Data rates to 128K bps


• MD1 Low Profile and Universal Bus (3.3V and 5V) compatible


• DB-25M connector


• X.21 and RS-449 serial interface capability with versatile cabling options

“Sealevel Systems has long been a leader in serial products”, states Earle Foster, VP Sales and Marketing at Sealevel. “So it was natural to extend our product line with the new ACB-MP.LPCI low profile PCI adapter.”

The single channel synchronous serial interface can be configured for RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, RS-530, RS-530A, or V.35 communication protocols. The ACB-MP.LPCI is capable of data rates to 128K bps making it an ideal solution for DDS (digital data service), military applications, and banking communications.

The ACB-MP.LPCI meets the requirements for the MD1 “Low Profile” specification as defined by PCISIG in PCI 2.2 “Low Profile Addendum”. This allows the ACB-MP.LPCI to be used in a variety of systems, including low profile servers, network appliances, and desktop computers that do not have standard size PCI slots. Designed for compatibility with legacy and new computer systems, the ACB-MP.LPCI also features a Universal Bus (3.3 and 5.0V) as required by PCISIG specifications 2.3.

Software support, critical for successful synchronous communication implementation, is provided through Sealevel’s SeaMAC V4 driver. SeaMAC supports a variety of protocols under Windows 2000/XP including HDLC, SDLC, and various bisync, monosync, and raw (bit-shifter) modes. Clocking is selectable using the internal baud rate generator, an external source, or a clock-encoded data stream. Standard Win32 API functions are supported.

As an added value, customers also receive WinSSD, a full featured diagnostic application providing powerful testing and diagnostic capabilities. Use WinSSD for BERT (Bit Error Rate Testing), throughput monitoring, loopback tests, and transmit test pattern messages.

The ACB-MP.LPCI is priced at $409 and is available immediately from stock as part number 5102. All Sealevel manufactured I/O products are covered by a lifetime warranty.

Sealevel Systems, founded in 1986, provides industrial computing solutions in addition to a variety of communications and I/O products including PCI Bus cards, Ethernet serial servers, USB serial adapters, PCMCIA cards, and PC/104 modules. The product line includes multi-port RS-232, RS-422/485, RS-232/422/485 multi-interface high-speed sync/async, and digital/relay I/O.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a Phase IIR grant for $200,000 to Clemson University’s Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films, an NSF Research Center, to partner with Tetramer Technologies, LLC, a Clemson University spin-off company.

The grant will help Tetramer further develop encapsulation polymers for quantum-dot technology. Quantum dots are nanoscale crystalline structures that absorb and re-emit light. In the last five years, commercialization of quantum dots has exploded with their use as biological sensors. New uses for this technology, such as white light-emitting dots, show promise in providing lower cost sources of light when coupled with light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Graham Harrison, Jianyong “Jack” Jin, Earl Wagener , Doug Hirt, Dennis Smith, Phil Brown , Jeff DiMaio. Through the partnership with Tetramer, Clemson’s Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films (CAEFF) undergraduate and graduate research students will be exposed to entrepreneurial training.

“Our students will explore cutting-edge science while developing business acumen,” said Doug Hirt, director of CAEFF. “This is a unique opportunity to give our students a first-hand look at how small businesses operate from both research and commercialization standpoints.”

“This new grant will help advance Tetramer’s nanocrystal-encapsulation technology and accelerate its adoption into commercial applications,” said Tetramer technology manager Jeff DiMaio. “This collaboration has the potential to impact the solid-state lighting, solar-energy harvesting, and polymer-optical fibers markets, as well as benefit national security through development of radiation-detection technology.”

The NSF grant is intended to stimulate the transfer of innovative, leading-edge research performed at university Engineering Research Centers to small businesses, which then move research results into the marketplace. This collaboration has CAEFF acting as a catalyst to provide the research that Tetramer, a small business, needs to further make it successful and competitive. Tetramer, in turn, serves as a catalyst to get university research fast-tracked to commercialization.

The project is based partially on patented Clemson optical fluoropolymer technology licensed by Tetramer and originally developed in Clemson’s COMSET (Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies) laboratories for optical applications.

CAEFF has conducted research at the cutting edge of computational materials design since 1998. With major support from NSF, the center has advanced the state of the art in modeling polymer processes beyond any existing model in the world. CAEFF supports South Carolina’s growing knowledge-based economy by promoting a transformation from trial-and-error development to computer-based design of fibers and films.

Tetramer Technologies was formed in 2001 as a faculty-driven start-up company commercializing high-value research activities pursued at Clemson University. In addition to quantum-dot encapsulation, the company specializes in automotive fuel-cell membranes, gas-separation membranes for enhanced shale and tar sands oil recovery in North America, optical waveguides, piezopolymers and renewable resource materials. Tetramer currently employs 11 researchers; two of those on this project are Clemson Ph.D. graduates.

The department of bioengineering at Clemson University has received $2 million in grants to study radiation-induced bone loss.

Both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a branch of NASA, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), are primary contributors of funds to the study as a result of its two-dimensional application.

The mechanical testing of mouse bones allows for the examination of changes in bone strength after irradiation, modeling both clinical and space exposure.The study addresses bone loss that occurs as the result of radiation therapy for cancer treatment and from solar and cosmic radiation during space exploration.

NIH is contributing nearly $400,000 in grant money for Clemson researchers to develop an animal model that will enable them to study bone loss caused by radiation therapy. The research could result in the kind of knowledge necessary to develop bone-loss therapies to aid a large and increasing community of cancer survivors.

Concurrently, NASA and NSBRI are funding a $1.6 million grant to support research that will examine the effect of space radiation on bone loss for astronauts.

The two dimensions of the bone-loss study are similar in that both involve testing mouse and rat bones after exposure to radiation, but the two studies vary in the type and amount of radiation. Clinical doses of radiation treatment for pelvic cancers come largely from high-dose X-rays compared to lower doses of proton and heavy ion radiation to which astronauts will be exposed in future spaceflight missions.

Solar particle events can expose astronauts to damaging levels of proton radiation.Ted Bateman, professor and director of the Osteoporosis Biomechanics Laboratory (www.batemanlab.com), is conducting the research to understand the molecular and cellular basis for bone loss caused by radiation. The knowledge that his lab develops will assist in the development of countermeasures applicable to both cancer treatment and spaceflight.

“These grants are a tremendous endorsement of our bone-loss research,” said Bateman.

“This is an untreated problem in cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy and also a problem we will see as space travel expands to the moon and Mars. Currently, astronauts on the International Space Station lose bone mass at five times the rate that women lose bone mass following menopause. Past studies confirm that patients who are undergoing radiation treatment for cancer experience more fractures, and hip fractures are particularly damaging to long-term health. We hope to provide data that contributes to prevention of these fractures, and ultimately to improve quality of life for cancer survivors.”

A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported a 60 to 200 percent increase in hip-fracture rates following radiation treatment for pelvic cancers in women. Breaking a hip often causes a large decline in quality of life and leads to death in approximately 20 percent of people with fractures.

Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals also is supporting the clinical application of this research to examine prevention of fractures.

In the space application of the research, rapid bone loss occurs as a result of the weightless environment and may be made worse by the radiation astronauts will experience on extended missions to the moon and Mars.

Related grant support includes a fellowship from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for graduate student Eric Bandstra to study space radiation and bone loss. Senior graduate student Jeff Willey has received a post-doctoral fellowship from NSBRI to support his continued research with radiation-induced bone loss at Clemson and Wake Forest universities.

Collaborators on the NIH grant include Wake Forest University Medical Center. The NIH project is Grant Number R21AR054889 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Collaborators on the NSBRI grant include NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Looking ahead on the Upstate Tech Calendar:

InnoVision 2007 Tech Forum on October 25

Please join us for the InnoVision Technology Forum Panel Discussion on

“Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Innovation”

When:
Thursday, October 25, 2007
3:00 p.m. - 5:00p.m.

Where:
St. Jude Medical
253 Financial Blvd.
Liberty, SC

What:
Although most companies begin with a creative team that generates the original business, sustaining and infecting the culture of the business with follow-on creative thinking as it grows becomes an exponential challenge. The panel will consist of individuals at the beginning of a company’s creation, at the early maturity stage, and in the process of reinventing itself following maturity as well as the inevitable disruption of the original business mission.

Companies represented on the panel include:
FUJIFILM Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc., Innegrity, and St. Jude Medical

A short Tour of St. Jude R&D will be offered following the discussions.

RSVP to Christy Adams at christyadams@deloitte.com

Former Gorilla Networks guy, Joe Milam has returned to the upstate with a RFID offering for local manufacturing businesses. His new company, Profitable Inventory Control Systems, Inc. offers ProcessTrakker a Microsoft .NET and RFID barcode scanning and wireless networking solution to collect and display manufacturing floor data. PICS hopes to reduce bottlenecks in the process, machine downtime and maintenance problems, while improving employee effectiveness “It is our goal with ProcessTrakker to get a manufacturing company as close to 100% productivity as possible. ” says Milam. Gorilla Networks, Joe Milam’s previous endeavor in the upstate, was instrumental in getting wireless internet into Greenville’s downtown business district. His new business is currently based in Anderson.

Sealevel Systems, Inc. pioneers another first for the industry: a 16-port RS-232 serial I/O adapter designed for the new PCI Express bus design. “Sealevel is prepared to help our customers meet their I/O needs with the PCI Express bus. This new product, the COMM+16.PCIe, has the highest serial port count available for PCI Express,” states Earle Foster, VP Sales and Marketing for Sealevel.

“While that is a powerful advantage, the COMM+16.PCIe has other features that are huge benefits to customers. For example, our board uses 16C854 UARTs with 128-byte FIFOs — 16 times larger than other boards — which provides customers error-free operation even in high-speed applications,” said Foster.

Each serial port provides a maximum data rate of 460.8K bps and the COMM+16.PCIe has an operating range from 0 - +70°C (extended temperature versions operating from -40 - +85°C are available). All Sealevel I/O products have a lifetime warranty.

The COMM+16.PCIe is ideal for connecting to PLC’s, bar code readers, scales, and other data acquisition/control devices using the included DB-25M fan-out cable (DB-9M fan-out cable available as an option). The product includes SeaCOM™ software for Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista and Linux operating systems. As an added value, customers also receive WinSSD, a full-featured application for testing and diagnostics including BERT (Bit Error Rate Testing), throughput monitoring, loopback tests, and test pattern message transmissions.

Sealevel Systems, founded in 1986, provides industrial computing solutions in addition to a variety of serial communications and digital I/O products including PCI Bus cards, Ethernet serial servers, USB serial adapters, PCMCIA cards, and PC/104 modules. Their product line includes multi-port RS-232, RS-422/485, RS-232/422/485 multi-interface high-speed sync/async, and digital/relay I/O.

via Sealevel

Clemson University has joined the national high-speed research community through direct fiber connections between Clemson, Greenville, Atlanta and Charlotte, providing direct access to the National LambdaRail, Internet2 and other national and international research networks.

The network, known as C-Light, was developed using private donations and gifted fiber. This cooperative effort now provides Clemson researchers and faculty with leading-edge capabilities using direct fiber connectivity to high-capacity networks and resources that will enable research, academic and economic advancements and opportunities that were previously out of reach for Clemson and the Upstate. C-Light specifically provides faculty with the infrastructure they need to collaborate with colleagues and access resources nationally and internationally and ensures the capability to apply for major research grants from funding agencies like the National Science Foundation.

“Clemson’s capacity for data transmission has increased from the equivalent of a footpath in the forest to a 16-lane superhighway,” said Jim Bottum, chief information officer at Clemson. “In the past, Clemson was limited to “commodity” connectivity which prohibited us from participating in national initiatives like the TeraGrid and the National LambdaRail. In essence, we lacked the ‘toll’ to get onto the national research superhighway; so, for Clemson to advance toward its goals, C-Light had to happen.”

The fiber network that now connects Clemson, Greenville and Charlotte to the Atlanta regional hub also includes the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville.

James Leylek, director of the Clemson University Center for Computational Mobility Systems, said that in the past he was forced to ship data from CU-ICAR to research partners by regular “snail mail” because of network limitations. “The world of high-performance computing offers unlimited opportunities for researchers needing to get data and information quickly,” said Leylek. “C-Light is a tremendous boost to productivity.”

Because C-Light is a strategic alliance between Clemson University and Charter Business, the benefits of high-speed connectivity are not limited to the university. Industry and businesses that need this kind of connectivity will be attracted to Upstate South Carolina because through research collaborations with Clemson they will be able to gain access to the network, bringing significant economic growth potential to the Upstate.

C-Light also will provide an important building block for the South Carolina Light Rail, for which the state legislature recently appropriated one-time funding to acquire fiber to connect the three South Carolina research universities. Clemson also is building a Network Operations Center (NOC) as part of an $8 million campus network upgrade that could be utilized as a foundational piece of the South Carolina Light Rail.

“The research and educational capabilities afforded by this initiative position Clemson University as the intellectual anchor of the Upstate,” said Dori Helms, Clemson’s vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Chris Przirembel, vice president for research and economic development at Clemson, notes the research support for faculty and students provided by the connection.

“C-Light will enable our faculty to develop highly skilled and innovative graduates, who in turn will produce scientific achievements and technological advancements that will fuel economic development and investments in quality of life for all South Carolina residents,” he said.

One of the most innovative features of C-Light is the fact that Clemson connected to the national infrastructure without burdening the state budget. The fiber and equipment were donated and the entire venture is a cooperative effort between Clemson and Charter Business.

“Charter Business is proud to partner with Clemson University on deploying a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing system connecting Greenville to a significant point of presence in Atlanta,” said Jim McGann, vice president of Charter Business. “Through this strategic alliance, Charter Business will be able to enhance its robust network, streamline operations and better deliver content to customers throughout the southeast.

“This partnership shows what can be achieved when public companies and higher education work together with common goals to promote area research and economic development,” McGann said.

KeyMark Inc has announced today their partnership with archive solution provider, Plasmon.

The partnership between KeyMark and Plasmon will provide KeyMark’s customers with an enterprise-wide archive system that easily integrates into existing network infrastructures. The technology provides a regulatory compliant and environmentally sound platform for archiving inactive content. This will ensure KeyMark customers can access their data in the event of an emergency and provide the assurance that not all data could potentially be lost.

“The combination of shared network connectivity, disk cache and file management combined into a single device is a “Best of Breed” approach,” said Michael Alls, Manager of Business Strategy for KeyMark. “We can help an organization’s overburdened IT staff increase efficiency and decrease downtime while allowing the company to mitigate regulatory risk and be more environmentally responsible.” Plasmon’s archival system fits well with KeyMark’s current solutions because it is scalable, cutting edge, and easy to integrate.

With KeyMark’s involvement in the creation, use and retention of the content, they are uniquely positioned to help customers integrate archive technology into their overall business environment. There are significant benefits to utilizing the archiving platform such as: Reduced time and cost of recovering data to enable COOP (”continuity of operations planning”), increased speed of backups, increased storage capacity, improved compliance with regulatory mandates, reduced time to search and locate archived content, reduced administrative and support staff cost, reduced storage management complexity, improved management of and access to corporate data and the reduced cost of backups.

The Department of Defense has awarded $1.6 million to the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B) at Clemson University for the development of an implantable biochip that could relay vital health information if a soldier is wounded in battle or a civilian is hurt in an accident.

The biochip, about the size of a grain of rice, could measure and relay such information as lactate and glucose levels in the event of a major hemorrhage, whether on the battlefield, at home or on the highway.

Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, C3B director and Dow Chemical Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and professor of bioengineering says first responders to the trauma scene could inject the biochip into the wounded victim and gather data almost immediately. The device has other long-term potential applications, such as monitoring astronauts’ vital signs during long-duration space flights and reading blood-sugar levels for diabetics.

“We now lose a large percentage of patients to bleeding, and getting vital information such as how much oxygen is in the tissue back to ER physicians and medical personnel can often mean the difference between life and death,” said Guiseppi-Elie. “Our goal is to improve the quality and expediency of care for fallen soldiers and civilian trauma victims.” The biochip also may be injected as a precaution to future traumas, he adds.

Clemson scientists have formulated a gel that mimics human tissue and reduces the chances of the body rejecting the biochip, which has been a problem in the past. The researcher predicts the biochip is five years away from human trials. The award is funded by the Department of Defense through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program and is a joint study with the department of molecular pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Telesensors Inc. in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (http://www.clemson.edu/c3b/), located in the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center, operates cooperatively with industry in molecular bioanalytics and biometrology research. The center focuses on the development of platform technologies that are of mutual interest to the industrial consortium members and faculty while providing education and training for science-, technology-, engineering- and mathematics-oriented high school students, science teachers, undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral trainees.

Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) has become Clemson University’s first Motorsports Innovation Partner, providing the company preferred access to faculty, students, facilities and equipment related to motorsports and automotive research.

Clemson President James F. Barker and DEI Inc. chief executive Teresa Earnhardt sign the agreement creating the motorsports initiative.DEI Chief Executive Officer Teresa Earnhardt and Clemson University President James F. Barker signed a memorandum of understanding to create the formal research and higher education partnership.

Initially, the unique partnership will be driven by proprietary motorsports engineering research projects involving Clemson University faculty, researchers and graduate students, along with the funding of student scholarships and internship opportunities.

The Dale Earnhardt Foundation will fund an annual undergraduate scholarship honoring the memory of Dale Earnhardt Sr. for students interested in motorsports and automotive engineering. Clemson officials have selected William Howard Bostic III of Sissonville, West Virginia, as the first recipient of the Dale Earnhardt Motorsports Scholarship. Bostic is a rising senior majoring in mechanical engineering. (See related story.)

The Dale Earnhardt Foundation will provide $13,000 annually for a total minimum pledge of $39,000 to establish a three-year undergraduate scholarship for a student in the College of Engineering and Science. In addition, students selected to receive the scholarship will be eligible for internships with DEI.

Teresa Earnhardt said the relationship with Clemson is in keeping with the missions of both DEI and the Dale Earnhardt Foundation to foster education and to assure that the company and the motorsports industry will benefit from highly motivated, technically competent leaders and employees in the future.

“The work to create the relationship that formally begins today started President James F. Barker, DEI Inc. CEO Teresa Earnhardt and DEI Inc. president of global operations Max Siegel stand in front of one of the DEI carsmore than a year and a half ago,” said Earnhardt. “That investment in time and effort has produced a partnership with unlimited potential.

“In Clemson’s International Center for Automotive Research, we have the resources of a world-class institution with the capability and commitment to help us develop technical innovations that will continue the winning tradition of Dale Earnhardt Inc.”

She said, “I have no doubt that the work of Clemson University and Dale Earnhardt Inc. will produce remarkable results and years from now will be considered the model for how a racing organization and a research university can collaborate for the sake of progress.

“The partnership also provides a great match for the mission of The Dale Earnhardt Foundation. The Dale Earnhardt Motorsports Scholarship will support the education of deserving students and it will be these motivated, talented individuals who will continue the legend.”

Clemson is recognized as a leader in motorsports and automotive engineering education. Its undergraduate program in mechanical engineering offers students real-world experiences through a competitive curriculum augmented by a cooperative education and internship program. Students also can compete in two automotive design projects: SAE Mini-Baja and Formula SAE through the Society of Automotive Engineers. The Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center at the CU-ICAR campus in Greenville, S.C., offers the nation’s only master’s and doctoral graduate degree programs in automotive engineering and unique research and testing resources.

Barker emphasized the value to the university and its students in partnering with one of the motorsports industry’s leading organizations.

“This partnership with DEI supports the academic focus of Clemson University to be a leader in automotive and motorsports education,” he said. “This is also a great opportunity for Clemson to learn from a key leader in the motorsports industry. It is critical that we foster relationships with the companies that will employ the engineers of the future. Our students and faculty will gain immeasurable benefits from association with this world-class motorsports organization.

“We welcome Dale Earnhardt Inc. to the Clemson family and expect this to be just the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship,” Barker added.