GPIO (Network Amplifiers)

This topic describes how to configure and control the General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) hardware interface for CX-Q, CXD-Q, and DPA-Q amplifiers in Q-SYS Designer.

The GPIO Controller is used to integrate Q-SYS with custom or third-party controls. Using the GPIO, Q-SYS can control external hardware and certain aspects of Q-SYS can be controlled by external hardware.

The GPIO Interface is physical hardware, and is represented in Q-SYS Designer by the GPIO component. There are eight configurable GPIO pins on the GPIO component. You can configure these pins to be Digital Inputs, Digital Outputs, Analog Inputs, or PWM Output. Refer to the Properties section in this topic for details.

Properties

What you select in the Properties determines the use of that GPIO pin, unused, input, output, or clock.

Property	Function	Choices
Name	Identifies the amplifier component in Q-SYS Designer, enabling the connection between the design and the physical device. This name should be the same as the amplifier Device Name (hostname Hostnames may contain ASCII letters 'a' through 'z' (case-insensitive), the digits '0' through '9', the hyphen, and the underscore. Hostname labels cannot begin or end with a hyphen. No other symbols, punctuation characters, or blank spaces are permitted. ) in the Q-SYS Configurator. The name must follow standard naming conventions, restricted to the following: ASCII characters a - z (case insensitive) Digits 0 - 9 Hyphen (cannot be at the beginning or end of the name) Underscore (acceptable with a Q-SYS implementation) No other characters, symbols, punctuation, or blank spaces.	User input
Location	User defined Location for the amplifier.	User input
GPIO 1 – GPIO 8	Configures the GPIO for the amplifier. GPIO 1 - 8 have the options Unused, Digital Input, Analog Input, and Digital Output. GPIO 1 through 4 and 6 add the PWM Output .	Unused Digital Input Analog Input Digital Output PWM Output

Property

Function

Choices

Name

Identifies the amplifier component in Q-SYS Designer, enabling the connection between the design and the physical device. This name should be the same as the amplifier Device Name (hostname Hostnames may contain ASCII letters 'a' through 'z' (case-insensitive), the digits '0' through '9', the hyphen, and the underscore. Hostname labels cannot begin or end with a hyphen. No other symbols, punctuation characters, or blank spaces are permitted. ) in the Q-SYS Configurator.

The name must follow standard naming conventions, restricted to the following:

ASCII characters a - z (case insensitive)

Digits 0 - 9

Hyphen (cannot be at the beginning or end of the name)

Underscore (acceptable with a Q-SYS implementation)

No other characters, symbols, punctuation, or blank spaces.

User input

Location

User defined Location for the amplifier.

User input

GPIO 1 – GPIO 8

Configures the GPIO for the amplifier.

GPIO 1 - 8 have the options Unused, Digital Input, Analog Input, and Digital Output.

GPIO 1 through 4 and 6 add the PWM Output

Unused

Digital Input

Analog Input

Digital Output

PWM Output

GPIO Pin Selections	Value
Digital Input (TTL 3.3 VDC @ 2 mA)	Digital zero = 0 Digital one = 3.3
Analog Input
Digital Output	0 or 1
PWM Output

Controls

The Controls are displayed in GPIO Pin number order, 1 through 8, from left to right in the Control Panel. For each control the Euro-style connector pin number is listed under the GPIO pin numbers. Refer to the GPIO Interface section in this topic.

Control	Function	Default / Range
Digital In (Indicator)	This LED lights when there is a Digital input of 1 (3.3 V TTL) present.	Default = On Range = On / Off
Analog In Volts	This knob controls the analog input level up to 3.3 V	Default = Range = 0 - 3.3
Digital Out	This toggle button supplies: 0 VDC output in the 0/Off position and 3.3 VDC output in the 1/On position.	Default = Off Range = Off / On
PWM Duty %	Sets the duty cycle of the pulse.	Default = 0 Range = 100
PWM Invert	Inverts the PWM pulse.	Default = + Range = + / 1
PWM Frequency Hz	Sets the frequency of the pulse. If there are multiple PWM assignments for one amplifier, all are controlled by the same frequency control.	Default = 50.0 Range = 5 to 50.0 k
Relay	This button changes position of the internal relay.	N / A

Control Pins

The available Control Pins depend on settings in Properties. There is one control pin for each GPIO pin that has either Digital Input, Analog Input or Digital Output selected in the Properties. The GPIO Pins that have Unused will not have a Control Pin associated with it. For PWM there is a Duty and Invert for each PWM selected in the Properties, and one PWM Frequency for all of the PWM Outputs are selected in the Properties.

Pin Name	Value	String	Position	Pins Available
Digital Input	0 1	false true	0 1	Output
Analog Input	0 to 3.3	0.00 V to 3.3 V	0 to 1.00	Output
Digital Output	0 1	false true	0 1	Input / Output
PWM Duty	0 to 100	—	0 to 1.00	Input / Output
PWM Invert	0 to 100	—	0 to 1.00	Input / Output
PWM Frequency	5.00 to 1000	5.00 Hz to 50 kHz	0 to 1.00	Input / Output
Relay Out	0 1.00	false (normal) true (activated)	0 1.00	Input / Output

GPIO Interface

Connector Pin	GPIO # and Function	Specification
1	3.3 V	100 mA max (power cycle to reset current limiting IC)
2	GPIO 1	5mA in/out, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series
3	GPIO 2	5mA in/out, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series
4	GND	Ground
5	GPIO 3	5mA in/out, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series
6	GPIO 4	5mA in/out, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series
7	GND	Ground
8	GPIO 5	18mA in/out max, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series
9	RELAY NO	Relay Normally Open
10	RELAY COM	Relay Common
11	RELAY NC	Relay Normally Closed
12	GND	Ground
13	GPIO 6	18mA in/out max, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series
14	GPIO 7	18mA in/out max, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series
15	GND	Ground
16	GPIO 8	18mA in/out max, 3.3V max, 127 Ohm resistor in series