EE

18 February 1988

UNIVERSAL MULTIPLEXER
A fast, analogue and digital compatible, 16-channel multiplexer with provisions for manual and
computer control. The circuit is offered as a design idea, and should find applications in test, measure-
ment and instrumentation equipment.

The circuit described here is essentially routed direct to the switching section: pP/MAN and LOAD is within every pro-
an electronic 16-way rotary switch. It is AND gate N35 effectively blocks them grammer's reach when the appropriate
composed of 2 functional sections: one when the microprocessor or microcom- data is sent to the computer's parallel
takes care of the connection between the puter holds circuit input ,uP/MAN logic output port (e.g. the Centronics outlet)
selected input channel and the "pole" of high. In that case, LED D19 lights to in- with the aid of a simple BASIC program
the 16-way switch, i.e., the output of the dicate that the increment pulses or (machine language) subroutine.
circuit, while the other provides the con- originate from the computer, and are ap- The use of computer control on the pro-
trol signals necessary to select a par- plied to the CLK input of binary counter posed multiplexer makes it possible to
ticular channel from the 16 available. ICI via N3I and N40. The clock pulses re- activate any 1 of 16 (24) channels at any
The control section accepts manual as ceived by ICI increment the 4-bit binary time. This is in contrast to the sequential
well as computer or automatically gener- value at outputs QA. . .QD. LED Dm and unidirectional channel selection in
ated channel selection codes. Appli- indicates the presence and the relative the manual (automatic or switch-
cations of the universal multiplexer in- speed of the received or internally controlled) mode.
clude quasi-simultaneous temperature generated clockpulses. The 4 DIP switches marked RESET in
measurement in a network of sensors the circuit diagram determine the last
mounted in different locations, con- (highest) channel that can be activated.
trolled capturing of signals from strain Computer control Four-bit comparator IC3 compares the
gauges, light sensors or transducers, and So far, the circuit description suggests number of the selected channel to the
the routeing of command signals and that channel selection in the multiplexer configuration of the DIP switches, i.e.,
voltages in automated test, measurement is sequential and unidirectional. This to the number of the channel defined as
and production systems. means that if, for example, channel 3 is the last one. Output A =B (signal RS)
currently selected, the next channel can goes high when equal channel numbers
only be number 4, making it is imposs- are applied to the An and 13n inputs of
Manual or automatic control ible to step back to, say, channel 2, or on IC3. The LOAD input of counter ICI is
In the manual mode, the desired channel to 5 with a single clock pulse. This activated, and inputs A ... D read 0000
is selected by the user pressing the chan- restriction was found inacceptable, so thanks to pull-down resistors Rz...R5
nel increment key as many times as re- that the circuit was extended to enable incl. This resets the counter to output
quired. In the automatic mode, an oscil- the direct selection of any 1 of the 16 state nought.
lator provides the channel increment channels via input lines DO. . .D3, which The current channel number is indicated
pulses. With reference to the circuit control counter inputs A...D direct. by 1 of 16 LEDs selected by 4-to-16
diagram of Fig. 1, the user selects be- When the computer's output port ap- decoder IC2. The channel code is also
tween manual and automatic channel in- plies a logic high level to inputs applied to display driver ICio, which ar-
crement pulses with the aid of toggle ,uP/MAN and LOAD, pin 1 of ICI goes ranges for the decimal channel number
switch SI. This supplies a clock pulse to high, so that the binary value on to be shown on a 11/2-digit common
bistable FF1 via set-reset bistable ICHb, DO. . . D3 is transferred to QA.. .QD. cathode display. It should be noted that
whose Q and Q outputs toggle on each The control of input lines DO.. . D3, binary input 0000 on the SAB3211
rising edge of the CLK signal. Thus, \\• ‘••\. ••\7r,s.'‘,` s\s".W\ "",‘N
each time Si is pressed, the multiplexer ‘VV\
changes between manual and automatic
\\s
channel control, or vice versa. LEDs \ N. •
DI7 and D18 indicate the currently selec-
ted mode. On power up, network Ri-C1
at the SET input of FFI selects manual
channel increment pulses. These are
generated by S2 and S-R bistable ICH.,
which functions as a debounce circuit.
AND gate N36 blocks the manual chan-
nel increment pulses when the unit is set
to the automatic mode. Similarly, N34
prevents the channel increment pulses
from oscillator IC4 being applied to pin
1 of Naz in the manual mode. The oscil-
lator pulses are only used in the auto-
matic channel increment mode, that is,
when Q of FF1 is logic high. The output
frequency of the oscillator set up around
1C4 is adjustable to enable the channel
increment speed being set as required for
the application in question.
The channel incement pulses are not A prototype of the universal multiplexer built on a piece of veroboard.
 EE
19
February 1988

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121?"

Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of the universal multiplexer.

causes the display to read "16". The Relays or electronic switches so that inverters Type 4049 are required
Type SAB3211 is manufactured by instead of non-inverting buffers Type
Siemens, and may be a difficult to ob- Some applications of the multiplexer call 4050. Do not forget to fit a protective di-
tain component. The more familiar Type for the use of relays rather than elec- ode across each relay coil as shown. The
9368 is suggested as a suitable alterna- tronic switches in IC6... IC9 incl. The R-C filters on the input lines may not be
tive, but it should be noted that this modifications to the circuit to enable op- required in all cases, but are rec-
causes the channel numbers to be eration with relays are shown in Fig. 2. ommended as a protective measure
displayed in hexadecimal (0. . F) rather The Type 4514 decoder is replaced by a against crosstalk and switching noise.
than decimal. 74HC154, whose outputs are active low, Electronic switches not only consume
 EE
20 February 1988
for driving a wide variety of test equip-
2 4+ ment.
The analogue switches may be protected
against static discharges by fitting 2
small-signal diodes on each input line.
One diode is connected with its cathode
to ground, and its anode to the input
.
■•■•■■•■
4049 channel indication
line; the other with its cathode to the
1...16
positive supply voltage, and its anode to
the input line.
SAB
Depending on the type of relay used,
3211Z
+4 and the multiplexing speed, the inertia
of the contacts may give rise to er-
MON roneous measurements owing to brief
short-circuits between input channels.
input filter
This is prevented by delay network R27-
7 R28-C6 freezing the output state of
decoder IC2 for about 10 ms in between
Decoder 4+16
I I 2 clock pulses. This ensures that the cur-
channel code 16
rently energized relay has enough time to
relays complete opening its contacts before the
next channel is selected.
74HC 154 channel 1...16 The multiplexer can be fed from any
channel inhibit
supply voltage between 5 and 16 V, pro-
5V vided the series resistors for the LEDs
18
and the display are dimensioned accord-
ingly. Relays, as well as the 74HC154, re-
quire a supply of 5 V.
RELAYS
A or D output
9 Finally, it should be noted that the cir-
cuit described is experimental: it can be
L extended as well as simplified to in-
*
see text 87159 - 2a dividual needs. The RESET configur-
ation around IC3 can be simplified by
Fig. 2. Modifications to the multiplexer to enable the use of relays in the switching stage. hard wiring the relevant inputs An on
the comparator; the 11/2 digit read-out
little power, they also have the advantage cause problems, it is recommended to can be set up around a display driver
of being fast, silent, small, and inexpens- ensure adequate insulation through the other than the SAB3211; the LEDs and
ive. They do not, however, allow the safe use of relays. associated driver ICs are optional; the
use of different potentials in the channel The multiplexed signal is buffered in op- number of channels can be reduced, and
selection circuit (i.e., the multiplexer) erational amplifier IC5. This guarantees the gates used for the microprocessor in-
and the circuit(s) drivingthe input lines. light loading of the selected channel, terface may be omitted if computer con-
In applications where this is expected to and a relatively low output impedance trol is not envisaged.

CORRECTIONS
SSB receiver for 20 and 80 m
November 1987, p. 53
Resistor Re shown in the circuit diagram is not present
on the printed circuit board. This has no consequence
for the operation of the receiver.

BASIC computer
November 1987, p. 25

Constructors should note that pin 14 of K2 is connec-

ted to pin 14 of Ki.

Long-range infra-red receiver-

transmitter
November 1987, p. 37
Factor in was erroneously omitted in the denominators
of the 2 fractions preceding equation [61.