A new Sensor Control Module, the SCM-2, is currently being developed at Erallo. This module combines the functions of the front end analog interface cards (eSpider) together with the functions of the SCM-7800. It is a high performance, multifunction data acquisition and processing module with 4, 8, or 16 simultaneous analog inputs and 16 digital input/output lines. The SCM-2 includes sensor interconnections, an analog to digital converter, and analog circuits (like an instrumentation amplifier and analog filter), limited feature extraction, schedule-based processing, and storage. The processed data is transmitted to a Base Control Module (BCM) over Ethernet, CAN bus, or wirelessly.

The analog to digital converter provides 24 bits of resolution, 8 more bits or 256 times the resolution of the eSpider and eAnalog cards. By controlling the upper and lower reference points of the analog to digital converter, bits can be even more effectively used. An internal gain range between 1 and 128 can be programmed by software (over the 4 gains offered by other I/O cards); thus increasing the flexibility of the system as well. The core logic unit of the SCM-2 will be a medium performance Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA. The advantage of this FPGA is that multiple analog to digital converters can acquire data synchronously and in parallel without sacrificing scan rate. It also allows multiple analog expansion cards to collect more data without affecting the system.