GPIO Pins and the Auxiliary Port

In addition to the primary port and CAN port, Boreas contains two general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins and an auxiliary port on the IO Breakout Connector. These pins are multi function and can be used to extend Boreas with additional peripherals, sensors and data formats. Both GPIO pins have digital input, digital output, frequency input and frequency output functionality.

GPIO1 can also function as an RS232 (only) serial transmit line and GPIO2 can function as an RS232 (only) serial receive line. The GPIO serial baud rate can be configured anywhere from 4800 to 250 K baud. The auxiliary serial baud rate can be configured anywhere from 4800 to 4 M baud. See Supported Baud Rate. Changes to these baud rates can be made by using the Baud Rates page in the web UI or Boreas Manager.

The available GPIO and auxiliary functions are listed in the section Dynamic Pin Functions. The function of a GPIO pin or the auxiliary port can be changed at any time using the GPIO Configuration page in the Boreas web UI or Manager. GPIO 1 and GPIO 2 operate at standard voltage levels for digital input, digital output, frequency input and frequency output, but when a serial data function is selected, this GPIO pin automatically switches to RS232 voltage level.