Overview of HAL1x Expansion Units

A single HAL device contains a fixed number of inputs, outputs, RAD ports, DR ports, Logic ports and DSP processing. Expansion devices allow you to expand these resources to fit your application. The expansion bus supports connection of up to 32 expansion devices and has a channel capacity of 512x512 channels.

Available expansion devices are as follows:

• EXP1x adds eight RAD ports to a HAL1x via the Expansion Bus. Keep in mind that DR remotes are also supported on any RAD port, so the EXP1x also adds support for additional DR remotes when needed. See EXP1x Device.
• EXP3x is an 8-channel analog output & DSP expander for the HAL1x. It also adds support for 8 logic outputs, 6 DR remote ports and 2 RAD ports. DSP processing includes Zone processor, Emergency page, 5-band Parametric EQ, High and low-cut filters and Compression. See EXP3x Device.
• EXP5x is a 12 Mic/Line-Plus input & DSP expander for the HAL1x. It also supplies four DR ports useful for adding source selection and/or volume control remotes such as the DR3. See EXP5x Device.
• EXP7x is an 8-channel Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) DSP expander for the HAL1x. See EXP7x Device.

Expansion Units connect to HAL1x via a shielded CAT 5e (or better) cable. Additional expansion units connect to each other in a daisy-chain fashion, also using shielded CAT 5e cables and shielded RJ-45 connectors. When used between EXPs, CAT 5e has a maximum cable length of 100 meters (300 feet). This allows you to place expansion units relatively far away from the HAL1x or from each other, depending on your application needs.

Latency hops on the bus are 750 nanoseconds per hop through each EXP. Thus, daisy-chaining 32 Expanders, the max, results in a maximum latency of 24 microseconds. See the Latency graphic below to add up the latency of any given path through the HAL1x, EXPs, RADs, the DSPs and converters.

To extend farther than 100 meters, the HAL1x expansion bus is compatible with unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet Media Converters where multi-mode optical fiber allows a maximum distance of 1 km (0.6 miles) and single-mode allows 12 km (7.5 miles) between each EXP device.

In addition to connecting the physical Expansion Unit hardware to your HAL device, you must also add the Expansion Unit to your HAL configuration.

note: You can connect a maximum of thirty-two Expansion Units to a HAL1x device using a daisy-chain configuration.