1. What is GPIO?

GPIO stands for General Purpose Input/Output. It’s a standard interface used to connect microcontrollers to other electronic devices and circuits.It means General I/O Port.

In embedded systems,usually it requires a simple structure to control electronic devices and circuits.Some devices are controlled by CPU,while others need to be controlled by the signal input from CPU of IPC.Furthermore,many electronic devices only require ON/OFF configuration,like Lighting and Led Lighting.It’s complicate to control these devices with traditional serials or parallel ports.So Embedded Microprocessor will often provide”General Programmable I/O port or GPIO”.

GPIO port requires two registers at least,one is for control and another is for data storage.Each bit of the data register is corresponding with pins of GPIO. Each pin can be configured through registers by the host to be an input, output, or bidirectional pin. (The related registers are IOPIN,IOSET,IOCLR,IODIR)

2. What is DIO? 

DIO:Digital Input/Output

DI:Digital Input

DO:Digital Output

DIO: stands for Digital Input and Output. Digital Inputs allow a microcontroller to detect logic states, and Digital Outputs allow a microcontroller to output logic states.DIO is a simple form of interface used in a wide range of systems to effectively relay digital signals from sensors, transducers and mechanical equipment to other electrical circuits and devices.

Communication Function:supports GPRS and short dual-data transmission,support multi-centers data communication

Function:collects data from IPC,for example,serial port,CMS and PLC etc.

Remote Management:supports remote setting and program upgraded 

IPC is used for wireless modules and applied in a wide range of applications,includes Vehicle monitoring,Remote control,Remote sensing,Mini wireless,Wireless meter reading,Door control system,Pager,DAQ,ORFID,HMI, Contactless RFIC,Mini GPRS DTU,Safety and FPS, Meteorological& Hydrological monitoring, Biological signal acquisition,Robot,Wireless 232/485/422,Digital audio and Digital image,etc.

DIO module only work under signal modulation.It can connect to normal fixing code devices easily such as pt2262/2272. Due to particular coding chip,it has a great transmission distance.

3.Difference between DIO and GPIO

The main difference is whether if it’s isolated.GPIO is non-isolated,while DIO is isolated. The most common is GPIO convert to DIO port for 4U IPC. Generally DIO port has internal and external types.The internal port is inside of IPC cabinet,includes LAN,COM and PCIE.The fastest port is PCIE, few meters per second.Then it’s COM, more than ten meters per second.The last one is LAN,more than twenty meters per second.A key consideration when utilizing DIO is power.Nowadays DIO is mainly used for transportation such as Traffic lights, Camera,and so on.