INTRODUCTION
The Q-SYS™ I/O-8 Flex channel expander adds a multitude of expansion capabilities to the Q-SYS Platform in a compact, PoE+ capable networked peripheral that can be remotely located wherever the I/O is required. The I/O-8 Flex Channel Expander features eight “Flex channels” (a QSC exclusive technology), which allows each channel to be configured via software as either a mic/line input with phantom power, or a line level output. Additionally, the I/O-8 Flex channel expander offers audio-to-USB bridging for integration with soft-codec applications running on any host PC as well as control connectivity via GPIO and RS232.
APPLICATIONS – MEETING ROOMS AND CONFERENCE SPACES
When deployed under the table, the I/O-8 Flex channel expander provides a single network cable solution with sufficient analog I/O to accommodate up to eight phantom powered microphones around the table. In addition to that, the onboard GPIO can be used to provide Push-to-Talk or Push-to-Mute functionality as well as microphone LED status. For situations where laptop PC’s are being used for soft-codec conferencing using applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WebEx, etc., the onboard USB device port can be used to provide USB-toaudio bridging direct to the PC via driverless USB connectivity.
APPLICATIONS - RACK MOUNT I/O EXPANDER
For those situations where unexpected inputs and outputs are required late in the design phase, the I/O-8 Flex channel expander is a perfect solution. The eight Flex channels can be reconfigured via software at design or run-time to behave as either a fully balanced mic/line input offering phantom power or as a line level output. Single channel granularity allows the user to configure any combination of inputs / outputs from 8 x 0 through to 0 x 8. Additionally, when used as mic/line Inputs, the eight Flex channels offer microphone fault detection. The onboard RS232 port allows any serial control device to be interfaced with Q-SYS for complete control and monitoring integration.
NETWORK AND POWER
The Q-SYS Platform utilizes IEEE networking standards and solutions for audio, control and video distribution over a standard Ethernet / IP network. Q-LAN provides deterministic system latencies with analog input to analog output guaranteed at 3.167 ms. The Q-SYS Platform uses Q-LAN for audio, video and control connectivity with all Q-SYS peripherals. Additionally, all Q-SYS Cores support VoIP, SIP, LDAP, AES67, TCP/IP and HTTP Web Sockets among many other standard IT and industry protocols. The I/O-8 Flex channel expander offers PoE+ capability for single cable applications.
REDUNDANCY
The Q-SYS I/O-8 Flex channel expander offers dual network ports for redundancy with the ability to send and receive on both ports simultaneously for glitch-free switchover in the event of a network failure.
PERIPHERALS
The I/O-8 Flex channel expander is a Q-SYS peripheral that can be used as part of a Q-SYS system utilizing any Q-SYS Core processor and all other Q-SYS peripheral types including the new Q-SYS AV-to-USB bridging devices. However, the USB device port on the I/O-8 Flex channel expander offers audio bridging.
