I/O Channels

An Input or Output (I/O) channel is an input or output point within an I/O module that connects to a sensor or a control device in an industrial system. Each channel handles a single signal, for example, a voltage, current or digital pulse, representing data such as, temperature, flow or motor status. Channel assignments allocate automatically when you install a module, and depending on the type of signal they process, can be analog or digital. A module contains multiple channels, allowing it to interface with several field devices simultaneously, for example, an AI3 analog input module has three channels for connecting to different sensors.

Note - You can only access this screen if you have the Can access I/O Channels permission. If you need to access this screen and cannot, please contact your system administrator.

After the I/O modules are physically installed and added to the EPM Data user interface, you can configure their individual channels. The following I/O channel types are available:

Analog Input channels, see Configuring an Analog Input Channel for details.
Digital Input channels, see Configuring a Digital Input Channel for details.
Digital Output or Relay channels, see Configuring a Digital or Relay Output Channel for details.

See Installation for details on physically installing I/O modules on the device and I/O Modules for details on managing I/O modules on a local cluster.

Last update - April 2026