CHARM I/O Cards (CIOCs) are simplex or redundant cards that process signals from up to 96 configurable channels called CHARMs and make the CHARMs' signals available to multiple S-series controllers over the DeltaV Control Network. A CIOC is connected to the control network through a CIOC Carrier that also provides power distribution to the CIOCs for signal processing and communications. CHARMs are installed on carriers called CHARM Baseplates. Up to eight CHARM Baseplates can be connected to one CIOC Carrier holding redundant CIOCs. The connected CIOC Carrier and CHARM Baseplates form a continuous redundant power and communications bus.
In the DeltaV Explorer, you can create a CIOC placeholder to configure the CIOC offline before it is connected and then commission a physical CIOC to the placeholder. When you commission the CIOC, the system can autosense the CIOC's CHARMs and reconcile the installed CHARMs to the configured channels.