When your data acquisition application needs fast 16-bit sampling and significant processing under Windows, check out the latest product from Microstar Laboratories
Microstar Laboratories makes data acquisition processor (Dap) boards and systems for data acquisition and control, and has announced a new high-end Dap board, model number Dap 5216a/627, powered by a 400MHz CPU.
The Dap 5216a/627 includes 16 analogue inputs, two analogue outputs, 16 digital inputs, and 16 digital outputs.
External rack-mounted hardware can extend these channel counts to 512, 66, 128, and 1024 respectively.
The board can acquire 16-bit data at up to 500k samples per second, and can convert one million values per second with 16-bit resolution on each of the two onboard analog outputs.
The maximum digital input and output rates are both 2M samples per second on all sixteen channels each way, even when running concurrently.
The onboard AMD K6-III+ processor allows fast real-time processing.
Low latency - 0.1ms task time quantum - delivers fast response.
Onboard Processing.
A Dap board gives your system an additional processor running a real-time operating system - Dapl - that you control from a Windows application.
This extra resource gives you room to make your application even better.
It frees your application from system delays.
It lets you apply computing power when and where needed.
It means you can sample data and control a process anywhere, anytime.
You can analyze spectra in real time.
Your application responds reliably: in time, every time.
Configuring the Dap board.
Dap boards acquire data, converting analog signals into digital values.
These digital values stream through conceptual pipes on the board that you set up ahead of time using Dapstudio, a Windows application.
The onboard processor performs any required operations as it transfers data from pipe to pipe.
Again using Dapstudio, you choose these onboard operations from the more than 100 commands available in Dapl.
A typical application may require six or seven of them.
The commands issued to Dapl determine exactly what low-level tasks the Dap will perform, and how it will respond with any control signals required.
The commands configure the Dap for the application.
Saving the configuration and running your application.
Dapstudio lets you specify Dapl commands by clicking on the appropriate tools as you design the system, and it then lets you save the working configuration as a complete Dap application.
At each step in the development process, the next step presents itself as both obvious and compelling.
At the end of the Dapstudio session you have automatically produced documentation that completely defines your application.
You then can use Dapstudio to run your application - from any PC on a network - with no custom programming and no other vendor software.
Although Dapstudio lets you configure and control any DAP without any other Windows software, you also can do this from Labview, Matlab, and other third-party software.
And from C++, VB, and other applications that allow DLL calls.
The board costs US$3995, and you can order it now for immediate delivery.
Dapstudio costs US$199.
The company provides unrestricted versions of both hardware and software for evaluation at no charge, and you can download a full version of Dapstudio right now.
