New DA Board Aims at Speed and High Resolution

By DE Editors

A new high-end data acquisition processor (DAP) board from Microstar Laboratories(Bellevue, WA) is said to offer 16-bit data acquisition at up to 500ksamples per second, and converts one million values per second with16-bit resolution on each of two onboard analog outputs. The DAP5216a/627, powered by a 400MHz CPU, provides "fast and significant"processing under Windows.

The DAP 5216a/627 includes 16 analog inputs, 2 analog outputs, 16digital inputs, and 16 digital outputs. External rack-mounted hardwarecan extend these channel counts to 512, 66, 128, and 1024 respectively.The maximum digital input and output rates are both 2M samples persecond on all sixteen channels each way, even when runningconcurrently. The onboard AMD K6-III+ processor provides real-timeprocessing and low latency (0.1 ms task time quantum) for fast response.

According to a press release, the DAP board provides systems with anadditional processor running a real-time operating system that can becontrolled from a Windows application. It is viewed as freeingapplications from system delays and enabling the application ofcomputing power when and where needed. Users can sample data andcontrol a process anywhere at any time.

DAP boards acquire data, converting analog signals into digital values.These digital values stream through conceptual pipes on the board thatcan be set up ahead of time using DAPstudio. The onboard processorperforms any required operations as it transfers data from pipe topipe. Users can choose these onboard operations from among more than100 commands available in DAPL. A typical application might require sixor seven. The commands issued to DAPL configure the DAP for theapplication, determine what low-level tasks the board will perform, andhow it will respond with any control signals required.

At each step in the application development process, DAPstudio presentsthe next step as both obvious and compelling. At the end of the sessiondocumentation is automatically produced that defines the application,which can then be run from any PC on a network without the need forcustom programming or other software. If desired, however, the boardcan be configured and controlled using LabVIEW, MATLAB, C++, VB, andother applications that allow DLL calls.

Price: $3,995. DAPstudio costs $199. The company providesunrestricted versions of both hardware and software for evaluation atno charge. For more information and downloads, visit mstarlabs.com.

Sources: Press materials received from the company. Additional information gleaned from the company's website.