Real-Time Data Acquisition and Control - 100+ Built-In Commands
14-Bit Resolution for DAP 840
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Bellevue, WA, April 24, 2000 -- Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor boards, today announced a new low-cost PCI DAP board for 32-bit real-time processing: local or remote. The new DAP 840/103 model acquires data with 14-bit resolution. It has onboard intelligence implemented as DAPL 2000: a 32-bit multitasking real-time operating system that runs on an onboard processor; the user controls this from any Windows (2000, NT, 98, 95) system that contains the board. A user also can exercise control remotely from any other Windows (2000, NT, 98, 95) system on the same network.
The DAP 840/103 has 8 onboard analog inputs, 2 onboard analog outputs, 8 onboard digital inputs, and 8 onboard digital outputs. The board has 8 MB of onboard memory for data buffers, and uses DMA bus-mastering to transfer data to the PC from the onboard memory. Onboard intelligence manages this resource to protect an application from random operating system and network delays: DAPL 2000 supervises data acquisition and process control free from any resource demands imposed by Windows or by other programs running on the PC at the same time.
Designing a data acquisition and control application involves specifying exactly how the DAP 840 has to behave during the application. DAPL 2000, the onboard operating system, makes this work easy by providing over 100 easy-to-use commands optimized for data acquisition and control. An application can require as few as six task-definition commands. Command categories include
- DSP -- Filtering
- DSP -- Spectral Analysis
- Sensor Conditioning
- Software Triggering
- Process Control
To see a list of all eleven categories, and to browse through any or all of them, visit https://www.mstarlabs.com/software/dapl/commands.html
When real time means response in milliseconds, the message-driven, event-polling Windows user interface cannot work in real time. Even under Windows NT. So, in that case, neither can programs running under Windows. But many users require real-time performance from their systems -- and from the industry standard Windows-compatible interfaces to their systems: HP VEE, LabVIEW, DASYLab, Visual Basic, etc. For these users, Data Acquisition Processor boards and driver software from Microstar Laboratories present a ready-made solution: users can stay with the software they prefer and they can have the real-time performance they want.
Measuring a real-time process requires computing power on demand. If some polled event has tied up CPU cycles on the PC at that time, then -- without onboard intelligence -- the system loses data and that corrupts measurements. Onboard intelligence deals up front with the critical aspects of any application: the parts that have to run in real time.
DAPL 2000 generates a Windows event when the DAP requires direction from the user interface software on the PC. This allows the PC running Windows to perform in its native, virtual event-driven mode. Meanwhile the DAP keeps monitoring real events in real time where it really matters.
In place of an industry standard interface, or one from Microstar Laboratories, a developer can write a custom user interface in any language that supports DLL calls. Microstar Laboratories also offers DAPtools OCX for applications written in Borland Delphi or Microsoft Visual Basic (32-bit).
The DAP 840/103 model provides 14-bit A/D resolution for its 8 onboard analog inputs, and 12-bit D/A resolution for its 2 onboard analog outputs. The onboard analog input channels sample at an overall 800k samples per second, and the 8 onboard digital input channels sample at an overall rate of 800k words per second. The two onboard analog output channels each can run at 400k updates per second for an overall 800k updates per second, and the 8 onboard digital output channels update at an overall 800k words per second.
The DAP 840/103 is available now. Remote control requires DAPcell Network DAP Server software.
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Editorial Overview:
Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor boards, today announced an entry-level PCI DAP board for real-time processing. The 14-bit resolution DAP 840/103 model -- for Windows (2000, NT, 98, 95) PCs -- has its own 32-bit real-time operating system that the user controls with high-level commands, either locally or across a network: from HP VEE, LabVIEW, DASYLab, Visual Basic, or other Windows applications software. This allows critical processes to run free from PC-related, or network-related, delays. Real-time functions include software triggering, data reduction, filtering, FFT, and PID control. For the full list, visit https://www.mstarlabs.com/software/dapl/commands.html. The DAP 840/103 has 8 analog inputs, 2 analog outputs, 8 digital inputs, and 8 digital outputs. Remote control requires DAPcell Network DAP Server software.
Note to the Editor:
Microstar Laboratories, Inc. claims Microstar Laboratories, Data Acquisition Processor, DAP, DAP 840, DAPL, DAPL 2000, DAPtools OCX and DAPcell as trademarks.
Microsoft Corporation has registered Microsoft, Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows NT as trademarks. DATALOG GmbH & Co. KG claims DASYLab as a trademark. National Instruments Corporation has registered LabVIEW as a trademark. Hewlett-Packard company has registered HP VEE as a trademark. Other product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Microstar Laboratories makes it a practice to use an appropriate symbol at the first occurrence of a trademark or registered trademark name in a document, or to include trademark statements like this with the document.