1.22 Million Samples per Second; Anti-Aliasing Filters, 16-Bit Resolution, 8 Simultaneous Channels.BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 1999-- Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor boards, today announced a new specialized DAP board for the PCI bus PCI bus - Peripheral Component Interconnect : a high-performance, 8-channel, 16-bit resolution, data acquisition board for those PC-based systems that need anti-aliasing filters. The board, model number iDSC 1816, has onboard filters that combine the best analog techniques with proprietary digital filter algorithms -- implemented on two 80 MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. digital signal processors controlled by an onboard general purpose 32-bit processor and supported by 16 MB of onboard memory. The board acquires data at up to 153.6K samples per second per channel, and filters signals for all forms of spectral analysis Spectral analysis may refer to:
The iDSC 1816 has these important features: -- data acquisition with 16-bit resolution, optical isolation, and anti-aliasing -- 8 differential inputs with simultaneous sampling and independent filters -- onboard filters with flat passbands, linear phase, and steep roll-off -- wide-ranging cut-off frequencies up to 61.44 kHz, selectable by channel -- expansion to 112 simultaneous channels in one PC This combination of features brings to PC-based systems the virtual brick-wall filters needed for critical results in spectral analysis applications that, like sonar, require high accuracy over several channels. Applications that monitor vibrating vibrating, v using quivering hand motions made across the client's body for therapeutic purposes. and rotating assemblies in the automotive, aerospace, and power generation industries have similar requirements. Analog filter boards -- paired with separate data acquisition boards -- sometimes produce questionable results. The new combined boards provide much better filters, and bring with them none of the tech support problems that tend to come with all-analog filters. The built-in filters on the new data acquisition boards from Microstar Laboratories have 96 dB stopband A stopband is a band of frequencies, between specified limits, in which a circuit, such as a filter or telephone circuit, does not let signals through. Frequencies between the lower and upper limits are not transmitted. rejection; and they can attenuate To reduce the force or severity; to lessen a relationship or connection between two objects. In Criminal Procedure, the relationship between an illegal search and a confession may be sufficiently attenuated as to remove the confession from the protection afforded by the a signal by this much within one quarter-octave of the passband pass·band n. The range of frequencies transmitted by a bandpass filter. . With this attenuation Loss of signal power in a transmission. Attenuation The reduction in level of a transmitted quantity as a function of a parameter, usually distance. It is applied mainly to acoustic or electromagnetic waves and is expressed as the ratio of power densities. , signals in the stopband are rejected right down to the sixteenth bit. Graphical software components let users change the shape of the response curve for a filter until it exactly matches what they want. They then can attach that filter to one or more channels, or they even can design a different filter for each channel -- by changing the response curve for each filter. DSCview -- a program provided with the board -- includes these graphical software components, as do drivers for industry-standard PC software: HP VEE HP VEE - Hewlett-Packard Visual Engineering Environment , LabVIEW, DASYLab, and DIAdem diadem, in ancient times, the fillet of silk, wool, or linen tied about the head of a king, queen, or priest as a distinguishing mark. Later, it was a band of gold, which gave rise to the crown. In heraldry, the diadem is one of the arched bars that support the crown. . Like these other programs, DSCview configures the iDSC 1816 for data acquisition, and also acquires, graphs, and logs data. iDSC boards, like all Data Acquisition Processor (DAP) boards from Microstar Laboratories, have onboard intelligence: a multitasking multitasking Mode of computer operation in which the computer works on multiple tasks at the same time. A task is a computer program (or part of a program) that can be run as a separate entity. real-time operating system (operating system) Real-Time Operating System - (RTOS) Any operating system where interrupts are guaranteed to be handled within a certain specified maximum time, thereby making it suitable for control of hardware in embedded systems and other time-critical applications. running on a 32-bit processor. On iDSC boards this onboard intelligence automatically performs data reduction after over-sampling. This means that, compared with solutions used up to now, the new boards allow much greater potential for real-time processing Noun 1. real-time processing - data processing fast enough to keep up with an outside process real-time operation data processing - (computer science) a series of operations on data by a computer in order to retrieve or transform or classify information on the PC with industry-standard PC software. And iDSC boards make possible major new advances in custom-built, PC-based, real-time systems. These systems usually have at least two or three main hardware components: an iDSC board, a PC, and maybe a DAP board in the same PC. The iDSC board and the DAP board, each controlled through a DLL (1) See data link layer. (2) (Dynamic Link Library) An executable program module in Windows that performs one or more functions at runtime. DLLs are not launched by the user; they are called for by an executable program or by other DLLs. by custom code on the PC, handle critical real-time filtering, data reduction, and control functions, and leave the PC available for the user interface -- and for other tasks that do not require dependable sub-millisecond responses. Developers also have access to the graphical software components for filter design -- so they can easily build that part of the user interface into their custom systems. Any combination of up to 14 iDSC and DAP boards can run as a single system in the same PC. A network may contain any number of these PCs. With optional Microstar Laboratories DAPcell software, any PC on the network may access and control these boards elsewhere on the network for a truly distributed real-time system. The iDSC 1816 data acquisition board costs $3995, DSCview included. Microstar Laboratories can take orders now, for immediate delivery. For more information, call toll-free 1-888-MSTARLABS (678-2752), e-mail info@mstarlabs.com, or visit www.mstarlabs.com. Editorial Overview: Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor boards, today announced a new specialized PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). DAP board with 16-bit resolution and 1.2M samples/sec throughput for Windows (NT, 98, 95) systems. The new board, the iDSC 1816, applies 8 onboard first-stage analog filters to its 8 simultaneous inputs, followed by digital filtering on two DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive chips, and this provides 96dB (sixteenth bit) stopband rejection within one quarter-octave. Performance like this really matters in sonar and in other spectral analysis applications: monitoring vibrating and rotating assemblies in the automotive, aerospace, and power generation industries, for example. The user controls the board with a graphical interface, either locally or across a network. An onboard 32-bit operating system controls real-time filtering under the direction of HP VEE, LabVIEW, DASYLab, DIAdem, or other software, free from PC-related, or network-related, delays. Price: $3995; availability: immediate. Note to the Editor: Microstar Laboratories, Inc. claims Microstar Laboratories, Data Acquisition Processor, DAP, DAPcell, iDSC, iDSC 1816, and DSCview as trademarks. Microsoft Corporation has registered Microsoft, Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, 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. GfS mbH Aachen claims DIAdem 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. |
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