DAPcell Network DAP Servers Log to Disk at 50M Samples/Sec; DAPcell Local DAP Server Introduced.

Business Editors, Technology Writers

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 16, 2000

See also 195-Word Editorial Overview At the End of This Release

Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor boards and network products for these DAP boards, today announced a significant upgrade: its DAPcell software now allows high-speed disk logging on DAPcell server PCs.

DAPcell servers -- introduced in November 1996 -- run on PCs that contain one or more DAP boards. These servers provide easily accessed data acquisition services to other PC software: DASYLab, LabVIEW, HP VEE, Visual Basic, and so on, running either on the server PC or on remote PCs running DAPcell client software. In May 1999, the company published benchmark results for data transfers between DAPcell servers and DAPcell clients on PCs elsewhere on a network. Software on the client PC requested acquired data across the network, and then logged data to disk at the client PC. With this approach, the capacity of the network limits the overall logging rate. The new upgrade removes this limitation. It allows each server PC to log to disk at a sustained 4.9M samples per second. And this feature scales up: a single DAPcell client can control several DAPcell servers logging to disk at an overall rate of 50M samples per second or more, sustained until the application runs out of disk space. (See Note to the Editor at the end of this release.) Furthermore, the company supplies an optional separate cable to synchronize sampling across DAPcell servers, so a customer can choose to log to disk at an overall rate of 50M samples per second, synchronized over hundreds of channels.

Microstar Laboratories also now ships a DAPcell server as either a DAPcell Network DAP Server, or a DAPcell Local DAP Server. The two servers have a single difference: a DAPcell Local DAP Server provides services to a DAPcell client on the same PC; a DAPcell Network Server provides services as well to any DAPcell client on the same network. Each DAPcell server, implemented as a Windows NT or Windows 95/98 service on a PC containing one or more DAP boards, provides low-level control for those DAP boards and their associated I/O.

A network -- dedicated to data acquisition and control, or shared with other applications -- may include as many DAPcell Network DAP Server PCs as needed. The pattern of DAPcell Network DAP Servers on a network can fit the pattern of work cells and test cells found in a factory or laboratory. A user exercises high-level control of any combination of networked DAPcell servers through a familiar interface: industry-standard or customized data acquisition software on any Windows NT or Windows 95/98 PC running a DAPcell client anywhere on the network -- even on a notebook PC that has just logged on. Microstar Laboratories makes no additional charge for an unlimited DAPcell client license.

Every model in the entire range of DAP boards has its own onboard intelligence implemented as DAPL, a multitasking real-time operating system optimized for high-performance real-time data acquisition and control applications. All current DAP models have onboard 32-bit processors and include DAPL 2000 -- a full 32-bit implementation of DAPL. DAPL runs a data acquisition application on a DAP, free from any delays imposed by Windows NT or by other programs running on the PC at the same time.

Customers can implement real-time data acquisition and process control functions in 32-bit code. This code runs on a DAP in a remote DAPcell Network DAP Server PC with real-time response. A user interface on a DAPcell client PC anywhere on the network can control any number of DAPcell servers. User interface packages, like DASYLab, LabVIEW, and HP VEE, run unchanged on DAPcell client PCs. The network is transparent to the application: selecting a DAP is as easy as selecting a printer.

Instead of using standard software, customers may develop their own user interfaces 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). With DAPtools OCX, setting just one property in a dialog box selects the DAP -- anywhere on the network. Again, the network is transparent to the application.

Like Windows NT itself, Windows NT networks are not real-time systems. But many users of Windows NT systems and networks require real-time data acquisition and control, and for them Data Acquisition Processor boards and software from Microstar Laboratories present a ready-made solution at off-the-shelf prices.

Windows NT uses up a lot of cycles on the PC platform, and when it takes control of the CPU it holds on to it for a long time -- in real-time terms. In measuring or controlling a real-time process, computing power has to be available when needed. If an application cannot access computing power at a certain time, it drops readings and corrupts measurements . . . or loses control of a process. A DAP solves this problem with its onboard intelligence. Onboard intelligence deals up front with the critical parts of any application -- the parts that run in real time.

With external expansion boards, a single DAP board can acquire 512 analog inputs and 128 digital inputs; it can control 66 analog outputs and 1024 digital outputs. A single DAPcell server PC can support up to 7 DAP boards as standard, and up to 14 as a special order. Each DAPcell server PC can, if needed, manage an integrated data acquisition and control system with several thousand synchronized channels. The onboard intelligence built into every DAP board handles all the low-level real-time operations, and leaves the DAPcell server PC free for supervisory control -- and free to provide data acquisition and process-control services at the request of a DAPcell client.

DAPcell software is available now. A DAPcell network license -- unlimited DAPcell servers on a single LAN -- on a network costs $495; this license includes unlimited connected DAPcell clients. The software tools bundle, DAPtools Professional, includes this product. A DAPcell Local DAP Server license costs $95; this license includes the associated DAPcell client. The software tools bundle, DAPtools Standard, includes this product. DAPtools OCX for custom programming costs $95. Either DAPtools bundle includes this product. A suitable Data Acquisition Processor board costs from $1595. Microstar Laboratories provides backplane-equipped, rack-mountable industrial enclosures for external expansion boards. A full-size 19" industrial enclosure -- with 20 available slots -- costs from $895, backplane included. For more information, call toll-free 1-888-MSTARLABS (678-2752), e-mail [e-mail], or visit www.mstarlabs.com.

Editorial Overview:

Microstar Laboratories today announced an integrated high-speed disk logging service for its DAPcell server software. A DAPcell server controls one or more Data Acquisition Processor (DAP) boards on a PC, and provides easily accessed data acquisition services to other PC software: DASYLab, LabVIEW, HP VEE, Visual Basic, etc. This other software can run on the same PC or on a networked PC that has DAPcell client software installed. Before the new upgrade, a remote DAPcell client had to receive data across the network to log it to disk, so network capacity limited the sustained logging rate. Benchmarks of the newly integrated service show that a single server can acquire and log data to disk at a sustained rate of 4.9M samples/sec. A client PC anywhere on the network can request this service from several (optionally synchronized) servers for aggregate logging rates of more than 50M samples/sec. DAPcell Network DAP Server software costs $495 for unlimited copies on a single LAN. DAPcell Local DAP Server software, identical except for network access, costs $95. Customers usually receive both products for less as part of a software bundle. DAPcell client software is free. All DAPcell products are available now.

Note to the Editor:

50M Samples per Second

As noted in the text, a single DAPcell server PC can support up to 7 DAP boards as standard. In the benchmark server, Microstar Laboratories used 4 DAP boards, each with an overall data acquisition rate of 1228.8k samples per second, and logged to disk at the full acquisition rate: 4.9152M samples per second. A single DAPcell client PC, requesting the disk logging service from 11 servers configured like the benchmark server, then can log to disk at an overall rate of 54.0672M samples per second.

Trademark Statement

Microstar Laboratories, Data Acquisition Processor, DAP, DAPcell, DAPL, DAPL 2000 and DAPtools OCX are trademarks of Microstar Laboratories, Inc.

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

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.

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.