Focus on Data Acquisition

Gage Applied has announced its CompuScope 82GC waveform digitizer cards for the CompactPCIZPXI bus. The boards, sized in a 6U form factor, can sample analog signals at speeds up to 2 gigasamples per second with 8-bit resolution and store the data in the onboard memory. The CompuScope 82GC incorporates two monolithic A/D converters, each running at 1 GS/s to provide a dual-channel simultaneous sampling rate of 1 GS/s; in the single-channel mode, the two A/D converters are clocked in a back-and-forth mode to achieve twice that rate. The boards are available with memory depths of 2, 8, and 16 megasamples. This memory can be used as a circular buffer for storage of pre- and post-trigger data. The contents of the memory can be transferred to host RAM at sustained rates of up to 80 MB/s. Gage Applied Inc, 2000 32nd Avenue, Lachine, Quebec, Canada H8T 3H7, http://www.gage-applied.com

Circle number 181 on Reader Service Card

Keithley Instruments has introduced two 20-channel switching modules for use with the company’s Integra series data-acquisition/switch platforms. The model 7710 solid-state module is a differential multiplexer with automatic cold-junction compensation for temperature measurement using thermocouples. It uses solid-state relays to reportedly provide a lifetime 100 times longer than mechanical relays and can accommodate signals of up to 60 V and 0.1 A with an insertion loss of less than 3 dB up to 2 MHz. The model 7700 is for users who require a high bandwidth signal path with low insertion loss of less than 3 dB up to 50 MHz; this feature is made possible through the use of latching electromechanical relays. The 7700 can handle signals of up to 300 V and 1.0 A. Keithley Instruments Inc, 28775 Aurora Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44139-1891, http://www.keithley.com

Circle number 182 on Reader Service Card

The modular NI PXI-5660 from National Instruments is a combination of a broadband 2.7-GHz RF digitizer with greater than 80-dB dynamic range and spectral measurement software. The system incorporates a broadband RF downconverter, a high spectral-purity intermediate-frequency digitizer, and the company’s Spectral Measurement Toolkit (SMT) for NI LabVIEW and LabWindows/ CVI. The SMT provides measurements such as power spectrum, peak power and frequency, power-in-band, adjacent channel power, and occupied bandwidth. The combination of the optimized algorithms in the SMT and GHz processing of the PC provides a high measurement throughput. Users can integrate the NI PXI-5660 with other PXI systems from National Instruments and with RF switches, signal sources, digitizers, motion control, and digital imaging from other suppliers. National Instruments Corporation, 11500 North Mopac Expressway, Austin, Texas 78759-3504, http://www.ni.com

Circle number 183 on Reader Service Card

United Electronic Industries has developed the PD-AO-AMP-100, which allows PCs to directly control outputs as high as ±100 V, and at a slew rate on the individual amplifiers that allows the subsystem to keep up with signals that update at rates as fast as 100 kilosamples per second. The AMP-100 ties directly to one of the company’s analog-output cards for the PCI or PXI bus, and it delivers a ±10 mA per channel across 16 channels. Key specifications include 3-mV accuracy, 125 V/µs slew rate, settling time of 3 ms to 0.003%, and 1-MHz gain-bandwidth. Control signals coming from either 16- or 32-channel cards in a PCI or PXI chassis arrive at an AMP-100 over a 96-conductor cable, and 32-channel applications involve a second AMP-100 unit. The PD-AO-AMP-100 is supplied with a free copy of the company’s PowerDAQ Software Suite CD-ROM. United Electronic Industries Inc, 611 Neponset Street, Canton, Massachusetts 02021, http://www.ueidaq.com

Circle number 184 on Reader Service Card

TAL Technologies has announced its Win Wedge Pro RS232 data- acquisition software that provides a data collection program designed for interfacing RS232 and other serial output devices to any Microsoft Windows application. The latest versions of WinWedge support all 32-bit versions of Windows, including 2000, XP, and NT. The software includes five data-acquisition applications to solve a variety of data-collection and communications problems. These are a TCP-wedge that collects data from, and sends data to, TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol) ports from any Windows application; a FILE-wedge that feeds data from an ASCII file into any Windows application; a TCP-corn that converts RS232 to TCP/IP and vice versa; a TCP-file that logs TCP/IP data to file; and a COM-file that logs serial data to file. TAL Technologies Inc, 2027 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19130-3221, http://www.taltech.com

Circle number 185 on Reader Service Card

Acqiris has released the models AP101 and AP201, analyzer cards designed to quickly extract peak information from long or complex signals. The new cards, which combine the functions of both a high-speed digitizer and a peak analyzer, feature dual 500-MHz inputs with either input switched to a fast A/D converter (1 gigasample per second for the AP101 and 2 GS/s for the AP201). The cards are capable of storing data in up to 2 megapoints (8 MP optional) of acquisition memory. Peak analysis is performed on-the-fly by a processing system that measures peak amplitude (repeatability to better than ± 1% of full scale) and position (to 500 ps for the AP201, 1 ns for the AP101) by running advanced peak-fitting algorithms directly on the digitized waveform data. Information can be extracted about either the largest peak or the first peak. Acqiris USA, P.O. Box 2203, 234 Cromwell Hill Road, Monroe, New York 10950-1430, http://www.acqiris.com

Circle number 186 on Reader Service Card

Microstar Laboratories has introduced the DAP 5400a/627, a 14-bit resolution data-acquisition processor board designed for simultaneous sampling at 2 megasamples per second on each of 4 of its 16 channels. The new board has 16 possible signal inputs and 128 MB of onboard memory for data buffers. If an application requires 16 simultaneous inputs, and each input acquires data at 2 MS/s, then four synchronized DAP 5400a/627 boards installed in a single PC can deliver a throughput of 32 MS/s shared by those 16 simultaneous inputs. Hardware and software are available to enable synchronization of two or more boards within the same PC or over a network. The DAP operating system allows real-time work under Microsoft Windows (95, 98, 2000, XP, NT, and ME) and a user interface in Visual Basic, LabVIEW and others. Microstar Laboratories Inc, 2265 116th Avenue NE, Bellevue, Washington 98004, http://www.mstarlabs.com

Circle number 187 on Reader Service Card

Capital Equipment’s webDAQ/100 is a distributed data-acquisition device with built-in Web server and NET and ARM processor. Version 2.1 firmware adds graphing capabilities to the device, which combines data-acquisition hardware, dual processors, 4–12 MB of RAM data storage, and Ethernet and serial interfaces. The new graphing capability works in any Web browser with a single click on the homepage link that brings up a graph window. A custom Web page can display any combination of graphs and current-value displays, along with graphics or text. Customized graph options include auto- or fixed-axis scaling, assignments of channels to graphs, and trace and background colors. Capital Equipment Corporation, 900 Middlesex Turnpike, Building 2, Billerica, Massachusetts 01821, http://www.cec488.com

Circle number 188 on Reader Service Card

The Odyssey XE from Nicolet Instrument Technolgies is a data-acquisition system that is a successor to the company’s Odyssey. The XE can record 32 channels at 100 kilosamples per second each for over an hour, or for much longer times—up to months at lower rates. It features transient capture to 10 megasamples per second and 160 GB of storage. A full family of signal conditioners is available to meet specific channel count and speed requirements; each card records directly on its own large hard disk. Incorporated for each channel are a separate A/D converter and digital signal processor, which provide exact phase matching, digital filtering, and smart triggering. A Pentium III processor runs the company’s analysis software or any other Microsoft Windows applications, even while recording at full speed. Nicolet Instrument Technologies Inc, 5225 Verona Road, Building 4, Madison, Wisconsin 53711-4995, http://www.niti.com

Circle number 189 on Reader Service Card

Datastick Systems has released several new versions of its Datastick Connection DAS-1245 peripheral, which snaps on the Palm Inc Palm Tungsten T handheld platform for measuring and computing. The new versions include Datastick Connection v3.1, its most basic software program, which records and displays measurements in the form of color bar graphs, line graphs, and gauge graphics. The Datastick Connection Plus v3.1 adds an array of user-selectable display, automatic recording, and alarm features. The Datastick Connection Pro v1.1 is best suited for high-speed data acquisition and runs in capture-and-review mode. The DAS-1245/Palm Tungsten T system provides four input channels of 12-bit A/D conversion, one digital input channel, and a switchable power outlet for biasing sensors. Datastick Systems Inc, 275 Saratoga Avenue, Suite 160, Santa Clara, California 95050, http://www.datastick.com

Circle number 190 on Reader Service Card

Amplifier Research has introduced the model 10ST1G18, an air-cooled, broadband, solid-state, and traveling wave tube (TWT) microwave amplifier. It is designed for applications in which low harmonic content is required in sub-band ranges and in which high gain and moderate output power are needed. The 10ST1G18 has an instantaneous frequency range of 0.8–18 GHz in four sub-bands and provides a minimum output of 10 W. A 20-W version, the 20ST1G18, without filters, is available for those users who desire more power but do not require low harmonics. Standard features include an IEEE-488 interface, a gain control, RF output sample port, VSWR protection for the TWT, and monitoring of the TWT’s helix current, heater voltage, and baseplate and cabinet temperatures. Amplifier Research, 160 Schoolhouse Road, Souderton, Pennsylvania 18964-9990, http://www.amplifiers.com

Circle number 191 on Reader Service Card

TeachSpin’s OP1A, an optical pumping apparatus designed for teaching at advanced and graduate laboratory levels, allows instructors to explore with their students the atomic physics of both isotopes of natural rubidium. Using the OP1A, instructors can describe the coupling of a single electronic orbital and spin angular momentum with the nuclear spin angular momentum and the interaction of the coupled system to the external magnetic field. The apparatus includes a light source, detector, detector preamplifier and amplifiers, optical rail, lenses, filters, polarizer, nonmagnetic optically transparent heater, temperature controller, and precision Helmholtz coils connected to stable power supplies. Due to the stability and uniformity of the DC magnetic fields over the sample cell volume, the OP1A allows students to measure hyperfine line widths of less than 1 mG. TeachSpin, 45 Penhurst Park, Buffalo, New York 14222-1013, http://www.teachspin.com

Circle number 192 on Reader Service Card

Yokogawa Corporation of America has announced the WT210 (for single-phase applications) and the WT230 (for three-phase requirements) wideband, digital power analyzers. The power measurement ranges are from 75 mW to 12 kW, and voltage input ranges from 15 to 600 V. Current input ranges are from 5 mA to 20 A, but currents as low as 50 µAAC or DC can be accurately measured with the WT210 for standby power applications. Both instruments make measurements over a frequency range of DC and 0.5 Hz–100 kHz, with a basic accuracy of 0.1%, and include an average power measurement function, a four-function math feature, and an internal memory that will store up to 600 measurements. Variable update rates as fast as 10 readings per second enable the capture of transients such as start-up data and provide a high throughput rate for production testing. Yokogawa Corporation of America, 2 Dart Road, Newnan, Georgia 30265, http://www.yokogawa.com

Circle number 193 on Reader Service Card

The RIKO IR gold image furnace from ULVAC Technologies was developed for ultrahigh-temperature materials testing and analysis. The RIKO radiation heating furnace heats its sample by focusing reflected rays from an IR lamp that consists of a quartz glass tube encompassing a tungsten filament. The furnace produces an energy density and luminous temperature 10 to 15 times as high as conventional heating elements. Temperatures in the RIKO normally reach 900–1500°C, and can reach as high as 1800°C, depending on the model. The furnace body, available in 32 types, including line, tubular, and planar, cools rapidly due to water- and gas-cooling systems. The furnace has been designed to be free of outgassing of the heating element; because it has no heat insulation, it is also free of dust and gas contamination. Ulvac Technologies Inc, 401 Griffin Brook Drive, Methuen, Massachusetts 01844, http://www.ulvac.com

Circle number 194 on Reader Service Card

IOtech’s 2003, 384-page, Data Acquisition and Instrumentation catalog has been released. Several new high-speed Ethernet-based products, such as the 1-MHz Wavebook/516E and the DAQBook/2000/E are included, along with the company’s PointScan family of distributed I/O modules and the DAQBoard/2000 line. Iotech Inc, 25971 Cannon Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44146, http://www.iotech.com

Circle number 195 on Reader Service Card