Data Acquisition and Analysis

ACI has been involved in the development of various customer specific hardware and software, including data acquisition systems and computer network systems. These systems include a traditional A/D converter-based discrete channel data acquisition system and an image processing system.

The computer platforms used for data acquisition and analysis vary from PC-based embedded controllers, desktop PC's, Macintosh series computers, UNIX based workstations and mid-range main frames to super computers such as the CRAY.

This is a 16-channel data acquisition and transmission system. It includes the analog front-end processor which consists of a sensor excitation module, instrument amplifiers and anti-aliasing filters (16 channels each). It also includes a digital processor consisting of a PC/104 CPU, analog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converterts, discrete I/O, and high-speed serial communication system. Within its compact package, it has the capability of acquiring, processing and transmitting the data to a remote location.

This shows an application of the embedded data acquisition and transmission system to a rotating frame system. It employs a defused infrared optical data transmission system and magnetic power transmission to and from the rotating frame. With the combination of the optical data transmission and magnetic power transmission, it completely eliminates traditional elecro-mechanical slip rings. (U.S. Patent no. 5,691,687.)

Photographs courtesy of NASA