|
STRAPLEX senses more, better and faster |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 22 March 2009 |
|
 A new sensor and data acquisition (SDA) system is currently under development.
The core of this new subsystem is a dedicated RISC microcontroller, running an eight input DAC with 10-bit resolution. The new SDA system can provide rates up to 150 samples per second for each channel, pushing STRAPLEX's instrumentation capability to a new standard. The interface of the system is fully differential, which allows reading sensors with negative voltages, such as accelerometers.
In addition to the dedicated firmware running at 5 MIPS on its microcontroller, the SDA also has a new onboard control software, designed to decode and record the data transmitted through its high-speed RS-232 interface.
Some future enhancements of the new SDA have already been identified: these include improvements on the serial communication with the onboard computer, the increase from eight to fourteen analog channels and the update of the firmware to also read digital sensors. |
