Data Acquisition (DAQ) and Control from Microstar Laboratories

Network-Ready Data Acquisition Packaged in a Single Box

Real-Time Response: Free from Local or Network Delays

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marketing@mstarlabs.com

DAPserver 400
Develop and run DAPserver400 applications with DAPstudio

Bellevue, WA, August 29, 2007 -- Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor (DAP) boards, today announced new DAPserver 400 test, measurement, and control products to supersede DAPserver 200 products. DAPserver 400 products combine a 5-slot PCI backplane and a 10-slot Eurocard cage in an industrial-grade chassis. A Pentium M processor runs server software on a board that occupies one of the PCI slots. This software, and the software running on DAP boards themselves, protects your application from local or network-related delays.

The new hardware products, the DAPserver 400 and DAPserver 400R models, each include a SATA hard drive. Both models have front-panel handles suitable for equipment installed in 19-inch industry-standard racks, and arrive fully assembled and ready to connect to a network. The DAPserver 400R uses the same components as the DAPserver 400, built into specially engineered packaging for rugged environments. Microstar Laboratories preloads every DAPserver with all the software you need to start development right away.

Signal Interfacing

DAPserver products conform to the signal-interfacing channel architecture used by Microstar Laboratories: signal connectors on 3U (100mm high) Eurocard B (220mm deep) boards – Eurocards – that often pre-process a signal. A DAPserver can contain up to ten of these Eurocards, and it can connect to many more in other rack-mounted industrial enclosures. Most Microstar Laboratories Eurocards multiplex inputs or outputs to or from DAP boards. Many perform additional functions. The Web site gives the full range, arranged in these eight main function groups:

  • simple termination
  • simple multiplexing
  • anti-alias filtering
  • simultaneous sampling
  • isolation
  • counter/timer
  • quadrature-decoder
  • signal conditioning

To find out more about Microstar Laboratories Eurocards, select Products | Signal Interfacing on the Web site home page.

Start Development Right Away

A DAPserver has Windows software and the DAPtools Professional software package – including full versions of DAPcell network software and DAPstudio development software – preloaded on the hard drive, running on a Pentium M processor board in one of the PCI slots. The remaining four PCI slots can contain any current DAP boards, and Microstar Laboratories provides hardware and software that combines these DAP boards into a single synchronized system. You can start development right away, either from a laptop connected to a port on the DAPserver or from any PC on the network.

Response Times Free from Local or Network-Related Delays

Every DAP board includes an onboard processor running a real-time operating system. Windows applications that support DLL calls can communicate with and control this real-time operating system. And you can communicate with and control a DAP board from DAPstudio – a Windows application from Microstar Laboratories – or from third-party (or your own) software on any PC on the network. DAP boards, in the same or in different DAPservers, also communicate among themselves independently of Windows to synchronize their clocks with one another. They then all work synchronously as a networked data acquisition system running in real time, free from local or network-related delays.

Conclusion and Next Step

If you want a conveniently packaged, network-ready data acquisition system that protects your application from local and network-related delays, and that lets you start development right away, take a look at the latest DAPserver models from Microstar Laboratories. When you visit the company Web site for more information, you also can download a full version of DAPstudio at no charge for an unlimited trial. Trying out DAPstudio on your own PC will give you a sense of how quickly and easily you could develop an application based on one or more DAPservers. To acquire live data you will need at least a DAP board, and the company will provide you with one at no charge for a trial period. The DAPserver 400 is available now. Contact Microstar Laboratories for more information.

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Editorial Overview:

You now can buy network-ready data acquisition server packages based on Pentium M processors and preloaded with Windows and server software. Microstar Laboratories, makers of Data Acquisition Processor (DAP) boards, today announced new DAPserver 400 test, measurement, and control products to supersede the DAPserver 200 series. There is space in the DAPserver enclosure for up to four DAP boards and up to ten signal-interfacing Eurocards. Multiple DAP boards can work together in the same DAPserver or in different DAPservers across a network as a single synchronized system with several hundred channels controlled from any PC on the network. The system provides real-time response free from local or network-related delays. The DAPserver 400 is available now. You can find out more from the company Web site, where you can download a full version of DAPstudio development software at no charge for an unlimited trial. The company also provides hardware at no charge for evaluation.

Note to the Editor:

Microstar Laboratories suggests this text as a caption for the available image:

For a conveniently packaged, network-ready data acquisition system that protects your application from local and network-related delays, and that lets you start development right away, take a look at the new DAPserver 400 from Microstar Laboratories, shown here controlled from DAPstudio. You can download a full version of DAPstudio at no charge for an unlimited trial. Trying out DAPstudio on your own PC will give you a sense of how quickly and easily you could develop an application based on one or more DAPservers.

Microstar Laboratories, Inc. claims Microstar Laboratories, Data Acquisition Processor, DAP, DAPcell, and DAPserver as trademarks.

Microsoft Corporation has registered Microsoft and Windows as a trademark. Other organizations may claim – or may have registered – as trademarks any trade names, logos, and service marks that appear in this document but not in the list above.

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.