Network-Ready Data Acquisition
Development Software Preloaded
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Bellevue, WA, October 8, 2008 -- Microstar Laboratories, Inc., maker of Data Acquisition Processor (DAP) boards, today announced new DAPserver 500 test, measurement, and control products. DAPserver 500 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 500 and DAPserver 500R 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 500R uses the same components as the DAPserver 500, 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) expansion boards that typically pre-process a signal. A DAPserver can contain up to ten of these boards, and it can connect to many more in other rack-mounted industrial enclosures. Most Microstar Laboratories expansion boards multiplex inputs or outputs to or from DAP boards. Many perform additional functions. And every new board now made is intelligent – it communicates with, and can be configured by, the onboard intelligence of the DAP connected to it. These new boards perform any signal conversion required and connect to a digital backplane preinstalled in the 10-slot Eurocard cage in a DAPserver.
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
The bullet point above on isolation refers to isolation from high voltage and power. The new – intelligent – boards all include the level of isolation required to prevent ground loops. Using these boards saves you from having to take other steps against this common nuisance. If spurious currents are corrupting your signals, your application is not doing the job you want it to do.
To find out more about expansion boards, select Products | Signal Interfaces 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: use an Ethernet cable to connect a laptop, or connect the DAPserver to a network and use any PC on the network. You also can work directly on the DAPserver: add a screen, and connect a keyboard and mouse to the front-panel USB ports.
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. DAPserver 500 models are available now for immediate delivery. Contact Microstar Laboratories for more information.
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Editorial Overview:
You 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 500 test, measurement, and control products. There is space in the DAPserver enclosure for up to four DAP boards and up to ten signal-interfacing boards. You can start development right away by connecting a laptop and using the preloaded software. Or add a monitor and connect a keyboard and mouse to the front-panel USB ports. The system provides real-time response free from local or network-related delays. DAPserver 500 models are 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 500 from Microstar Laboratories.
Microstar Laboratories, Inc. claims Microstar Laboratories, Data Acquisition Processor, DAP, DAPcell, and DAPserver as trademarks. Microsoft has registered 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.