COST EFFECTIVE, HIGH PERFORMANCE TRANSIENT RECORDER SYSTEMS,UTILIZING THE LATEST ADC'S, S/H'S, MEMORIES AND PLA'S

THERE ARE AT PRESENT A LARGE NUMBER OF CAMAC MODULES DESIGNED FOR TRANSIENT RECORDER WORK. WHILE THESE PROVIDE ADMIRABLE TECHNICAL QUALITIES THEY ALSO PRESENT SOME FORMIDABLE PROBLEMS. THE BIGGEST OF THESE ARE THEIR HIGH PRICES AND THE AMOUNT OF CRATE SPACE THEY REQUIRE. THE PRICE PROBLEM COMES INTO PLAY AT SPEEDS ABOVE 1MHZ SINCE THESE MODULES USE FLASH CONVERTERS THAT ARE VERY EXPENSIVE. THE OTHER FEATURE ASSOCIATED WITH RECORDERS IS THEIR MEMORY REQUIREMENTS, WHICH ARE USUALLY SUBSTANTIAL. THESE MODULES WERE DEISGNED WITH 4K AND 16K MEMORIES, THE END RESULT BEINGLARGE, EXPENSIVE MODULES. IN THE LAST FEW YEARS COMMERCIAL INTEREST IN COMPUTERS AND DIGITAL TRANSMISSION AND DISPLAY OF ANALOG DATA HAS EXPANDED TREMENDOUSLY. AS A RESULT, MANY OF THE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS THAT COULD BE USED IN TRANSIENT RECORDERS ARE IMPROVING RAPIDLY. IN ADDITION, ANOTHER DEVICE THAT WILL HAVE A GREAT EFFECT ON CAMAC MODULES IN GENERAL IS THE PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC ARRAY (PLA). IT WILL PROVIDE COMMAND DECODING AT A GREAT SAVINGS IN BOARDSPACE, WHILE IN ADDITION OFFERING MORE SOPHISTICATED COMMANDSTRUCTURES. FEW OF THESE ADVANTAGES HAVE BEEN USED IN RECORDER MODULES. THE USE OF MEMORY MODULES WITH 16 TIMES THE CAPACITY, ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS (ADC'S) AT A TENTH OF THE COST AND WITH MUCH LOWER POWER LEVELS, DECODINGAND PROGRAMMING WITH PLA'S ALL OFFER ENORMOUS POSSIBILITIES FOR RECORDER MODULES AND SYSTEMS. IN SITUATIONS THAT REQUIRED RECORDERS BEFORE, THEY COULD NOT ALWAYS BE JUSTIFIED BECAUSE OF THEIR COST AND DENSITY. UTILIZING THESE NEW DEVICES, RECORDER SYSTEMS WOULD BECOME A MUCH MOREPRACTICAL SOLUTION. THIS STUDY IS TO EVALUATE THESE NEW DEVICES WITH REGARD TO THEIR PERFORMANCE AND HOW THEY COULD BEST BE USED IN TRANSIENT RECORDER MODULES, BOTH IN CAMAC AND FASTBUS. TOGETHER WITH INFORMATION FROM USERS IN SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, SPECIFICATIONS FOR A SERIES OF MODULESWOULD RESULT.