Strategic Test Offers Dual Time Base Option for UltraFast Digitizers
Strategic Test has introduced a new dual time base option for its line of UltraFast(TM) Oscilloscope/Digitizer PCI cards. Called the ABA Mode, this allows the cards to be configured for slow continuous recording, similar to a data logger, switch to high-speed sampling on detection of the trigger event, and then return to slow recording until the next trigger event.
A timestamp is recorded for each trigger event. A pre-trigger can be set so that data is recorded prior to the trigger event at the fast sample rate.
The main uses for the ABA mode are applications that need a recorded history of a process, both leading up to and after the trigger event. For example, safety critical applications and quality testing can require continuous monitoring and high-speed recording in the event of a process or production failure.
While it is possible to pre-define the total number of samples to record so that the measurement card stops by itself, the most common use is likely to be where the measured data is continuously recorded to hard disk for audit trails. The maximum speed that data can be recorded to hard disk is 200 MBytes per second when using a RAID controller coupled to four S-ATA disks.
The slowest and fastest sampling rates that can be selected for the ABA mode are a function of the Digitizer/Oscilloscope card used. Strategic Test offers more than 80 different PCI cards. The minimum sampling rate is 1 kSamples per second on all cards, while maximum sample rates for different cards are:
- 16-bit resolution: 3, 1, 0.5, 0.25 MSamples per second
- 14-bit resolution: 50 or 20 MSampes per second
- 12-bit resolution: 200, 160, 100, 80, 50, 25, 10, 1 MSamples per second
- 8-bit resolution: 200, 100, 50 MSamples per second
Cards are available with between 1 and 16 channels.
The ABA mode is included in an option bundle together with the Multiple Recording (memory segmentation), Gated Sampling (start/stop sample clock by external TTL signal) and the Timestamp option. The price for this combination is $990.
A training presentation of the UF2 ABA option is available.
About Strategic Test
With a product range of more than 150 high-speed Oscilloscope/ Digitizer, Arbitrary Waveform Generator and high-speed Digital I/O PCI, 3U PXI and 6U CompactPCI cards, Strategic Test Corporation is one of the leading suppliers of high-speed PC-based instruments. The UltraFast cards are designed at the R&D facility in northern Germany and distributed through our offices in Woburn (MA) and Stockholm (Sweden).
The first high-speed measurement card for PC's was designed in 1989. The UF2 series based on the PCI-X 66 MHz/32-bit PCI bus is the forth generation and sets new standards in onboard memory size, data transfer rates and user flexibility. Strategic Test's clients include global electronics, semiconductor, defense, telecommunications and medical instrument companies, government funded research labs and universities in five continents.
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