Compact 64 Channel Fault Monitor

A synchrotron light source has hundreds of dedicated magnet power supplies. Fault finding on such a system can be very time consuming. In order to help solve this problem, D-TACQ provides a powerful, compact and cost-effective multi-channel fault monitor. For example, ACQ1002R shipped with 2 x ACQ435ELF-32 digitizers provides 64 channels of precision 24 bit resolution monitoring in one self-contained, networked 1U, half-shelf package. In fault-monitor configuration, the intelligent digitizer captures all channels to a circular memory buffer at full sample rate. Low rate averages, as well as periodic full rate snap shot waveforms updates are provided, and the unit can operate in this state indefinitely, maybe for weeks at a time. After the fault, indicated by an external digital trigger, the capture comes to a halt and the monitor displays the full rate data set for the period surrounding the trigger. The user has full control of sample rate (to 128kSPS/channel), pre-trigger length and post-trigger length. Capture depths up to 512MB are supported - in the 64 channel case, 2M samples or about 20s at full rate. After the shot, the unit can be set to automatically restart - the capture data is broadcast to all network clients, then monitoring resumes with minimum down-time. All data and controls are published on the network using the EPICS Channel Access protocol, and a full CSS gui application is provided, no programming required. For users who may want more programmability and to incorporate the monitor in their own system, instrument control and data is also accessible directly using standard TCP/IP sockets and a simple ascii command set. Data is also accessible using standard network interfaces to MDSplus, FTP and NFS. The same functionality can be provided cost-effectively in systems from 8 to 192channels in a single box. Multiple boxes can be chained together to create massive simultaneous systems. Currently, the trigger is a simple digital input (an external "trip" signal), however analog threshold crossing triggers will be supported in future. D-TACQ manufactures a range of off-the-shelf high performance data acquisition hardware modules and systems. The systems are highly programmable and can be adapted to meet many requirements.

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