Experiment control and data-acquisition system for the biology small-angle x-ray-scattering station

Conference · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:6860284

Stubblefield, F W; Alberi, J L

An experiment control and data acquisition system for experiments to be conducted at the Biology Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Station at the National Synchrotron Light Source is under development. The primary function of the system is to acquire and record x-ray diffraction patterns in time-slice (or time-frame) mode, where the basic average rate of data collection is 10/sup 6/ detected photons/second and the biological process under study can be divided up into approx. 10/sup 1/ to 10/sup 3/ separate time slices. Furthermore, the system must provide external sample stimuli which bring about the biological process and must coordinate these stimuli with the time slices. A multiprocessor system has been designed. The principle behind the system design is to use a commercially available computer system to perform the standard functions associated with experiment control and data acquisition, while partitioning off the non-standard functions onto auxiliary computer processors. This technique has led to a four-processor system in which interprocessor communication is accomplished by means of multiported shared memory module. A discussion of the computer system components, both hardware and software, which make up the system is presented. The description of hardware includes the processors, peripheral devices, and special-purpose hardware components present in the system; the software description covers the computer programs, operating systems, and special-purpose software which execute within the system itself and extends to a brief description of the software utilized to develop experiment control and data acquisition programs for execution on the system. The trends in computer system components and the design philosophy which led to the present choice of components and system structure are emphasized.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 6860284
• Report Number(s): BNL-32175; CONF-821001-37; ON: DE83004631
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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