COST-EFFECTIVE REAL-TIME DATA ACQUISITION AND CONTROL WITH 100+ BUILT-IN COMMANDS AND 14-BIT RESOLUTION Released 16 May 2000 Microstar Laboratories, the specialist designer and manufacturer of Data Acquisition Processor boards, has announced its new, low-cost PCI DAP board, the 14-bit resolution DAP 840/103 for 32-bit local or networked real-time processing. It has onboard intelligence implemented as DAPL 2000, a 32-bit multitasking real-time operating system that runs on an onboard processor; the user controls this from any Windows (NT, 98, 95) local or networked machine. The DAP 840/103 provides eight analogue and eight digital onboard inputs and two analogue and eight digital onboard outputs. The analogue input channels sample at an overall 800k samples per second, and the eight digital input channels at an overall rate of 800k words per second. The two analogue output channels each can run at 400k updates per second for an overall 800k updates per second, and the eight digital output channels update at an overall 800k words per second. A/D input resolution is 14-bit for its eight analogue channels, and D/A resolution is 12-bit for its two analogue outputs. The board has 8MB of onboard memory for data buffers, and uses DMA bus mastering to transfer data to the PC. Many users require real-time performance from their systems and also want to use familiar industry standard Windows-compatible interfaces to their systems: HP VEE, LabVIEW, DASYLab, Visual Basic, etc. For these users, Data Acquisition Processor boards and driver software from Microstar Laboratories present a ready-made solution: users can stay with the interface software they prefer and they can also have the real-time performance the system requires for non corrupt data acquisitions. DAPL 2000 supervises data acquisition and process control free from any resource demands imposed by Windows or by other programs running on the PC at the same time. DAPtools OCX is also available for applications written in Borland Delphi or Microsoft Visual Basic (32-bit). Designing a data acquisition and control application involves specifying exactly how the DAP 840 has to behave during the application. DAPL 2000 provides over 100 easy-to-use commands: typically, an application can require as few as six task-definition commands. Command categories include DSP filtering and spectral analysis, sensor conditioning, software triggering and process control. A list of all categories is available at http://www.mstarlabs.com/software/daplcmmd.html. *** Ends: body copy 361 words *** Notes to Editors. Photograph supplied. For further information contact: Microstar Laboratories contact: Barry Towner Microstar Laboratories Limited tel: + 44 (0)1784 471313 fax: + 44 (0)1784 471919 e-mail: dewetron@btinternet.com Web: www.mstarlabs.com Agency contact: Nigel May Parkfield Parkfield House, Damerham, Hants, SP6 3HQ tel: + 44 (0)1725 518321 fax: + 44 (0)1725 518378 e-mail: Nigel_May@parkfield.co.uk Microstar products make real-time, high-speed data acquisition and control on a PC possible. The company manufactures a range of Data Acquisition Processor (DAP() Boards and systems for PC based data acquisition. The boards have the unique feature of an on-board independent processor, enabling them to work independently from the host PC, free from the delays that are caused by the Windows operating system. Products are available in ISA/PCI format and are compatible with most industry standard software packages. Typical Industry applications are monitoring, test systems, vibration, sound and rotating machinery and process control.