A data acquisition work station for ORELA (Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator)

A new multiparameter data acquisition system has been developed and fabricated at the Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator (ORELA) which utilizes an IBM PS/2 Model 80 personal computer and data handler with a 2048 word buffer. The acquisition system can simultaneously acquire data from one, two, or three digitizers, multiplex up to four detectors, read and control up to 16 scalers, and output 32 DC logic signals which can be used to control external instrumentation. Software has been developed for the OS/2 operating system, supporting multiparameter data storage for up to three million channels with the capability of collecting data in a background mode, to make the computer available for other tasks while collecting data. The system also supports multiparameter biasing and can collect, crunch, and store data at rates as high as 30,000 events per second.