Janusz Zalewski / International Journal of Computing, 15(2) 2016, 92-106 Print ISSN 1727-6209
[email protected] On-line ISSN 2312-5381 www.computingonline.net International Journal of Computing FROM CAMAC TO WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS AND TIME- TRIGGERED SYSTEMS AND BEYOND: EVOLUTION OF COMPUTER INTERFACES FOR DATA ACQUISITION AND CONTROL. PART I Janusz Zalewski Dept. of Software Engineering, Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA
[email protected], http://www.fgcu.edu/zalewski/ Abstract: The objective of this paper is to present a historical overview of design choices for data acquisition and control systems, from the first developments in CAMAC, through the evolution of their designs operating in VMEbus, Firewire and USB, to the latest developments concerning distributed systems using, in particular, wireless protocols and time-triggered architecture. First part of the overview is focused on connectivity aspects, including buses and interconnects, as well as their standardization. More sophisticated designs and a number of challenges are addressed in the second part, among them: bus performance, bus safety and security, and others. Copyright © Research Institute for Intelligent Computer Systems, 2016. All rights reserved. Keywords: Data Acquisition, Computer Control, CAMAC, Computer Buses, VMEbus, Firewire, USB. 1. INTRODUCTION which later became international standards adopted by IEC and IEEE [4]-[7]. The design and development of data acquisition The CAMAC standards played a significant role and control systems has been driven by applications. in developing data acquisition and control The earliest and most prominent of those were instrumentation not only for nuclear research, but applications in scientific experimentation, which also for research in general and for industry as well arose in the early sixties of the previous century, [8].