Real-time results without real-time systems

Author

Fox, Ron ; Kasten, Eric ; Orji, Kanayo ; Bolen, Chase ; Maurice, Christopher ; Venema, Jason

Author_Institution

Nat. Supercond. Cyclotron Lab., Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI, USA

Volume

51

Issue

3

fYear

2004

fDate

6/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

571

Lastpage

575

Abstract

The data acquisition system at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), Michigan State University, East Lansing, is based on commodity PC components running an unmodified Linux kernel. A commercial PCI-VME bus bridge connects the readout processors of this system to digitization hardware. While Linux is not a real-time system, this paper shows how we have structured the readout software to meet the requirements of the NSCL without the use of real-time or embedded components.

Keywords

Unix; data acquisition; high energy physics instrumentation computing; software architecture; system buses; Michigan State University; National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory; commercial PCI-VME bus bridge; commodity PC components; data acquisition system; digitization hardware; embedded components; nuclear physics application; readout processor; readout software; real-time results; real-time system; software architecture; unmodified Linux kernel; Bridges; Computer architecture; Cyclotrons; Data acquisition; Embedded computing; Hardware; Kernel; Laboratories; Linux; Real time systems;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2004.828508

Filename

1310559