A high speed fiber optic serial networking system for data acquisition and control

A serial ring communication system is described. It can be used to link data acquisition and control devices and, via suitable interconnects, other serial rings, Fastbus segments, and CAMAC crates. The protocol used is transparent to Fastbus and contains very little management overhead. Applications of the system range from simply linking two closely spaced devices to interconnecting many Fastbus and CAMAC systems in a wide area network. Performance calculations are presented showing the effects of varying the link bit rate, the link distance, and the number of connected devices. It is concluded that the serial ring communication system offers advantages over existing communications systems when large distances are to be covered or when copper wire connections present a problem