A Battery-Operated Data-Acquisition System

We have developed a microprocessor-controlled data-acquistion system for unattended operation in locations where battery power is required. The system design incorporates flexibility into both the analog signal conditioning and the microprocessor control program, so as to accommodate a wide variety of sampling situations. Foremost among the special operational characteristics are: 1) continuous, burst, or conditional sampling; 2) simultaneous multiple sampling rates; and 3) data preprocessing. Very low power consumption is achieved through the use of CMOS technology for both analog and digital functions. Applications in the Great Lakes have included atmospheric and limnological measurements from offshore towers and sediment transport observations from devices positioned on the lake bottom.