CAMAC, an ideal high-performance data acquisition standard

It is suggested that CAMAC (computer-automated measurement and control) provides an ideal solution for high-performance data acquisition system requirements, such as high-accuracy A/D (analog-to-digital) conversion, a large channel capacity, and physically distributed channels. A wide variety of CAMAC I/O modules provides the analog and discrete interfaces needed for high-performance systems. These include ADC modules with 16-b resolution and waveform recorders that operate to 1.3 GHz. A new CAMAC-based system, called Tachion, is also described. This system can acquire analog data and transfer these data to disk at rates up to 9.6 Mbytes per second. The performance of a CAMAC-based system is further enhanced by computer interface hardware and software that supports list processing. Also, the high level of standardization of the CAMAC command structure allows the use of a single software driver that is unaffected by the types of I/O modules in the system