Data Acquire

[Gaby Zenz]

Dataacquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. Data acquisition systems, abbreviated by the acronyms DAS, DAQ, or DAU, typically convert analog waveforms into digital values for processing. The components of data acquisition systems include:

Data acquisition applications are usually controlled by software programs developed using various general purpose programming languages such as Assembly, BASIC, C, C++, C#, Fortran, Java, LabVIEW, Lisp, Pascal, etc. Stand-alone data acquisition systems are often called data loggers.

There are also open-source software packages providing all the necessary tools to acquire data from different, typically specific, hardware equipment. These tools come from the scientific community where complex experiment requires fast, flexible, and adaptable software. Those packages are usually custom-fit but more general DAQ packages like the Maximum Integrated Data Acquisition System can be easily tailored and are used in several physics experiments.

In 1963, IBM produced computers that specialized in data acquisition. These include the IBM 7700 Data Acquisition System, and its successor, the IBM 1800 Data Acquisition and Control System. These expensive specialized systems were surpassed in 1974 by general-purpose S-100 computers and data acquisition cards produced by Tecmar/Scientific Solutions Inc. In 1981 IBM introduced the IBM Personal Computer and Scientific Solutions introduced the first PC data acquisition products.[1][2][3][4][5]

Data acquisition begins with the physical phenomenon or physical property to be measured. Examples of this include temperature, vibration, light intensity, gas pressure, fluid flow, and force. Regardless of the type of physical property to be measured, the physical state that is to be measured must first be transformed into a unified form that can be sampled by a data acquisition system. The task of performing such transformations falls on devices called sensors. A data acquisition system is a collection of software and hardware that allows one to measure or control the physical characteristics of something in the real world. A complete data acquisition system consists of DAQ hardware, sensors and actuators, signal conditioning hardware, and a computer running DAQ software. If timing is necessary (such as for event mode DAQ systems), a separate compensated distributed timing system is required.

A sensor, which is a type of transducer, is a device that converts a physical property into a corresponding electrical signal (e.g., strain gauge, thermistor). An acquisition system to measure different properties depends on the sensors that are suited to detect those properties. Signal conditioning may be necessary if the signal from the transducer is not suitable for the DAQ hardware being used. The signal may need to be filtered, shaped, or amplified in most cases. Various other examples of signal conditioning might be bridge completion, providing current or voltage excitation to the sensor, isolation, and linearization. For transmission purposes, single ended analog signals, which are more susceptible to noise can be converted to differential signals. Once digitized, the signal can be encoded to reduce and correct transmission errors.

DAQ hardware is what usually interfaces between the signal and a PC. It could be in the form of modules that can be connected to the computer's ports (parallel, serial, USB, etc.) or cards connected to slots (S-100 bus, AppleBus, ISA, MCA, PCI, PCI-E, etc.) in a PC motherboard or in a modular crate (CAMAC, NIM, VME). Sometimes adapters are needed, in which case an external breakout box can be used.

DAQ cards often contain multiple components (multiplexer, ADC, DAC, TTL-IO, high-speed timers, RAM). These are accessible via a bus by a microcontroller, which can run small programs. A controller is more flexible than a hard-wired logic, yet cheaper than a CPU so it is permissible to block it with simple polling loops. For example:Waiting for a trigger, starting the ADC, looking up the time, waiting for the ADC to finish, move value to RAM, switch multiplexer, get TTL input, let DAC proceed with voltage ramp.

DAQ device drivers are needed for the DAQ hardware to work with a PC. The device driver performs low-level register writes and reads on the hardware while exposing API for developing user applications in a variety of programs.

Specialized DAQ software may be delivered with the DAQ hardware. Software tools used for building large-scale data acquisition systems include EPICS. Other programming environments that are used to build DAQ applications include ladder logic, Visual C++, Visual Basic, LabVIEW, and MATLAB.

NEW YORK, June 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lightpath, an all-fiber, infrastructure-based connectivity provider revolutionizing how organizations connect to their digital destinations, announced the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of United Fiber and Data. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024.

United Fiber and Data (UFD) owns and operates a unique and diverse 323-route mile, high-fiber count network between New York City and Ashburn, VA, connecting the largest population center in the country with the largest data center and cloud ecosystem in the world. UFD also owns a 79-route mile metro network in New York City and New Jersey, including connectivity to over 350 enterprise and data center locations and a high-fiber count crossing of the Hudson River, which will add capacity to Lightpath's three existing Hudson River crossings.

UFD's New York City-Ashburn network offers high-fiber counts, the latest optical technologies from Ciena, and will support dark fiber, Ethernet, and wavelengths up to 800 Gbps. This unique network is geographically diverse from typical long-haul routes along the I-95 corridor and will enhance Lightpath's network of over 20,000 route miles, connecting over 15,000 service locations, including over 140 data centers and 7 cable landing stations. The combination of networks will allow Lightpath to offer geographically diverse, high-capacity services from commercial enterprise buildings, cable landing stations, and data centers along the east coast, directly to the Ashburn ecosystem.

"The addition United Fiber & Data is a natural extension of Lightpath's expansive Greater New York City Metropolitan fiber assets, increasing our ability to serve high-capacity customer needs into the Ashburn data center ecosystem and further enhancing our Manhattan metro coverage where we will serve nearly 1,500 enterprise and data center destinations, a 5x increase over the past 3 years," stated Chris Morley, CEO of Lightpath. "This represents a continuation of Lightpath's strategic investment thesis of creating critical fiber infrastructure in attractive and high growth markets for the benefit of our Enterprise, Hyperscale, and Wholesale customers."

UFD customers will gain access to the entire Lightpath network as well as the entire service portfolio, including Wavelengths, Ethernet, Internet, Private Networks, Dark Fiber, LP FlexNet, Voice, Security Solutions, and other Managed Services. Additionally, customers will be able to utilize Lightpath services to connect to over 140 data centers, 7 cable landing stations, and all major cloud providers.

Lightpath is revolutionizing how customers connect to their digital destinations by combining our next-generation network with our next-generation customer service. Lightpath's advanced fiber-optic network offers a comprehensive portfolio of custom-engineered connectivity solutions with unparalleled performance, reliability, and security. Our consultative customer service means we work with you to design, deliver, and support the solution for your unique needs, faster and more easily than ever before. For over 30 years, thousands of enterprises, governments, and educators have trusted Lightpath to power their organization's innovation. Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) owns a 50.01% interest in Lightpath and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) owns 49.99% of the Company.

ACQUIRE & ANALYZE is a comprehensive data acquisition and analysis package designed specifically for measuring bioelectrics from small pieces of epithelial tissue or cells grown on permeable membranes across which the transepithelial voltage or current are controlled by the VCC600, VCC MC2, VCC MC6 or VCC MC8 voltage/current clamps. It consists of data acquisition hardware, interface cables and the ACQUIRE and ANALYZE software package. The acquire and analyze software runs in the Windows environment and can simultaneously measure and graph current, voltage, conductance and/or resistance in 'real time' from one to eight tissues.

Acquire & Analyze is designed specifically for transepithelial electrophysiology. It is not intended to be a general purpose instrument. While it records voltage and current from up to 8 voltage/current clamp channels, it also imposes a command signal across the epithelium and calculates and plots transepithelial resistance in real time. This is a significant benefit over other software packages which require post processing with manual input to calculate TEER at each time of interest. Data acquisition is easy to initiate and generally requires only selection of a new file name, entry of the surface area based on slider used, and a reference. Data collection rate can be quickly selected from 3 user defined (typically once every 1, 10, or 20 sec) speeds by clicking an icon on the main screen. This yields very small data files relative to those of other software packages where that system must continuously sample at a high enough rate to capture any pulse imposed by the clamp instrument and independent pulse generator.

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