Test & Measurement: 2-Gsample/s DAQ Boards Include High-Speed Analysis Capability

Onboard data-processing units (DPUs) allow a pair of analyzer platforms to not only capture signals at a 2-Gsample/s rate but also perform high-speed analysis on the signals. The onboard data processing greatly increases the level of useful data throughput, taking pressure off the system bus. The AC240 offers two synchronous channels, each with a 1-Gsample/s analog-to-digital converter (ADC). In single-channel operation, the ADCs can be interleaved, doubling the sampling rate. The AC210 platform has one 1-Gsample/s channel. Both devices feature a 1-GHz bandwidth. The DPU used on the platforms, a Virtex II Pro FPGA, executes multiplications in less than 5 ns. It provides more than 74,000 logic cells, 328 dedicated 18- by 18-bit multipliers with 36-bit results, and nearly 7 Mbits of on-chip processing memory. Optional onboard processing memory provides up to 512 Mbytes of SDRAM and 2 Mbytes of dual-port SRAM with a read/write throughput of up to 2 Gbytes/s to and from the FPGA. For higher channel counts, the analyzers can be combined using the company's ASBus, a proprietary auto-synchronous bus that handles all the necessary trigger and clock signals. Prices start at $18,990, and delivery is four weeks after receipt of the order.