DISTRIBUTED DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20110087720A1
• Filed: 10/13/2009
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, Universities Research Association Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Fermi Research Alliance, LLC
• Inventors: Andresen, Jeffry L., Rivera, Ryan Allen, Chramowicz, John, de Azambuja Turqueti, Marcos
• Granted Patent: US 8,898,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/02 Electric testing or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4095 in incremental bus architectures, e.g. bus stacks

Abstract

A data acquisition and processing system and method includes one or more distributed and expandable data acquisition nodes for processing large amounts of data. Each data acquisition node includes a core group of primary boards electronically connected together via a vertical bus capable of providing intra-node communication between the primary boards. A secondary board horizontally connected in association with the primary board via a horizontal bus provides inter-node communication or instrumentation interfaces to sensors or other application specific instruments. A master control unit associated with a graphical user interface communicates with the data acquisition nodes via a communication protocol to permit high speed exchange of information and to display information reported from the acquisition system. A storage controller associated with a node controller controls storage of data associated with the data acquisition nodes on a database in a remote location.

Claims

1. A data acquisition system, said system comprising:

a plurality of data acquisition nodes, wherein each node among said plurality of data acquisition nodes includes at least one primary board electronically stacked and connected via a first bus that provides intra-node communication between said at least one primary board and said plurality of data acquisition nodes;

a secondary board that communications electronically with said at least one primary board via a second bus that provides inter-node communication among said plurality of data acquisition nodes; and

a master control unit that communicates with said plurality of data acquisition nodes via a particular communications protocol to permit a high speed exchange of information to thereby provide distributed and expandable data acquisition and processing of large amounts of data.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said first bus comprises a vertical bus and said second bus comprises a horizontal bus.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said vertical bus further comprises at least one of the following:

a data bus;

a system bus; and

a power bus.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one primary board further comprises an optical bus that provides direct intra-node connection among said plurality of data acquisition nodes.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one primary board further comprises a node processing and control board to process information acquired from said plurality of data acquisition nodes.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one primary board further comprises a data conversion board capable of providing data acquisition with respect to said plurality of data acquisition nodes.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said data conversion board comprises at least one of the following units:

an analog-to-digital converter; and

a digital-to-analog converter.

8. The system of claim 3 wherein said at least one primary board comprises a power electronics board that generates a regulated power supply for power lines associated with said power bus.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one primary board further comprises a mass memory board that provides a mass storage.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said secondary board comprises a gigabit Ethernet communications link.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said particular communications protocol comprises a universal datagram protocol associated with an Internet protocol.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein said master control unit comprises at least one node controller that provides a communications link between said plurality of data acquisition nodes and said master control unit.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said at least one node controller further comprises a storage controller for controlling a storage of data associated with said plurality of data acquisition nodes in a remote database.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said at least one node controller further comprises at least one subnet controller that provides a communications link between said plurality of data acquisition nodes and said master control unit.

15. The system of claim 1 further comprising a user interface associated with said master control unit, wherein said user interface displays data indicative of information reported by said plurality of data acquisition nodes.

16. A data acquisition system, said system comprising:

a plurality of data acquisition nodes, wherein each node among said plurality of data acquisition nodes includes at least one primary board electronically stacked and connected via a first bus that provides intra-node communication between said at least one primary board and said plurality of data acquisition nodes;

a secondary board that communications electronically with said at least one primary board via a second bus that provides inter-node communication among said plurality of data acquisition nodes, wherein said first bus comprises a vertical bus and said second bus comprises a horizontal bus;

a master control unit that communicates with said plurality of data acquisition nodes via a particular communications protocol to permit a high speed exchange of information to thereby provide distributed and expandable data acquisition and processing of large amounts of data; and

a user interface associated with said master control unit, wherein said user interface displays data indicative of information reported by said plurality of data acquisition nodes, wherein said at least one primary board further comprises a node processing and control board to process information acquired from said plurality of data acquisition nodes and wherein said at least one primary board further comprises a data conversion board capable of providing data acquisition with respect to said plurality of data acquisition nodes.

17. A method of configuring a data acquisition system, said method comprising:

a plurality of data acquisition nodes, wherein each node among said plurality of data acquisition nodes includes at least one primary board electronically stacked and connected via a first bus that provides intra-node communication between said at least one primary board and said plurality of data acquisition nodes;

a secondary board that communications electronically with said at least one primary board via a second bus that provides inter-node communication among said plurality of data acquisition nodes; and

a master control unit that communicates with said plurality of data acquisition nodes via a particular communications protocol to permit a high speed exchange of information to thereby provide distributed and expandable data acquisition and processing of large amounts of data.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising configuring said at least one primary board to comprise:

a node processing and control board to process information acquired from said plurality of data acquisition nodes;

a data conversion board capable of providing data acquisition with respect to said plurality of data acquisition nodes, wherein said data conversion board comprises at least one of an analog-to-digital converter and a digital-to-analog converter;

a power electronics board that generates a regulated power supply for power lines associated with said power bus; and

a mass memory board that provides a mass storage.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

modifying said secondary board to comprise a gigabit Ethernet communications link;

configuring said particular communications protocol to comprise a universal datagram protocol associated with an Internet protocol.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

configuring said master control unit to comprise at least one node controller that provides a communications link between said plurality of data acquisition nodes and said master control unit;

modifying said at least one node controller to comprise a storage controller for controlling a storage of data associated with said plurality of data acquisition nodes in a remote database, wherein said at least one node controller further comprises at least one subnet controller that provides a communications link between said plurality of data acquisition nodes and said master control unit.