The Automatic Data Processing System for 2X II

An automatic data system is being developed to record transient data that will replace the present method of photographing scope traces with a Polaroid camera. The advantages of the new system are that it will increase data accuracy, eliminate long hours of manual reduction of data, provide instant processing of data to aid in optimizing the experimental parameters, and provide rapid comparison of current data with data taken from previous runs for statistical analysis. The 2X II automatic data system is composed of an analog disc connected to a small computer system. The multichannel analog disc is the principal intermediate means of recording the data, which are then digitized and stored permanently on magnetic tape. Reading of the data is accomplished by scanning all of the disc channels with a single analog-to-digital converter and transferring the data into the computer's magnetic core memory. This scanning of the analog disc is done automatically by the computer's software program, but it can also be done either manually from the disc control panel or remotely from a teletype terminal. Currently the digitized data are fed into a mini-computer for on-line data reduction and display. Using teletype control, one can view any individual channel from 0 to 30 ms with 10 μs resolution, or one can retrieve processed data (for example, the number of charge exchange neutrals vs energy for any selected time up to 30 ms).