A Memory Intensive Functional Architecture for Distributed Computer Control Systems

A memory-intensive functional architecture for distributed data-acquisition, monitoring, and control systems with large numbers of nodes has been conceptually developed and applied in several large-scale and some smaller systems. This discussion concentrates on (a) the basic architecture; (b) recent expansions of the architecture which now become feasible in view of the rapidly developing component technologies in microprocessors and functional large-scale integration circuits; (c) implementation of some key hardware and software structures and one system implementation which is a system for performing control and data acquisition of a neutron spectrometer at the Brookhaven High Flux Beam Reactor. The spectrometer is equipped with a large-area position-sensitive neutron detector.