Lessons Learned from Designing and Commissioning a Versatile Data Acquisiting System for an Accelerator Development Facility

Achieving reliable operation of digital equipment under extreme noise conditions presents special challenges to system designers. Experience with the design and operation of a data acquisition and control system for an accelerator development facility at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories is reviewed. It is concluded that, by adhering to a few rules in developing both the hardware and the software, satisfactory performance can be guaranteed. The main thrust of this paper is directed towards gaining some appreciation for the methods of producing a reliable design rather than describing another system.