Personal Computers And Shipboard Scientific Data Acquisition (A Technical Overview of Four Related Systems)

Marine Fish Division (MFD), Biological Sciences Branch (BSB), Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada uses navigational, physical oceanographic and hydroacoustic data for fish stock assessment. Parameters include: latitude, longitude,depth, temperature, salinity, density, and fish target strength. Instruments used include: Decca Loran C, Sippican XBT, Guildline CTD, and Simrad echo sounders. In the past each instrument required a specialized computer for control and/or data acquisition. Now general purpose, personal computers (PCs) are used. Four real time data acquisition and analysis systems, which use the PC, Pascal Programming Language, and a common design methodology, are in use at MFD. This paper presents a technical overview of the four systems and user experiences to date.