Data Acquisition and Processing on Electron Beam Fusion Accelerators

This report is a review of the hardware and software components of the custom data acquisition facility developed for the Sandia electron beam fusion research program. The facility contains a Modcomp II minicomputer system, Tektronix transient digitizers, conventional oscilloscopes, and an image digitizer. Commercial equipment is utilized as much as possible. Special interfaces were designed for the transient and image digitizers. Careful cable shielding techniques are used to overcome the severe noise environments. The Modcomp multi-task operating system allows two simultaneous users. Special applications programs have been developed for data acquisition and reduction. The facility is currently operational, and a duplicate of this system will be built to support the next generation accelerator EBFA (Electron Beam Fusion Accelerator).