Microcontroller-Based Multichannel Data Acquisition System for an Electromagnetic Sensor Array to Detect Heterogeneity in Flowing Conductive Media

A microcontroller-based real-time data acquisition system was developed to enable a novel method of detecting foreign bodies within a conductive flowing medium in a pipe. This system simultaneously samples 320 sensors at 16-bit resolution with a sampling rate of 160 ksps, resulting in a data capture rate of 102.4 Mb/s. The sensed data is demodulated to baseband before being transferred to a PC in near real-time. To handle the data, this system uses a hierarchical method where a ring controller board handles eight sensor boards that each interface with four sensors. The hierarchical architecture of the system demonstrates an efficient and structured approach to managing extensive data flow.