Intelligent and free user configurable low cost data acquisition unit

Due to the low costs of modern electronic components, a versatile data acquisition unit (DAQ), as described in this paper, is an efficient replacement for expensive telemetric measurement circuits. This DAQ is the result of a study for a cheaper solution for tool parameter optimization, which so long has been performed by telemetric sensors. For general use it is necessary to generate a highly robust DAQ system, which is very small in size. Very low power consumption, for a long active operating time with standard types of battery cells, is also required. To be a convenient replacement for telemetric circuits, the data memory is configurable with a maximum size of up to 8 MB (up to 16 or 32 MB in the near future). A local processor is required, which should be able to perform real-time data compression and, depending on the application, analog signal path filtering and/or pre data calculations (e.g. validation). The signal path consists of an analog signal conditioning line with a simple anti-aliasing filter structure and a free configurable analog to digital converter (ADC) with a maximum sampling rate of 25 kHz for one channel. For downloading of user specific hardware and software, a monitor program and a serial interface allows communication with a host terminal or standard personal computer. First testing of this design has shown a wide range of replacement for applications where intelligent sensors with telemetric capability are needed At the end of this paper, a special application in the field of computer numerically controlled machines is presented.