Design of a Smart Display for Monitoring Physical Variables

Design of a multichannel cathode ray tube (CRT) display system to monitor eight physical variables is described. The display includes channel identifiers, cursors for real-time values of variables and their safe limits. Sequence of faults and fault conditions on any channel are appropriately depicted to aid recovery from hazardous condition. The display of number of channels, in groups of 2, 4, and 8, is programmable, where each group represents a priority level. The system is software based and utilizes a unique interface with minimal hardware and is, therefore, programmable, flexible, cost effective, and compact.