Remote data acquisition module using optic interface for industrial automation and control

Remote data acquisition units are handy devices which can go right near the process where the data acquisition is needed. The problem with remote data acquisition devices has always been the slow data transfer speed which is in the order of 10's of kilosample/s. In this paper we propose a design of a remote data acquisition module with optical interface which has data transfer speed around 100's of megasamples/sec. The simplicity, robustness and intrinsic isolation of the design together with the speed makes it very desirable for industrial applications.