Data Acquisition and Control Systems
Daniel R. Omstead · 2020
This chapter describes the capabilities which can be provided by data acquisition and control systems. In addition to the data processing functions, data acquisition and control systems can provide several additional features. The capability of a data acquisition and control system relates to its ability to communicate with other computer systems. Irrespective of their level of distribution or programming origin, data acquisition and control systems have been implemented on all levels of computer hardware by both commercial vendors and specific users. Distributed personal computer-based systems utilize external data acquisition hardware which can vary in intelligence from simple A/D converting circuits to devices with computing power comparable to the primary unit. Communication with generic computing systems allows the distributed control system implementation to provide a number of functions ordinarily associated with distributed process control systems.