An inexpensive and very simple microcomputer-aided measurement system has been designed for on-line experiments, which perform simultaneously data acquisition, data recording, calculations with the data, and positioning necessary sensors.
Interfacing between the microcomputer and the data acquisition board which consists of A/D converter, analog multiplexer, and sample-and-holder, etc., has been done through IEEE-488 interface port and parallel user port both provided by the PET computer's main logic board.
Data and control signals are transfered between devices without handshaking.
By utilizing BASIC commands PEEK, POKE, SYS, USR which are offered by PET microcomputer, it is possible to link machine code subroutines into the main BASIC program. This facilitates ease of data transfer, programming, and speedy execution of the program. In addition, an X-Y scanning table has been connected to the system in order to automatically position measuring sensors along a pre-defined path of interest.
