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Signal Conditioning by Channel Count

SCS-08 (shown here)
SCS-16
SCS-24
SCS-32 (shown above with iDSC 1816)

Each package consists of an enclosure and 1, 2, 3, or 4 MSSC-8 modules, for a total of 8, 16, 24, or 32 channels.

4 SCS-32 packages, with 16 iDSC 1816 boards in industrial PCs –

128 channels of conditioned anti-aliased data

SCS

The SCS Sensor Signal-Conditioning System complements the iDSC 1816 anti-aliasing board to provide a continuous path in a single package: starting with raw measurements at the sensor and ending with conditioned anti-aliased data logged to disk on a PC.

An SCS package provides direct connection to sensors, and offers many signal-conditioning services in a single convenient, powerful package. These include

  • current sensor excitation: 4 mA at up to 28 Volts
  • voltage sensor excitation: 1, 2, 5, and 10 Volts at up to 70 mA
  • quarter-, half-, and full-bridge resistor networks
  • 120 and 350 ohm resistors as standard options
  • any value resistor networks, sensor by sensor
  • 10 full-scale options: 10 mV, 20 mV, 50 mV, 100 mV, 200 mV, 500 mV, and 1, 2, 5, and 10 Volts
  • available offset ranges from between +/-0.5V to +/-5V, depending on the input option range used
  • programmable gain with auto-calibration
  • programmable AC/DC coupling for ICP sensors
  • two high-resolution acquisition-synchronized timing channels per iDSC 1816

A basic SCS, part number SCS-08, offers 8 channels of conditioned data, matching the 8 acquisition channels provided on each iDSC 1816 board. (Every iDSC 1816 also includes two high-resolution acquisition-synchronized timing inputs, running at 128 times the maximum acquisition rate.) An SCS-08 package consists of anindustrial enclosure and one MSSC-8 signal-conditioning module. A single enclosure is sufficient for 8, 16, 24, or 32 channels, so SCS packages are available in each of those options. The SCS-32 package can be a part of an even larger system, for higher channel counts.

Each SCS-08 package requires an MSCBL 048-01 cable to send conditioned signals to an iDSC 1816 anti-aliasing data acquisition board in a PC. It includes a cable to carry power from the PC.

Scalable for High-Channel-Count Applications

An MSCBL 048 cable connects the SCS package to an 8-channel iDSC 1816 data acquisition board that has built-in anti-aliasing filters. This combination scales up in two dimensions. First, a single PC may contain up to four iDSC 1816 boards -- each connected to an MSSC-8 -- for a total of 32 channels of conditioned anti-aliased data acquired at the maximum rate of 153.6k samples per second per channel.¹ Second, DAPcell network software, with at-the-server disk logging, supports multiple instances of these 32-channel modules controlled from a single DAPcell client.

A single PC can support up to fourteen iDSC 1816 boards. At these high channel counts, signal-conditioning power requirements likely will exceed 12-volt power normally available from the PC. In any case where this may happen, Microstar Laboratories can make special arrangements to boost the power provided by the PC.

Commercially available off-the-shelf PCs and associated disk controllers and drives have enough electrical power and enough computing power to form a balanced total system with four iDSC 1816 boards and an SCS-32. A total system like this can continuously log to disk all 32 channels of conditioned anti-aliased data at the full data acquisition rate of 153.6k samples per second -- an overall rate of just under 5 million samples per second.

An MSXB 045 board in each of two or more networked PCs, that each contain one or more iDSC 1816 boards, allows the whole networked system to work as a single synchronized system with possibly hundreds of conditioned channels.

Suggested shopping lists for synchronized systems requiring signal conditioning and anti-aliasing