VXIbus data collection system -- A design study

The German support program has sponsored the work to investigate the VXIbus as integration platform for safeguards instrumentation. This paper will cover the analysis of the user requirements for a VXIbus based monitoring system for integrated safeguards -- primarily for reliable unattended in-field collection of large amounts of data. The goal is to develop a suitable system architecture. The design of the system makes use of the VXIbus standard as the selected hardware platform Based upon the requirement analysis and the overriding need for high reliability and robustness, a systematic investigation of different operating system options, as well as development and integration tools will be considered. For the software implementation cycle high and low level programming tools are required. The identification of the constraints for the programming platform and the tool selection will be presented. Both the strategic approach, the rules for analysis and design work as well as the executive components for the support of the implementation and production cycle are given. Here all the conditions for reliable, unattended and integrated safeguards monitoring systems will be addressed. The definition of the basic and advanced design principles are covered. The paper discusses the results of a study on a system produced to demonstrate a high data rate timer/counter application