Operating data documentation system for a research reactor

The documentation system developed for the reactor to replace the automatic data logger is described in the paper. It is based on former experiences with the data logger which had led to a selection of representative data and useful data formats, but also made clear that the paper reports produced by the hardcopy terminal were not useful for further evaluation. A special pre-buffer hardware was provided to connect the data logger to the VAX. Because of its proven reliability an Epson-HX20 microcomputer was selected for this purpose. The documentation system hardware and the software are presented. The system has been operational for about ten months, collecting a daily average of 30kByte of data, and overcome a number of VAX system crashes, maintenance days and VAX/VMS updates. Various software extensions have been developed for processing the daily reports. Among these extensions there are programs for convenient tape backup, procedures for formatted printer output, and other. It is especially helpful to use commercial personal computer software for further data processing, in particular when PCs are connected in a network with the VAX or, on the other hand, emulate VAX terminals. There is a vast number of spread-sheet or database programs with excellent computational and graphic support available for PCs. Most of them allow data import, though format conversion programs will be necessary in most of the cases