The TMX∼U computer system in evolution

This paper reports how the TMX∼U diagnostic data base has grown to 9 Mbytes with over 1300 channels; roughly triple the originally designed size. This acquisition and processing limits the repetition rate to about 10 min per shot using the five original HP-1000 computers with shared disks. The new diagnostics tend to be multichannel instruments, which can be more easily managed using local computers. HP-series 200 and 500 computers are being used for instrument control, data acquisition, and analysis. Eight such systems are operational with processed format output exchanged via a shared resource manager. The authors are presently implementing the necessary hardware and software changes to create a local area network allowing us to combine the data from these systems with our main data archive. The expansion of their diagnostic system using the parallel acquisition and processing concept allows them to increase their data base with a minimum impact on the experimental repetition rate