• R.A.J. Soden, P.-F. Maistre, Y.A. Maumary
  Agilent Technologies SA, Plan-les-Ouates
• G. Hill, S.J. Narciso
  Agilent Technologies Inc., Loveland

Digital data acquisition in real time applications falls into two categories: digitizing a stream of data without missing a single sample point, and capturing a stream of triggered events without missing a single trigger. Maintaining these data streams over long periods requires an optimized combination of analog signal conditioning, and precise digitization, digital data reduction and high-speed data transfer. This paper describes suggested methods to reduce the amount of measurement data required, reduce the amount of that data that is to be transferred (to a measurement where possible), and then transfer this reduced data in the most rapid fashion. Our approach uses a combination of hardware, firmware and software elements that are designed to work together, optimizing performance and managing the data bottlenecks. New hardware standards and architectures are discussed that improve the capabilities of today's technologies, providing access to higher data and measurement flux. Applications presented in this paper include high trigger rate capture for beam steering and fill pattern monitoring in charged particle accelerators.