Applications of Computer Systems for On-Line Real-Time Instrument Control

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Abstract
Digital automation represents a major revolution in all forms of spectroscopy, a revolution which is now in progress. Unlike many of the previous major changes in hardware, such as detectors or the type of electronics, the change to computer control requires a design exercise involving all parts of the measurement process from signal generation to calculation of the final result, from mechanical components to aesthetics, and from the role of digital versus analog circuitry to the role of hardware versus software. But the result of a careful redesign is a more flexible and accurate instrument with data processing, storage, and retrieval capabilities. Once a computer is incorporated into an instrument it gives the designer extreme breadth in expansion of function with very little additional hardware cost. To fully realize this potential, however, the system designer must have a good understanding of the possibilities of computer control, the hardware most appropriate for that control, the role of software design in developing the overall functionality of the computerized instrument system, and the limitations and needs of digital data acquisition. This article is a discussion of the appropriate control hardware and its use. The role of software, perhaps the single most important part of the complete computerized system, has been discussed previously [16, 38, 53, 74, 761. Recent reviews have discussed the special needs of signal processing for digital data acquisition [30, 67, 75, 791].