A microprogrammable high-speed data collection system for position sensitive x-ray detectors

A high-speed data acquisition system has been designed which collect digital data from one- and two-dimensional position sensitive X-ray detectors at a maximum average data rate of 1 MHz. The system consists of two separate fast buffer memories, a 64K word by 20-bit main storage, two timers, a display controller, a computer interface and a keyboard, controlled by a specially designed microprogrammable microprocessor. Data collection is performed by executing a microprogram stored in the control storage; data coming from a detector are first accumulated in a small but fast buffer memory by hardware and transferred to the main storage under control of the microprogram. This design not only permits time-resolved data collections but also provides maximum speed, flexibility and cost-effectiveness simultaneously. The system also accepts data from integrating detectors such as TV cameras. The system has been designed for use in experiments at conventional and synchrotron X-ray sources.