A SONY M-O DRIVE-BASED DATA ACQUISITION AND STORAGE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM

Abstract

A real-time high-rate, high-volume Data Acquisition and Storage Prototype System is developed.The prototype system configuration is based on four parallel transfer Sony 5 1/4” Magneto Optical (M-O) disk drives and a high-speed I/O computer (Aptec IOC-24). A MicroVAX GPX serves as host to the system, supplying command and control in addition to maintaining on-line directory information. A VME-based system is used to provide high-speed data source for testing and performance evaluation.The overall system utilizes open system architecture, modular design, off-the-shelf hardware, and customized software. The system can be easily tailored to the user's needs by adding more Sony M-O drives for higher transfer rate, and/or higher capacity. The system can also be easily configured for more generic mass storage applications by “plugging in” other SCSI devices (e.g., WORM, Magnetic drive, and Helical Scan tapes). A parity disk can be added to increase the overall system reliability.The system provides a highly flexible environment to investigate overall system performance regarding hardware configuration, software optimization and file management scheme. Such information is essential in designing future data acquisition and storage systems for different applications.