Application of a portable minicomputer system in a research/student laboratory environment

Abstract

A portable minicomputer system (PDP 11/03) including floppy disk drives, lineprinter, graphics plotter, A/D, parallel and serial interfaces, even-timing circuitry, and user-designed data base software, is the focus of this paper. The system is located in a laboratory used for both undergraduate instructional purposes and graduate level research. A variety of experimental applications of this system will be discussed, although special attention will be paid to our steady state engine testing faciltiy. In this experiment the data acquisition system monitors a large number of engine operating conditions as well as a bank of seven exhaust gas analyzers. The operator views a CRT screen displaying all engine parameters, exhaust composition, and warning diagnostics.Briefly stated, over two years experience with this system has had three main effects upon this department: (1) exposing undergraduate mechanical engineering students to modern computer-aided experimental techniques, (2) increasing the quality and quantity of data taken, and (3) providing the experimentalist with convenient access to the data.