50M-sample/sec, 8-bit, two-channel PCI ADC-board prices start at $995
By Dan Strassberg -- EDN, February 19, 2004
AlazarTech's ATS850 PCI-based waveform digitizer provides 8-bit, 50M-sample/sec conversion simultaneously on two channels with flexible triggering and fully programmable front ends. The company says that a programmable-chip-based design enables the lowest cost in the industry. Each channel provides independently programmable full-scale input ranges of ±20 mV to ±20V, ac/dc coupling, and 50Ω/1-MΩ input impedance. You can program the sampling rate from 10k to 50M samples/sec and capture signals from rapidly occurring triggers by using a multiple-record mode, which allows both pre- and post-triggering. A 40-bit time stamp records the occurrence of each trigger event relative to all other triggers in a session.
The standard $995 model includes 256k points of acquisition memory per channel (Picture). A $2995 deep-memory model that can of capture 16M points per channel will be available in March. You can transfer acquired data to the host PC's memory using scatter-gather DMA (bus mastering), which provides transfer rates in excess of 40 Mbytes/sec—even with Windows. ATScope software, which allows you to set up the digitizer, acquire signals, and view and store them without drawing diagrams or writing program code, accompanies the unit. OEMs can integrate the board into their systems with the aid of the Windows XP/2000/98SE-compatible ATS-SDK software-development kit. This kit includes sample programs written in C/C++ and Visual Basic. LabView virtual-instrument software is also available.
AlazarTech, 1-514-633-0001, www.alazartech.com.
