The Data Acquisition System at the DCIEM Impact Studies Facility

The data acquisition system for impact testing at the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine (DCIEM) uses a set of 49 Datalab recorders. Each of these recorders converts an analog transient electrical signal into digital form at sampling rate up to 200 kHz and stores 4096 samples for subsequent transfer to a computer. Data processing and plotting of results, including resultants and severity indices, is completed within 40 minutes of a test. The system offers a speed and versatility far superior to alternative systems using analog FM magnetic tape recorders.