New Developments in Field Computer Systems

This paper traces the development of small field data acquisition and analysis systems. The impact of some significant recent advances in microelectronics on the design of field test systems is detailed. Techniques for the exploitation of newly developed microelectronic devices to design field test systems based on the concepts of distributed computing and modular hardware and software organization are discussed. The paper concludes with a description of a recently developed test system which embodies the newly available capabilities.