Operating instructions

SEA M300USERSGUIDE

WELCOME



System card and wrote a program to initialize the card and handle the interrupts. We measured

interrupt latency and were amazed with the numbers. We still had time left on our evaluation period

so Lyle decided we should try DMA operation as well as the interrupts to make sure the OS could

meet or exceed our expectations. We added a 2D Mono card to the system and developed software to

test the operation. With this data we knew we could handle DMA and interrupts beyond our

expectations. The only question left was, can we display the data? At the time, we tried X Windows

as the GUI. In no time, we added an X Windows application that would run 2D and display the

images. These tests eased any remaining concerns we had about the OS and we knew QNX 4 could

do the job. Our selection process was over for the OS but we still had to choose a Graphical User

Interface (GUI).

QNX 4 has three options available (QNX Windows, X Windows and Photon) for a GUI. QNX

Windows was being discontinued and there were limited QNX 4 video drivers available for X

Windows. QSSL was putting all their efforts into developing Photon. After talking to several

engineers at QSSL and getting a better picture of what was going on in this area we choose Photon.

So there you have it. We picked QNX 4 RT OS (UNIX-like, real-time POSIX certified) with the

Photon GUI for our M300 DAS from QSSL (www.qnx.com). Yes, it costs a little more than DOS,

but not as much as other operating systems we looked at. QNX also offers other options that we were

looking for, such as TCP/IP and NFS.

Then, as luck would have it, Walter Strapp at MSC was looking to add a Forward Looking Radar

data acquisition and display to the M200 system. We wanted to please our client, but the M200 just

didn't have enough memory to handle this task. Since we had been playing around with QNX 4, we

thought it could do the job. So we did our first project for QNX 4. Because of time constraints and

against our better judgment, we wrote an application that was specific to the Forward Looking

Radar. QNX 4 performed great along the way, as did our new software application. After this, AES

came back to us and wanted to add the capability to have up/down/side antennas out of the Convair.

No problem, we said. The work was started for this, but there was a great empty feeling. We knew

there was a need for a new DAS, but at the same time, we were writing specific applications, that

required software changes to add new instruments and capabilities to the system. We had gone away

from one of the main design philosophies behind the M200 DAS. Before a lot of work was done, we

changed our minds and started work on the M300 DAS.

MODEL300DATAACQUISITIONSYSTEMISBORN(CIRCANOVEMBER1999)

So what sets the M300 DAS apart from the M200?

• To start with, we don't have to deal with DOS anymore.

• Finally we have a robust real time OS to work with and a GUI. Oh! Look a mouse!

• We can now add as much memory to a system as we would like and be able to use it. Now we can dream!

• Almost all existing M200 hardware interfaces will be supported by the M300. This saves our users from

having to buy a new set of hardware interfaces.