On-Line Data-Acquisition Systems in Nuclear Physics, 1969: Chapter 4

On-Line Data-Acquisition Systems in Nuclear Physics, 1969, by H. W. Fulbright et al. National Research Council is part of HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. Chapter 4: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON SYSTEM PLANNING

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON SYSTEM PLANNING

A. THE NEED FOR ON-LINE COMPUTER SYSTEMS

The ultimate justification for assembling and using on-line data-acquisition systems must be made in terms of research output. The same considerations underlying judgments on the support of experimental research in other ways must therefore apply to computer systems. Some reasons often given for the use of on-line computer systems are these:

1. Modern experiments produce vast quantities of data which can be handled efficiently only by automatic calculating machinery. The experimenter gains greatly in effectiveness when the data are immediately converted into machine language, reduced by the computer, and presented to the experimenter in a convenient form.

Comment: Undoubtedly true. Fortunately a small system can satisfy this requirement in many cases.

2. Some experiments "cannot" be done by other means.

Comment: More likely true in practice than in principle.

3. Investment in a computer system is sometimes sound because it leads to a net reduction in the overall cost of performing experiments, either by eliminating some of the labor cost, by reducing the consumption of accelerator time, or in some other way.

Comment: True in many cases. Making estimates of projected savings is easier in ad hoc cases than in general.

4. Having facilities immediately accessible for calculating nuclear-reaction kinematics, magnetic analyzer field strengths, and other phenomena during the course of experiments saves time and promotes efficiency.

Comment: True, however, much of this work can be done ahead of time, and much of it requires only a relatively short, simple calculation which can be executed on a medium-sized computer, sometimes on a small one.

5. Given a sufficiently large computer system in the laboratory, its use for complicated data reduction and for theoretical calculations may produce an important saving of funds which might otherwise have been spent at the computing center.

Comment: This point may sometimes be valid, depending on a number of conditions, but the installation of a large computer as part of the data-acquisition system essentially on the basis of this argument is questionable, in view of the excellent facilities offered by modern computing centers.

6. Some expense for the development of computer systems and computer systems methods is justifiable as an investment in methodology.

Comment: True, although there is some question about the choice of places where such work should be done and about the correct source of funds to support it.

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H. W., Fulbright et al. 2013. On-Line Data-Acquisition Systems in Nuclear Physics, 1969. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved May 2022 from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42613/42613-h/42613-h.htm#Page_68

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