[time-nuts] OT: 10 MHz data capture, help

David Forbes dforbes at dakotacom.net
Fri Apr 10 21:01:14 UTC 2009


Tom Van Baak wrote:
> I have a old data device that is spitting out TTL data at 10 MHz.
> There's just a data line (no clock) but the edges clearly indicate
> an internal 10 MHz clock.
> 
> I'd like to do a continuous capture of the bits, for up to tens of
> minutes, into a PC. That comes to about 1 GB of raw data. I can
> handle the decoding of the bits in software after the capture is
> done. This is a one-time experiment.
> 
> What is the best/quickest/easiest way to capture data like this?
> I've looked at various USB or LAN logic analyzer and 'scopes
> but most seem to work on batches of data. I need a continuous
> capture.
> 
> /tvb
> 

Tom,

The common way to do this is with a fast PCI analog input card. There are models 
that run at several tens of MSPS. You should be able to write a very small C 
application using their drivers to continuously log the digitized data to a file 
as binary or ASCII values.

Here's a 30MSPS card:

http://www.advantech.com/products/PCI-1714U/mod_GF-HQHV.aspx

--David Forbes, Tucson



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