Real-time system design environment for multi-channel high-speed data acquisition system and pattern recognition

The Design Real-Time 2.0 software environment provides the user with a set of tools to create a real-time fully programmable system which can sustain a rate of several MHz from multi-channel inputs, can extend processing time in a pipeline stage and can provide a result within a few hundred ns. The tool set allows the user to (a) create applications of different sizes with different throughput and filtering algorithms; (b) select the processor speed, internal bus width, lookup tables, number of input and output result bits for each set of data received at each channel for each algorithm execution; (c) simulate a specific parallel-processing system for a given algorithm on different sets of data; (d) monitor the system in real time via an RS232 interface; (e) create a hardware component (FPGA or ASIC) by means of interfacing to the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools. The advantage of these tools is that of allowing simulation, before construction, of an entire programmable high-speed data acquisition and processing system, and selection of the processor speed, bus width and real-time algorithm which is most cost effective for a specific application where general-purpose processors fail in speed and performance. Benefits derived from the use of the novel architecture and cost comparisons with respect to similar designs are also provided