| Abstrakt: |
Storing data from acoustical experiments so that they may be recovered or played back for precise laboratory selection and analysis has always been a difficult problem. A method is described in which a continuous signal is sampled, quantized, coded, and recorded on magnetic tape in the form of straight binary digital numbers of 10-bits plus sign. These numbers are then handled using digital techniques. The method uses a start-stop recorder, sequential core memory, digital computer, computer memory scanner, and a plotter. The core memory performs the buffering of data from the recorder to the computer memory. In operation the playback digital recorder fills the core buffer with a block of 100 words at some convenient rate and stops. The block of data is then transferred electrically from the core buffer to the computer memory at the synchronized word rate of the computer. To aid in data selection, a digital-to-analog converter and an oscilloscope display are used to permit scanning the data visually while in either the core memory or the computer memory. An associated plotter is used to plot out the original data and the results of analysis. All operations of external equipment are under the control of special commands stored in the computer memory as subroutines along with arithmetic processing routines. This arrangement allows the handling and the arithmetic programs to be intermixed in any combination of data selection and processing that is desired. An example of data selection and arithmetic analysis is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
