That was a great review from Joe. I'm wondering if any list members have familiarity with using PCMCIA cards to do A/D conversion on a computer, and then write directly to the computer's hard drive (or an external one)? National Instruments has several data acquisition cards, and I have been using an NI E-Series (6062E) PCMCIA card for laptop. It has an aggregate sample rate of 500 Ks/sec. This allows multi-channel recordings (e.g., for towed or other hydrophone arrays) or high sample rates for 1 or 2 channels. I've heard others criticize the use of PC's and laptops to do A/D, because they introduce noise. I have seen this for cheap (internal) sound cards - but it seems that with high-quality acquisition cards, as long as your analog signal is well shielded before A/D conversion, it shouldn't be affected by the computer. Yes? I have not noticed such issues with the NI DAQ cards, but also haven't really tested them in a controlled environment.
How about this? I personally like using a laptop because it's quite versatile and allows you to do other things as well (e.g., run real-time processing software). I could see the problem if working in remote or harsh environments though... Do any list members have any knowledge or comments on this? -Tom Thomas Norris Senior Scientist / Marine Vertebrate Biologist Marine & Environmental Sciences Div Science Applications International Corp. San Diego, CA 92121 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 760-632-6344 (office) 858-361-5656 (mobile) (858) 826-2735 (fax) http://www.saic.com/aquatic-sciences/
