Examples of the use of transputers in image processing and analog data acquisition

Some hardware and software aspects of the transputer have been investigated. This involved two major areas of study. One was the development of inexpensive analog interfaces and the other was the development of an image processing system to identify carbon anode blocks used in the aluminum smelting process. The first part of this study looked at interfacing analog signals to the transputer via the transputer links. In particular, analog to digital and digital to analog converter boards, which were compatible to the industrial standard TRAM configuration, were designed and tested. The 8 bit single channel AID converter board developed was capable of handling a data rate of almost 200 thousand samples per second with a link speed of 20 Mbits/s. The multi-channel AID converter board was capable of sampling at 19.69 thousand samples per second per channel on eight channels, and the D/ A converter board was capable of handling a data throughput of 198.01 thousand conversions per second. The study illustrates that these maximum conversion rates are determined by the OCCAM software and not by the link speed. The second part of the study involved the development of a prototype image processing system to remotely identify carbon anodes. The software development for this was implemented in Turbo Pascal and OCCAM allowing a comparison to be made of the speed of these two implementations. The study details how the image processing techniques of connectivity analysis was applied to the pattern identification process. The use of sequential, concurrent and parallel processes in the implementation is discussed. The study showed that by using a fairly simple two dimensional pattern and a transputer for the processing, it would be possible to identify carbon anodes at several locations in a production plant within the time constraints of the production process.