Abstract
The advent of the microprocessor has made it possible to provide a variety of intelligent instruments for the analytical laboratory. This trend eventually suggested the introduction of the distributed function multiprocessor concept, one of the recent system approaches in computer technology, to accommodate the growing intricacy of laboratory automation systems. To demonstrate an example of unconventional design schemes for intelligent instruments, a distributed function multiprocessor network is implemented in a small spectrophotometer. The total function is divided into basic spectrophotometric measurement, data processing, and data display, and each of them is allocated to an individual microprocessor integrated module which can communicate with others through the IEEE-488 standard interface bus. The notable feature of the system is simplicity of expansion by combining the independent functional modules along the standard interface bus. The details of the system structure and operational procedures are presented together with typical performance data.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.