1. An apparatus for a test and measurement instrument, the instrument comprising:
a plurality of processors, including a first processor and a last processor;
a plurality of memory controllers, wherein each processor is connected to its own memory controller;
memory, wherein each memory controller is connected to its own memory;
a plurality of high-speed interconnects, wherein the processors are connected by the high-speed interconnects in a circular arrangement with each processor being directly connected to the processors immediately adjacent on either side;
a bridge, wherein at least the first and last processors are connected to the bridge;
a system bus, wherein the bridge is connected to the system bus;
an acquisition module having a signal bus interface and acquisition memory, wherein the system bus is connected to the acquisition module and has its own acquisition hardware, and wherein the acquisition hardware comprises a direct memory access machine that can transfer data to any portion of the memory; and
a signal source, wherein the signal source is connected to the signal bus interface.
2. The apparatus for a test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 1, wherein the high-speed interconnects are used as the system bus.
3. The apparatus for a test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 1, wherein each processor is connected to its own memory element.
4. The apparatus for a test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 3, wherein the memory elements are interconnected.
5. The apparatus for a test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 3, wherein each memory element is interconnected to at least another of the memory elements by way of the processor to which it is connected.
6. The apparatus for a test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 1, wherein each processor is a multicore processor.
7. The apparatus for a test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 1, including a display connected to at least the last processor for displaying images based on signals acquired by the instrument.
8. The apparatus for a test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 1, wherein the display is connected to at least the last processor by way of the bridge.
9. A method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture comprising the steps of:
a) obtaining the test and measurement instrument as defined in claim 1;
b) attaching the test and measurement instrument to a Device Under Test (DUT) to be measured, wherein the signal source is in electronic communication with the acquisition module;
c) collecting data from the DUT;
d) storing the collected data from the DUT in the acquisition memory;
e) dividing the collected data from the DUT into a plurality of pieces;
f) assigning one of the plurality of pieces to be processed next;
g) transferring the piece to be processed next to the memory connected to the first processor;
h) processing any pieces to be processed by each processor communicating with its own memory to generate intermediate results;
i) transferring each intermediate result from the processor generating it to the adjacent processor;
j) repeating steps e) through i) until all of the plurality of pieces created in step d) have been processed at least once by the final processor and the final processor’s memory contains a final result; and
k) reporting the final result to a user.
10. The method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture as defined in claim 9, wherein the high-speed interconnects are used as the system bus.
11. The method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture as defined in claim 9, wherein each processor is connected to its own memory element.
12. The method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture as defined in claim 9, wherein the memory elements are interconnected.
13. The method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture as defined in claim 9, wherein each memory element is interconnected to at least another of the memory elements by way of the processor to which it is connected.
14. The method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture as defined in claim 9, wherein each processor is a multicore processor.
15. The method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture as defined in claim 9, including a display connected to at least the last processor for displaying images based on signals acquired by the instrument.
16. The method of processing waveform data from one or more channels using a circular processing queue architecture as defined in claim 9, wherein the display is connected to at least the last processor by way of the bridge.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of monitoring temperature conditions, comprising:
inputting a light pulse into a fiber optic cable;
receiving a reflection signal that arises from said input light pulse in said fiber optic cable; and
determining temperature conditions on different portions of the fiber optic cable based on said reflection signal, wherein said determining comprises performing a comparison for each of said different portions of the fiber optic cable,
wherein said comparison is performed with respect to a threshold value corresponding to one of said portions.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises determining said temperature conditions based on an amplitude of said reflection signal.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting said threshold value to detect different temperature conditions in said fiber optic cable.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a location of one of said portions of the fiber optic cable based on a return time of said reflection signal.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining said location by determining at least one of a location relative to an overall length of the fiber optic cable, and an absolute distance from one end of the fiber optic cable.
6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:
correlating said location of one of the temperature conditions along said fiber optic cable with a spatial location of an area occupied by said fiber optic cable; and
displaying on a display the spatial location of the area occupied by said fiber optic cable.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at least one of a temperature duration and a temperature progression of said temperature conditions over a predetennined time interval.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a signal to initiate at least one of an alarm, a safety measure and a corrective measure.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting and recognizing a temperature increase, said temperature increase being characteristic of a faulty escape of air from an aircraft pipe system.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein said aircraft pipe system is a pressurized air system configured to deliver hot pressurized bleed air from an aircraft engine.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a break of said fiber optic cable with an end reflection signal, a portion of said cable between said break and said optical receiver remaining functional for monitoring a temperature condition.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising allocating different thresholds to different portions of the fiber optic cable.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising allocating different thresholds to different ranges of a transit time of said reflection signal.
14. A method of monitoring temperature conditions, comprising:
inputting a light pulse into a fiber optic cable;
receiving a reflection signal that arises from said input light pulse in said fiber optic cable; and
determining temperature conditions on different portions of the fiber optic cable based on said reflection signal, wherein said determining comprises performing a comparison for each of said different portions of the fiber optic cable,
wherein said comparison is performed with respect to a comparison signal corresponding to one of said portions.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising adjusting said comparison signal to detect different temperature conditions in the fiber optic cable.
16. A method of monitoring temperature conditions, comprising:
step for inputting a light pulse into a fiber optic cable;
step for receiving a reflection signal that arises from said input light pulse in said fiber optic cable; and
step for determining temperature conditions on different portions of the fiber optic cable based on said reflection signal, said step for determining including a step for performing a comparison for each of said different portions of the fiber optic cable,
wherein said step for determining comprises determining said temperature conditions based on a threshold value corresponding to one of said portions.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein said step for determining comprises determining said temperature conditions based on an amplitude of said reflection signal.
18. The method of claim 16, further comprising step for adjusting said threshold value to detect different temperature conditions in said fiber optic cable.
19. The method of claim 16, further comprising step for determining a location of one of said portions of the fiber optic cable based on a return time of said reflection signal.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising step for determining said location by determining at least one of a location relative to an overall length of the fiber optic cable, and an absolute distance from one end of the fiber optic cable.
21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:
step for correlating said location of one of the temperature conditions along said fiber optic cable with a spatial location of an area occupied by said fiber optic cable; and
step for displaying on a display the spatial location of the area occupied by said fiber optic cable.
22. The method of claim 16, further comprising step for determining at least one of a temperature duration and a temperature progression of said temperature conditions over a predetermined time interval.
23. The method of claim 16, further comprising step for generating a signal to initiate at least one of an alarm, a safety measure and a corrective measure.
24. A method of monitoring temperature conditions, comprising:
step for inputting a light pulse into a fiber optic cable;
step for receiving a reflection signal that arises from said input light pulse in said fiber optic cable; and
step for determining temperature conditions on different portions of the fiber optic cable based on said reflection signal, said step for determining including a step for performing a comparison for each of said different portions of the fiber optic cable,
wherein said step for determining comprises determining said temperature conditions based on a comparison signal corresponding to one of said portions.
25. The method of claim 24, further comprising step for adjusting said comparison signal to detect different temperature conditions in the fiber optic cable.