🚀 go-pugleaf

I hope to get some advice from the net on this...

We currently have a data acquisition and analysis application working 
on a standalone DOS workstation. It consists of the data acquisition
module and the analysis module. Data rate is from 9000 to 30000 bits per
sec. The interrupt rate on the data acquisition module is currently
250Hz but this is not fixed yet.

The idea now is to expand the system using multiple stations (16 for a
total realtime bandwidth of 144000 to 480000 bits per sec). The multiple
stations are then networked together with a central file server cum
control station using a token ring network.

This application is not (at least not yet anyway) commercial. We're
a university group in collaboration with a local hospital.

Keep in mind we do not have very much manpower - so we keep it as simple
as possible.

The plan is,

1) Initially, we run the 2 DOS programs [mostly] unmodified  in 2 
DOS sessions. They communicate using OS/2 pipes. Later we convert 
it to a multithreaded OS/2 program.

2) Semi-Hard Realtime data streaming and reporting has to be done to the 
control station. This is done using named pipes.

3) later, we add other non realtime stuff such as image retrieval. This
will use bandwidth but hopefully will not interfere with the realtime
stuff (with some application level flow control)

The idea is that by buying standard parts and components (OS/2 with Lan
server + 486 single board computers + token ring cards), we reduce 
our development effort. Network programming is simplified to basically
file IO calls.

Is this a viable solution? 

Can we do data logging to the file server domain (directly to network
drive) with some reasonably real time characteristics (esp. with regard
to delay and jitter)? 

Can we expect the same realtime characteristics from the use of named
pipes over the network?

The DOS programs currently use a considerable amout of CPU. What kind of
overhead can we expect from the use of pipes?

If we install disk duplexing, will this in anyway impact on performance
and failure/recovery semantics?

What kind of error reporting etc does LAN Server supply?

Lan Server will be installed at the control station. The control station
will have to handle data logging and streaming as well as trends display
and interactive queries. Is LAN Server+OS/2 performance up to this?

Any comments/advice ?

Thanks

jin meng

PS. IBM Token Ring cards are expensive! Is there another alternative
network solution (for reasonable real time networking)? Token Ring cards
are also currently an overkill for what we plan but we're keeping future
expansion in mind.