High-performance digital signal averager

Abstract

A digital signal averager for averaging data collected by an analog detector is provided. The digital signal averager includes an analog-to-digital converter for converting the analog detector output to a digital signal for processing, a timing device for generating delayed timing pulses for sequencing operation of the digital signal averager, an averaging device for summing and storing data. The delayed timing pulses allow data to be acquired by the ADC at a series of variably offset timing sequences relative to a trigger pulse. Offsetting the data acquisition timing sequences by time slices smaller than the actual sample rate of the ADC allows data to be acquired at a higher effective sampling rate. One complete series of offset timing sequences provides a data set containing all the information which would be acquired by a ADC having a faster sampling rate. Accuracy of the data is further enhanced by a series of parallel averaging devices, including one processing device and multiple memory devices, which perform real-time averaging of data. A digital signal processor applies a method for data compression to the averaged data to reduce data transfer rate and storage capacity requirement for transferring the averaged data to an analysis and storage device for long-term storage.