A miniature high speed wireless data acquisition system for geotechnical centrifuges

Two desirable features for the data acquisition system on a geotechnical centrifuge are the capability to log data at very high speed-allowing dynamic events to be monitored-and miniaturization. A recent research initiative at the University of Western Australia involves the simulation of submarine slides in the 1.2 m diameter drum centrifuge-for which both of these features are critical. This paper describes the new high-speed Wireless Data Acquisition System (WDAS) that was developed to operate within the tight confines of the drum centrifuge. The WDAS system consists of up to 8 separate miniature units capable of powering and monitoring 8 instrument channels at a sampling rate of up to 1 MHz at 16-bit resolution. The data are stored within the logging unit in solid state memory, but may also be streamed in real-time at low frequency (up to 100 Hz) to the centrifuge control room, via wireless transmission.