Low Latency
“Latency” is the time delay between receiving input data and responding to that data. Guaranteed low latency is critical in real-time systems. NetAcquire systems use a real-time operating system and specially designed applications software to achieve very low latency.
Low-latency allows:
- closed-loop control algorithms such as PIDs that respond in a fraction of a millisecond
- rapid response when scanning for safety limit violations or emergency shutdown conditions
- immediate network communication to other computers without buffering delays.
With the NetAcquire Data Flow option, advanced low latency processing can be configured without programming.
Windows and UNIX Are Not Real-Time
Desktop operating systems such as Windows and UNIX are not designed for low latency. Without real-time support built into the operating system kernel, there is no way to guarantee that processor cycles are always available when needed for real-time processing.
NetAcquire systems conveniently put real-time processing on the NetAcquire processor, and other non-real-time processing like data display on the desktop processor. This architecture combines the best of both worlds: low-latency performance with the convenience of a desktop environment.
Extension Architecture
Low-latency processing often involves specialized event scanning or control algorithms. User-supplied functions are easily installed into NetAcquire systems with the NetAcquire Extension Toolkit. User-supplied software automatically utilizes the NetAcquire real-time operating system to operate in low-latency mode with fast task switching.
High Throughput
Low latency performance is different from high throughput data processing, and NetAcquire systems offer both.