1 163.5 cm



 12 cm T--- 11.2 cm


 end-cap actuation end-cap
 rack

Figure 4.5. The sliding link.


MB of RAM. The hardware architecture for the control computer is diagrammed in Figure 4.6.

Mass storage for the computer was provided by a 20 MB hard drive and a 1 MB floppy drive

which were connected to the VME bus. The computer was equipped with three serial ports. The

main system console was connected to the computer through one serial port, while a second port

was wired to a remote connector for connecting a terminal outside of the control room of the

trailer. An Apple Macintosh Plus system, with 2 MB of RAM, a 20 MB hard disk, and a printer,

was used as a printer/plotter station and was connected to the VME bus by way of the third

serial port.

 Video system. The video system was composed of the CCD camera, the FOR-A color

decoder, three Datacube VVG-128 video frame grabbers, and a Sony RGB video monitor. The

NTSC output signal from the camera was converted into separate red, green, and blue video

signals by the color decoder. The three Datacube frame grabbers provided the ability to

digitize, store, display, and process full color video images in real-time. The red, green, and

blue signals from the decoder were acquired simultaneously by the frame grabbers at a 60 HZ

rate. The signal for each primary color was quantified with 5 bit resolution based on the

intensity of the signal at each pixel. These acquired video data, ranging in value from 0 to 31,

were stored in memory as three, 384 x 244 pixel arrays, one for each primary color signal. The

red frame grabber also generated a hardware interrupt on the VME bus with each vertical

blanking period. This interrupt was used to synchronize all of the real-time activities. Video