SPARnet: A data acquisition/analysis computer network☆☆☆

Abstract This paper details the design and operation of a computer hardware and software system that provides for the automatic acquisition of data from controlled environment plant growth chambers called soil-plant-atmosphere-research (SPAR) units, control of the SPAR environments, and the storage of collected data in an online database. The system also provides for automatic error checking of collected data and preliminary analysis of data. The computer hardware consists of a superminicomputer and a microcomputer networked together. The software system consists of data acquisition and analysis software written in ANSI 1977 FORTRAN.