“…First, these higher-performance communication mechanisms provided alternate means to implement the communication channels of Figure 3. Large high-performance instrumentation systems, such as those developed in the 1980s at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU, are examples of this (31,32). A hierarchical system, spread over ~100,000 square feet, consisted of 5 Vaxes, 36 CAMAC crates (each containing a Motorola microprocessor), and the necessary CAMAC modules to read and control 800 parameters.…”