System for acquisition and real‐time processing of multidimensional slit‐scan flow cytometric data

The high‐speed sampling requirements of multidimensional slit‐scan signals (cell contours) have typically required custom hardware. This specialized hardware has often lacked the flexibility to adapt to varying instrument setups and experimental requirements. A hardware and software system capable of sampling multiple slit‐scan cell contours at rates of up to 40 MHz with 10‐bit resolution is described. It utilizes commercially available CAMAC transient recorders, a Digital Equipment Corp. PDP‐11/83 computer, and custom hardware for signal conditioning and trigger generation. The modular design of the software system allows various hardware options with minimal additional coding. Real‐time digital processing checks each cell contour for multiple peaks; extracts morphological features such as width, height, and area; accumulates gated histograms of these data; and optionally saves the derived data, selected contours, or both into list mode files on disk.