Introduction For many datalogging applications, you can use the Agilent 34980A multifunction switch/measure unit or the Agilent 34970A data acquisition/switch unit mainframes and choose from a variety of measurement and switching modules to meet your needs. If you need more speed or more channels for scanning than these instruments pro- vide, you can use multiple 34980A or 34970A mainframes to achieve both objectives. For example, with ten 34970As, you can measure 480 channels in less than 1 second. 1 Using multiple mainframes to perform simultaneous data logging (also called parallel processing) is possible because each 34980A and 34970A mainframe has its own DMM and control circuitry. This application note explains how to use multiprocess- ing with the 34980A and the 34970A to increase channel count and increase scanning speed.