The compact size of a card made the STD bus system more adaptable to various applications than the contemporary computer buses of the mid-1980s such as the S-100 and the SS-50, because it could use servo control cards along with a fully programmable computer for mathematical operations.
In applications for running an astronomical observatory, the large industrial base of cards, and the system's expandability, made the system desirable for use in a photometry lab to control the telescope as well as do the data logging and computations required.
[2] In typical university laboratory settings of the mid - late 80's, STD bus data acquisition systems were commonplace using Z80 or similar processor cards for the data capture, processing and control, parallel I/O cards for experiment control as well as analogue to digital conversion cards for reading experiment analogue parameters.
Such systems would only occupy minimal rack space, while providing full CP/M processing features.
This allows with the proper STD-32 backplane the ability to run legacy cards used for specific applications on the same bus without having to upgrade the complete system.