An image detector monitoring system includes a detector framing node and a host computer having at least one host processor and a host memory. The detector framing node acquires image data, buffers the acquired image data, and outputs the image data to the host memory according to a predetermined communication protocol. The host computer executes operations according to a non-real time operating system, and a host memory stores the image data received from the detector framing node. The detector framing node is controlled by executing a plurality of event instructions, which are stored in an event queue. Some event instructions control a radiation generation system, while others control communication with an image detection system or control the detector framing node itself. Each event instruction executed by the detector framing node includes a bit flag indicating whether the event is to be traced by the detector framing node. Traced events are stored as entries in a response log in host memory. Each response log entry includes a time stamp indicating a time of execution of the traced event.