National Instruments has introduced a USB-based, modular data acquisition system called NI CompactDAQ, that is suitable for sensor and electrical measurements on the bench top, in the field and on the production line. The system comprises an eight-slot chassis that accepts I/O modules capable of measuring up to 256 channels of electrical, physical, mechanical and acoustic signals in a single system.
NI CompactDAQ takes full advantage of the bandwidth now available with high-speed USB and minimises both size and power consumption for laptop users and portable systems. Signal conditioning is available for a variety of measurements, including voltage, temperature, strain, sound and vibration, while digital I/O and switching are also catered for. All modules are hot-swappable and offer up to 2,300Vrms of isolation.
The system delivers four dedicated USB signal streams for synchronous analogue and digital I/O, and covers data-intensive applications that include sound and vibration, mixed-signal automated test and high-speed data logging. In addition, the small size (250x90x90mm) and flexible power options (mains ac or 11-30Vdc) make NI CompactDAQ ideal for a wide range of test settings, such as in-vehicle, bench-top and automated test applications.
Every NI CompactDAQ system is shipped with NI-DAQmx driver software and additional measurement services, a collection of powerful tools and interfaces that make system setup even faster and simpler. For example, an interactive configuration and test panel utility minimises setup time, while the accompanying configuration-based data logging software makes it possible to record data without programming.
NI-DAQmx measurement services software also includes an open API for NI LabVIEW, C/C++, Visual Basic 6 and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET languages, as well as the DAQ Assistant, a step-by-step wizard utility from NI that automatically generates LabVIEW code.