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DataacquisitionWikipedia

Dataacquisition
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Dataacquisitionistheprocessofsamplingsignalsthatmeasurerealworldphysicalconditionsand
convertingtheresultingsamplesintodigitalnumericvaluesthatcanbemanipulatedbyacomputer.Data
acquisitionsystems,abbreviatedbytheacronymsDASorDAQ,typicallyconvertanalogwaveformsinto
digitalvaluesforprocessing.Thecomponentsofdataacquisitionsystemsinclude:
Sensors,toconvertphysicalparameterstoelectricalsignals.
Signalconditioningcircuitry,toconvertsensorsignalsintoaformthatcanbeconvertedtodigital
values.
Analogtodigitalconverters,toconvertconditionedsensorsignalstodigitalvalues.
Dataacquisitionapplicationsareusually
controlledbysoftwareprograms
developedusingvariousgeneralpurpose
programminglanguagessuchas
Assembly,BASIC,C,C++,C#,Fortran,
Java,LabVIEW,Lisp,Pascal,etc.Stand
alonedataacquisitionsystemsareoften
calleddataloggers.
Therearealsoopensourcesoftware
packagesprovidingallthenecessary
toolstoacquiredatafromdifferent
hardwareequipment.Thesetoolscome
DigitalDataAcquisitionSystemBlockDiagram
fromthescientificcommunitywhere
complexexperimentrequiresfast,
flexibleandadaptablesoftware.ThosepackagesareusuallycustomfitbutmoregeneralDAQpackagelike
theMaximumIntegratedDataAcquisitionSystemcanbeeasilytailoredandisusedinseveralphysics
experimentsworldwide.

Contents
1 History
2 Methodology
2.1 Sourcesandsystems
2.2 DAQhardware
2.3 DAQdevicedrivers
2.4 Inputdevices
2.5 Hardware
2.6 DAQsoftware
3 References
4 Furtherreading
5 Seealso
6 Externallinks
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History
In1963,IBMproducedcomputerswhichspecializedindataacquisition.TheseincludetheIBM7700Data
AcquisitionSystem,anditssuccessor,theIBM1800DataAcquisitionandControlSystem.These
expensivespecializedsystemsweresurpassedin1974bygeneralpurposeS100computersanddata
acquisitionscardsproducedbyTecmar/ScientificSolutionsInc.In1981IBMintroducedtheIBMPersonal
ComputerandScientificSolutionsintroducedthefirstPCdataacquisitionproducts.
[1][2][3][4][5]

Methodology
Sourcesandsystems
Dataacquisitionbeginswiththephysicalphenomenonorphysicalpropertytobemeasured.Examplesof
thisincludetemperature,lightintensity,gaspressure,fluidflow,andforce.Regardlessofthetypeof
physicalpropertytobemeasured,thephysicalstatethatistobemeasuredmustfirstbetransformedintoa
unifiedformthatcanbesampledbyadataacquisitionsystem.Thetaskofperformingsuchtransformations
fallsondevicescalledsensors.Adataacquisitionsystemisacollectionofsoftwareandhardwarethatlets
youmeasureorcontrolphysicalcharacteristicsofsomethingintherealworld.Acompletedataacquisition
systemconsistsofDAQhardware,sensorsandactuators,signalconditioninghardware,andacomputer
runningDAQsoftware.
Asensor,whichisatypeoftransducer,isadevicethatconvertsaphysicalpropertyintoacorresponding
electricalsignal(e.g.,straingauge,thermistor).Anacquisitionsystemtomeasuredifferentproperties
dependsonthesensorsthataresuitedtodetectthoseproperties.Signalconditioningmaybenecessaryif
thesignalfromthetransducerisnotsuitablefortheDAQhardwarebeingused.Thesignalmayneedtobe
filteredoramplifiedinmostcases.Variousotherexamplesofsignalconditioningmightbebridge
completion,providingcurrentorvoltageexcitationtothesensor,isolation,linearization.Fortransmission
purposes,singleendedanalogsignals,whicharemoresusceptibletonoisecanbeconvertedtodifferential
signals.Oncedigitized,thesignalcanbeencodedtoreduceandcorrecttransmissionerrors.

DAQhardware
DAQhardwareiswhatusuallyinterfacesbetweenthesignalandaPC.[6]Itcouldbeintheformofmodules
thatcanbeconnectedtothecomputer'sports(parallel,serial,USB,etc.)orcardsconnectedtoslots(S100
bus,AppleBus,ISA,MCA,PCI,PCIE,etc.)inthemotherboard.UsuallythespaceonthebackofaPCI
cardistoosmallforalltheconnectionsneeded,soanexternalbreakoutboxisrequired.Thecablebetween
thisboxandthePCcanbeexpensiveduetothemanywires,andtherequiredshielding.
DAQcardsoftencontainmultiplecomponents(multiplexer,ADC,DAC,TTLIO,highspeedtimers,
RAM).Theseareaccessibleviaabusbyamicrocontroller,whichcanrunsmallprograms.Acontrolleris
moreflexiblethanahardwiredlogic,yetcheaperthanaCPUsothatitispermissibletoblockitwith

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simplepollingloops.Forexample:Waitingforatrigger,startingtheADC,lookingupthetime,waitingfor
theADCtofinish,movevaluetoRAM,switchmultiplexer,getTTLinput,letDACproceedwithvoltage
ramp.

DAQdevicedrivers
DAQdevicedriversareneededinorderfortheDAQhardwaretoworkwithaPC.Thedevicedriver
performslowlevelregisterwritesandreadsonthehardware,whileexposingAPIfordevelopinguser
applicationsinavarietyofprogrammingenvironments.

Inputdevices
3Dscanner
Analogtodigitalconverter
Timetodigitalconverter

Hardware
ComputerAutomatedMeasurementandControl(CAMAC)
IndustrialEthernet
IndustrialUSB
LANeXtensionsforInstrumentation
NIM
PowerLab
PCIeXtensionsforInstrumentation
VMEbus
VXI

DAQsoftware
SpecializedDAQsoftwaremaybedeliveredwiththeDAQhardware.Softwaretoolsusedforbuilding
largescaledataacquisitionsystemsincludeEPICS.Otherprogrammingenvironmentsthatareusedtobuild
DAQapplicationsincludeladderlogic,VisualC++,VisualBasic,LabVIEW,andMATLAB.Seealso:
LabChart
MIDAS

References
1.COMDEXFallNovember18,1981LasVegas,NV,"Tecmarshows20IBMPCoptioncard..LabMaster,
LabTender,DADIO,DeviceTender,IEEE488.."
2.PCMagazineVol1No.1,"TakingtheMeasure"byDavidBunnell,"Tecmardeployed20optioncardsforthe
IBMPC"
3.PCMagazineVol1No.5,"TecmarTriumph"byDavidBunnell,ScientificSolutionsreleases20newproductsfor
thePC
4.BYTEVol7No.1"ScientificSolutionsAdvertisementfordataacquisitionboards,steppercontrollers,IEEE
488products
5.Test&MeasurementWorldVol11No10DecadeofProgressAward:ScientificSolutionsLabMasterFirstinPC
DataAcquisition
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6.Datalogger,Recorder,DataAcquisitionBackgroundinformation(http://www.byteparadigm.com/datalogger13
8.html)ByteParadigmexplainsthedifferencesbetweendatalogginganddataacquisition.

Furtherreading
SimonMcBeath(2002).CompetitionCarDataLogging:APracticalHandbook.J.H.Haynes&Co.
ISBN1859606539.
SimonS.Young(2001).ComputerizedDataAcquisitionandAnalysisfortheLifeSciences.
CambridgeUniversityPress.ISBN0521565707.
W.R.Leo(1994).TechniquesforNuclearandParticlePhysicsExperiments.Springer.ISBN3540
572805.
CharlesD.Spencer(1990).DigitalDesignforComputerDataAcquisition.CambridgeUniversity
Press.ISBN0521371996.
B.G.Thompson&A.F.Kuckes(1989).IBMPCinthelaboratory.CambridgeUniversityPress.
ISBN0521321999.
BuddyFey(1996).DataPower:UsingRacecarDataAcquisition.ToweryPub.ISBN188109601
7.
FrancescoFornetti(2013).InstrumentationControl,DataAcquisitionandProcessingwithMATLAB.
ExploreRFLtd.ISBN9780957663503.
TomaKos,TomaKosar,andMarjanMernik.Developmentofdataacquisitionsystemsbyusinga
domainspecificmodelinglanguage.ComputersinIndustry,63(3):181192,2012.[1](http://dx.doi.o
rg/10.1016/j.compind.2011.09.004)doi:10.1016/j.compind.2011.09.004(https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%
2Fj.compind.2011.09.004)

Seealso
Blackbox
Datalogger
Datastoragedevice
Sensor
Signalprocessing
Transducer

Externallinks
VisualDAQAnAnalyticsPlatform(Software)for
ConnectingDAQSystems(http://www.visualdaq.com)
DASDATACloudPlatform(Software)forConnecting
InternetofThings(http://www.dasdata.co)

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