Data Acquisition Systems

The goal is to provide basic skills for the use of modern data acquisition equipment and processing methods. Students will learn to program in the LabVIEW^TM environment, in order to create virtual instruments (VI) to perform automatic measurements, timed acquisitions and simple control systems. The planned educational activity will be carried out almost entirely during the laboratory hours which, if used profitably, will allow students to have a very low home study commitment. The project activity will begin with an introduction to analog/digital conversion and Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems. The methods of installing and using PCI cards for multichannel acquisition and the generation of control signals will therefore be described.

Educational activity in the laboratory:

Presentation of the LabVIEW language; illustration of the acquisition board measurement potential (DAQ); DAQ configuration and overview of "controls" and "functions" in the LabVIEW environment; first exercises in using LabVIEW for the creation of a simple VI (Virtual Instrument) and explanation of the SubVI concept; implementation of a digital thermometer for ambient temperature monitoring.

Acquisition of a real analog signal, display on chart and saving on file; acquisition and monitoring of multiple signals in a timed manner; use of different data structures and function libraries (arrays, matrices, waveform graph, rms DC-value, etc.).

Processing, presentation and saving of data: graphs, statistics (averages and quadratic deviations), calculation of power spectra (FFT), saving in readable files with other software (for example Excel).

Specific exercises will therefore be developed in the classroom by students, assisted by qualified personnel.

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