#daq system

Introduction

In today's world, data is king. Organizations across all industries are leveraging data to gain insights into their operations, customers, and markets. However, the process of collecting data is not always straightforward. This is where a Data Acquisition System (DAS) comes in. A DAS is a system that collects and stores data from a variety of sources, making it available for analysis and decision-making.

What is a Data Acquisition System?

A NI DAS is a system that collects data from various sources, such as sensors, instruments, and other devices, and stores it for analysis. The system can be hardware-based or software-based, and it can be used in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation.

Hardware-based DAS typically consists of a computer, data acquisition cards, and sensors or instruments that measure physical quantities, such as temperature, pressure, or voltage.

Software-based DAS is a computer program that collects data from various sources, such as databases or files.

Applications of Data Acquisition Systems

Data Acquisition is widely used in many industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation.

In manufacturing, DAS is used to monitor and control processes, such as temperature, pressure, and flow rate. This helps ensure that the products meet quality standards and that the manufacturing process is efficient.

In healthcare, DAS is used to monitor patients' vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels. This helps healthcare professionals make informed decisions about patient care.

In transportation, DAS is used to monitor the performance of vehicles, such as speed, fuel consumption, and engine temperature. This helps fleet managers optimize vehicle performance and reduce costs.

Stats:

The global data acquisition (DAQ) market size was valued at USD 1.8 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8% from 2020 to 2027. (source: Grand View Research)

The healthcare industry is expected to hold the largest share of the DAS market by 2025. (source: MarketsandMarkets)

Conclusion

A data acquisition system is a system that consists of a computer, measurement devices, and sensors. Processing acquired data requires a data acquisition system, which gathers the information needed to comprehend electrical and physical processes. 

For the purposes of engineering or scientific research, data acquisition systems can collect information about a real-world system and store it in an understandable, retrievable manner.

Essential components of Data Acquisition System:  

Sensors:

Interacting with the entity being measured is the primary function of sensors and transducers. They convert physical phenomena like light, temperature, pressure, position, sound, etc. into a measurable signals like Voltage & Current. 

Signal Conditioners:

The electrical signals collected by the sensors may be distorted by noise or interference and require processing before they can be used. Sometimes the signals are too weak for the data acquisition system to pick up. As a result, supplementary circuitry is employed for signal optimization. A signal conditioner is a technical term for this additional hardware. Therefore, signal conditioning is the act of making the signals as error-free as possible.

Analog-to-Digital Converters:

This DAQ module is responsible for digitizing analog inputs. It is the function of this chip to take information from its surrounding environment and translate it into discrete levels that a computer can understand.

Software Application (NI LabVIEW):

NI LabVIEW is well equipped for creating DAQ applications and it also supports many hardware devices. Within a manufacturing environment, LabVIEW is widely used for automated product testing, becoming the standard for the industry. Possible Integration with multiple hardware platforms makes LabVIEW  the a Preferred Software development platform  for engineers, designers and research scientists.

Parameters Measured on DAQ:

Many different parameters can be measured using a data acquisition system, including the following:

* Current

* Voltage

* Strain

* Frequency or time interval

* Pressure

* Temperature

* Distance

* Vibration

* Angles

* Digital signals

* Weight

Benefits of DAQ System:

* Accurate 

* Flexible 

* Scalable 

* Programmable 

DAQ Applications:

Automotive:

In order to ensure that the manufactured automobile parts are of the highest quality, data acquisition software & equipments are used.

NI Instruments: 

The data acquisition (DAQ) devices offered by National Instruments are organized into distinct groups to facilitate the quick and simple selection. Types of these systems, such as temperature and strain, or common form factors, are used to quantify them.

Aerospace Defense: 

Data acquisition products are used by virtually every aerospace industry and flight testing facility. These systems can function in a wide variety of contexts and conditions. Every DAQ system is put through its paces in the lab, in the telemetry control room, on the engine test stand, and on the flight line to make sure it performs as well as it needs to. 

There are a wide variety of uses for these systems, including monitoring direct analog inputs or digitized parameters being tele-metered from an aircraft to a ground monitoring station, flight testing, range safety, missile testing, maintenance, and troubleshooting on (or next to) an aircraft, electromechanical testing in an aircraft hangar, component testing & validation, structural testing on military vehicles, and more.

Electronics:

What is TMCS:

TMCS is a leading service provider of test and measurement solutions for nearly a decade. We cater to a diverse set of industries including Automotive, EV, Aero Defense, Engineering, Oil and Gas, Steel, and Pharmaceutical. Our automotive industry offerings include HIL (hardware in loop), EOL ATEs, Panel engineering solutions, and software development services.

At TMCS, we believe in competent skills, collaborative approach, effective consultation aided by detailed planning that can fulfill your requirement with no or minimum obstacles. Incepted in the year 2013, Theta Measurement and Control Solutions Pvt. Ltd (TMCS) mainly provides cost effective Industrial Automation, Test, Measurement & Control solutions. This enables customers to deliver state-of-the-art technological solutions.

We are specialized in developing customized automated test equipment to meet their distinct requirements, which include commissioning industry standard automation, measurement hardware and software, data acquisition system and control systems.

TMCS has presence in various industries:

DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM SERVICES:

Data Acquisition Systems (DAQ System) have its contribution in a wide range of activities of day-to-day life. Most commonly, it is used to measure the electrical signals from some sensor. It is often referred, is the process of digitizing data from the world around us so it can be displayed, analyzed, and stored in a computer.

DAQ system applications are usually controlled by software programs developed using various using general purpose programming language such as Assembly, BASIC, C, C++, C#, Fortran, Java, Lab VIEW. TMCS is NI Alliance Partner we also provide NI Labview Software offshore consultation.

Purposes of Data Acquisition:

The primary purpose of a data acquisition system is to acquire and store the data. Data acquisition systems are principally in the business of measuring physical phenomena such as:

Temperature

Voltage

Current Strain and Pressure

Shock, Vibration Distance and Displacement RPM

Angle and Discrete Events Weight

Assume we want to send the letter ‘A’ over the serial port. The binary representation of the letter ‘A’ is 01000001. Remembering that bits are transmitted from least significant bit (LSB) to most significant bit (MSB), the bit stream transmitted would be as follows for the line characteristics 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, 9600 baud.

LSB (0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1) MSB The above represents (Start Bit) (Data Bits) (Stop Bit)

To calculate the actual byte transfer rate simply divide the baud rate by the number of bits that must be transferred for each byte of data. In the case of the above example, each character requires 10 bits to be transmitted for each character. As such, at 9600 baud, up to 960 bytes can be transferred in one second.

The first article was talking about the “electrical/logical” characteristics of the data stream. We will expand the discussion to line protocol. Serial communication can be half duplex or full duplex. Full duplex communication means that a device can receive and transmit data at the same time. Half duplex means that the device cannot send and receive at the same time. It can do them both, but not at the same time. Half duplex communication is all but outdated except for a very small focused set of applications. Half duplex serial communication needs at a minimum two wires, signal ground, and the data line. Full duplex serial communication needs at a minimum three wires, signal ground, transmit data line and receive data line. The RS232 specification governs the physical and electrical characteristics of serial communications. This specification defines several additional signals that are asserted (set to logical 1) for information and control beyond the data signals and signals ground.

These signals are the Carrier Detect Signal (CD), asserted by modems to signal a successful connection to another modem, Ring Indicator (RI), asserted by modems to signal the phone ringing, Data Set Ready (DSR), asserted by modems to show their presence, Clear To Send (CTS), asserted by modems if they can receive data, Data Terminal Ready (DTR), asserted by terminals to show their presence, Request To Send ( RTS), asserted by terminals when they want to send data. The section RS232 Cabling describes these signals and how they are connected. The above paragraph alluded to hardware flow control. Hardware flow control is a method that two connected devices use to tell each other electronically when to send or when not to send data. A modem in general drops (logical 0) its CTS line when it can no longer receive characters. It re-asserts it when it can receive again. A terminal does the same thing instead with the RTS signal. Another method of hardware flow control in practice is to perform the same procedure in the previous paragraph except that the DSR and DTR signals are used for the handshake.