Facilities

Data acquisition

The facility has four National Instrument (NI) based data acquisition systems. DAQ boxes 1-3 each have 104 high speed [dynamic] data acquisition channels, with DAQ box 4 having 80 channels, making a total of 392 channels available for use in static or shake table testing.

Each of the DAQ boxes is composed of:

• A PC running LabVIEW Real-Time OS with software designed and written by Dr. Patrick Laplace
• National Instruments SCXI 1001 chassis
• National Instruments SCXI 1520 signal conditioner modules
• National Instruments SCXI 1314T (TEDS) terminal blocks

Depending on the experiment demands the DAQs may be used individually or in any combination of the four. All systems utilize the IEEE 1451.4 (TEDS) standard to make the system "plug&play." This gives us the ability to rapidly setup, change, or troubleshoot instruments while at the same time virtually eliminating any chance of mistakes (ie. incorrect calibration factor).