NI Data Acquisition Platform Comparison Guide

Overview

National Instruments provides a variety of data acquisition (DAQ) products that work with a wide range of buses and I/O types, all programmable through the easy-to-use, high-performance NI-DAQmx driver software.

When developing a measurement system, you will find that choosing the appropriate bus and product family is crucial for meeting a measurement system’s requirements. Considerations include sensor connectivity, measurement performance, modularity, and portability. This document presents an overview of NI data acquisition offerings.

Bus Considerations

Devices based on internal buses such as PCI and PCI Express offer the best throughput and latency performances. NI offers PCI and PCI Express DAQ devices for desktops and industrial PCs. PCI Express, introduced in 2004, is the successor to PCI. PCI Express transmits data over dedicated high-speed serial lanes and offers high-speed, dedicated bandwidth to devices in the system. These DAQ devices connect to a wide variety of connector blocks using high-performance shielded cables.

The USB standard provides power, a plug-and-play user experience, and high throughput rates, which makes USB DAQ devices ideal for a variety of applications from simple data logging and measurements to I/O for embedded OEM systems. To optimize the use of USB and deliver high-performance data acquisition, NI created the patent-pending NI signal streaming technology. NI signal streaming combines three innovative hardware- and software-level design elements to create sustained high-speed and bidirectional data streams over USB.

With NI Wi-Fi and Ethernet DAQ devices, you can perform remote measurements at distances as far reaching as Ethernet and wireless networks allow. NI Wi-Fi devices use 802.11b/g wireless and 128-bit AES encryption, the highest commercially available network security. NI Ethernet devices use 10/100BASE-T Ethernet. See more details below.

Finally, for a rugged, high-performance, and integrated system, consider PXI. PXI is an open, PC-based platform that incorporates modular Eurocard mechanical packaging with specialized synchronization lines for timing and triggering. PXI can integrate a controller and provides up to 18 slots in a single chassis. There are timing and triggering lines on the backplane of the PXI chassis for tight synchronization of the various I/O modules. PXI Express delivers PCI Express data transfer technology to the PXI platform, increasing backplane bandwidth from 132 MB/s to 6 GB/s.

General-Purpose I/O

Multifunction Devices

National Instruments multifunction DAQ devices combine analog I/O, digital I/O, and counter/timer functionality on a single device. These devices operate between -10 V and 10 V and are the most versatile I/O devices, well suited for a variety of measurement and control applications.

X Series for PCI Express and PXI Express

NI X Series devices for PCI Express and PXI Express are the most advanced DAQ devices ever designed by National Instruments. Significant enhancements to onboard timing, trigging, data streaming, and driver software, make parallel execution of measurement tasks possible at both the hardware and software levels. The X Series DAQ family features new NI-STC3 timing and synchronization technology that provides four advanced counters, a 100 MHz timebase, and additional options for I/O timing and triggering.

M Series for USB, PCI, and PXI/CompactPCI

NI M Series devices offer a broad set of I/O options and bus connectivity for data acquisition applications. M Series USB hardware uses NI signal streaming technology to maximize USB 2.0 throughput, and is in USB bus-powered or wall-powered options. For high-channel-count systems, M Series features up to 80 channels on a single device, and higher resolution requirements can be met with 18-bit devices. Industrial M Series boards are also offered with built-in isolation circuitry and analog current measurement options.

S Series Simultaneous Sampling on PCI, PXI/CompactPCI, and PXI Express

NI S Series DAQ devices offer simultaneously sampled analog inputs. All S Series devices have a dedicated analog-to-digital converter (ADC) on every channel, providing superior aggregate throughput and a higher sampling rate per channel than multiplexed devices. Simultaneous measurements also preserve the time or phase relationship between channels.  

R Series Multifunction RIO on PCI Express, PCI, and PXI

With R Series multifunction RIO devices and the LabVIEW FPGA Module, you can configure user-defined hardware for a wide variety of applications requiring precise timing and control such as data acquisition with onboard processing, high-speed analog, and discrete control loops, PWM and encoder interfacing, user-defined digital communication protocols, custom counters with up to 64-bit resolution, and hardware-timed decision making at 40 MHz.

 

For more information on NI multifunction DAQ devices, visit the multifunction DAQ page »

Function-Specific Devices

For applications requiring a subset of this functionality, NI provides function-specific devices for digital I/O, analog output, and counter/timer operations. These devices provide function-specific features such as wider voltage ranges and debouncing filters, and are on USB, PCI, PXI, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet.

Digital I/O

Counter/Timer

For C Series function-specific devices, see below.

Conditioned and Modular I/O

C Series

NI C Series I/O modules are self-contained measurement modules that contain all the circuitry required for a specific measurement. They include direct sensor connectivity, signal conditioning, and the A/D or D/A converter. They also work on a wide variety of devices.

Modules include ±80 mV thermocouple inputs, ±10 V simultaneous-sampling analog inputs/outputs, 24 V industrial digital I/O with up to 1 A current drive, differential/TTL digital inputs with 5 V regulated supply output for encoders, and 250 V_rms universal digital inputs.

NI CompactDAQ

NI CompactDAQ provides the plug-and-play simplicity of USB to sensor and electrical measurements and delivers the flexibility of modular instrumentation. The modular design can accommodate up to eight C Series modules and measure up to 256 channels of electrical, physical, mechanical, or acoustical signals in a single system.

See more information on NI CompactDAQ »

USB Single Module Carrier

The NI USB-9162 is a single module C Series carrier ideal for low-channel-count sensor measurements, analog output, DIO, and relay output. The NI USB-9162 carrier and C Series modules may be purchased separately or together as NI USB-9xxx devices.

See more information on USB DAQ »

Wi-Fi DAQ

NI Wi-Fi DAQ devices combine IEEE 802.11 wireless and Ethernet communication, with C Series modular I/O. NI wireless DAQ devices can stream data on each channel at more than 50 kS/s with 24 bits of resolution. In addition, built-in NIST-approved 128-bit AES encryption and advanced network authentication methods offer the highest commercially available network security.

Ethernet DAQ

NI Ethernet DAQ devices combine Ethernet communication with C Series modular I/O, and can stream data on each channel at more than 50 kS/s with 24 bits of resolution.

 

See more information on Wi-Fi and Ethernet DAQ devices »

Dynamic Signal Acquisition

NI dynamic signal acquisition (DSA) devices are designed specifically for audio analysis; noise, vibration, and harshness; and machine condition monitoring applications. They can acquire signals at sampling rates up to 204.8 kS/s with 24-bit resolution simultaneously across all channels. Integrated Electronic Piezoelectric (IEPE) sensor excitation and anti-aliasing filtering make these devices ideal for working with the microphones and accelerometers common in these applications. DSA products are on USB, PCI, PXI, PXI Express, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet buses.

See more information on dynamic signal acquisition »

SCXI

National Instruments SCXI is a high-channel-count signal conditioning and switching platform for measurement and automation systems. Whether you need to measure sensors or raw signals, generate voltages or currents, monitor digital lines, or route signals with switching, SCXI provides a single, integrated platform for all of your signal conditioning and switching needs. An SCXI system consists of multichannel signal conditioning modules installed in one or more rugged chassis. You can choose from a wide selection of analog I/O, digital I/O, and switching modules to fit your application needs exactly.

SCXI chassis can be controlled through a variety of DAQ devices, including PCI, PCI Express, PXI, PXI Express, and USB.

See more information on SCXI signal conditioning »

Reader Comments | Submit a comment »