Data Acquisition Toolbox

The Computer

The computer provides a processor, a system clock, a bus to transfer data, and memory and disk space to store data.

The processor controls how fast data is accepted by the converter. The system clock provides time information about the acquired data. Knowing that you recorded a sensor reading is generally not enough. You also need to know when that measurement occurred.

Data is transferred from the hardware to system memory via dynamic memory access (DMA) or interrupts. DMA is hardware controlled and therefore extremely fast. Interrupts might be slow because of the latency time between when a board requests interrupt servicing and when the computer responds. The maximum acquisition rate is also determined by the computer's bus architecture. Refer to How Are Acquired Samples Clocked? for more information about DMA and interrupts.

Signal Conditioning

Software