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About
This
Manual
The LabVIEW Data Acquisition Basics Manual includes the information you need to get started with data acquisition and
LabVIEW.
This manual supplements the LabVIEW User Manual , and assumes that you are familiar with that material. You should also be familiar with the operation of LabVIEW, your computer, your computer's operating system, and your data acquisition (DAQ) board.
Organization of This Manual
The LabVIEW Data Acquisition Basics Manual is organized by parts, which in turn are made up of chapters. The parts in this manual are as follows.
• Part 1, Before You Get Started , contains all the information you should know before you start learning about data acquisition with
LabVIEW.
• Part 2, Catching the Wave with Analog Input , contains basic information on acquiring data with LabVIEW, including acquiring a single point or multiple points, triggering your acquisition, using outside sources to control acquisition rates, and using control loops for analog input and output.
• Part 3, Making Waves with Analog Output , contains basic information on generating data with LabVIEW, including generating a single point or multiple points.
• Part 4, Getting Square with Digital I/O , describes basic concepts on how to use digital signals with data acquisition in LabVIEW, including immediate and handshaked digital I/O.
• Part 5, SCXI—Getting Your Signals in Great Condition , contains basic information on setting up and using SCXI modules with your data acquisition application, special programming considerations, common SCXI applications, and calibration information.
• Part 6, Counting Your Way to High Precision Timing , describes the different ways you can use counters with your data acquisition
National Instruments Corporation xvii LabVIEW Data Acquisition Basics Manual
About This Manual application, including generating a pulse or pulses, measuring pulse width, measuring frequency, and period, counting events, and dividing frequencies for precision timing.
• Part 7, Debugging Your Data Acquisition Application , contains a brief explanation of ways you can debug your data acquisition application to make sure your application is accurate and runs smoothly.
• Appendix A, Common LabVIEW Data Acquisition Questions , lists answers to questions frequently asked by LabVIEW users.
• Appendix B, Customer Communication , contains forms you can use to request help from National Instruments or to comment on our products and manuals.
• The Glossary contains an alphabetical list and description of terms used in this manual, including abbreviations, acronyms, metric prefixes, mnemonics, and symbols.
• The Index contains an alphabetical list of key terms and topics in this manual, including the page where you can find each one.
Conventions Used in This Manual
-
The following conventions are used in this manual:
[ ] In Help window pictures of VI inputs and outputs, square brackets enclose parameters whose values you rarely need to set.
<>
AI device
Angle brackets enclose the name of a key on the keyboard–for example, <shift>.
A hyphen between two or more key names enclosed in angle brackets denotes that you should simultaneously press the named keys–for example,
<shift-delete>. Key names are lowercase.
An analog input device that has AI in its name, such as the NEC-AI-16E-4.
Am9513-based device
These MIO devices do not have an E- in their names. These devices include the NB-MIO-16,
NB-MIO-16X, NB-A2000, NB-TIO-10, and
NB-DMA2800 on the Macintosh; and the
LabVIEW Data Acquisition Basics Manual xviii National Instruments Corporation
About This Manual bold
DIO devices
Bold text denotes menus, menu items, or dialog box buttons or options. In addition, bold text denotes VI input and output parameters. In the
Help window pictures of VI inputs and outputs, boldfaced parameters are parameters whose values you must specify.
Bold italic text denotes a note, caution, or warning.
bold italic configuration utility Configuration utility refers to NI-DAQ on the
Macintosh, WDAQCONF.EXE
in Windows, and daqconf on the Sun.
driver Driver refers to the NI-DAQ data acquisition device driver.
DIO devices refer to all devices with the letters
DIO in their name, unless otherwise noted.
italic
AT-MIO-16, AT-MIO-16F-5, AT-MIO-16X,
AT-MIO-16D, AT-MIO-64F-5 in Windows.
monospace
Italic text denotes emphasis, a cross reference, or an introduction to a key concept.
Text in this font denotes text or characters that you should enter literally using the keyboard. Sections of code, programming and syntax examples, and the proper names of files also appear in this font.
Warning: This icon to the left of bold italicized text denotes a warning, which alerts you to the possibility of damage to you or your equipment.
Caution: This icon to the left of bold italicized text denotes a caution, which alerts you to the possibility of data loss or a system crash.
Note: This icon to the left of bold italicized text denotes a note, which alerts you to important information.
National Instruments Corporation xix LabVIEW Data Acquisition Basics Manual
About This Manual
LabVIEW Data
Types
Each VI description gives a data type picture for each input and output parameter, as illustrated in the following table.
Control Indicator Data Type
Signed 8-bit integer
Signed 16-bit integer
Signed 32-bit integer
Unsigned 8-bit integer
Unsigned 16-bit integer
Unsigned 32-bit integer
Single-precision floatingpoint number
Double-precision floatingpoint number
Extended-precision floatingpoint number
String
Boolean
Array of signed 32-bit integers
Cluster
File Refnum
Abbreviations, acronyms, metric prefixes, mnemonics, symbols, and terms are listed in the Glossary .
LabVIEW Data Acquisition Basics Manual xx National Instruments Corporation
About This Manual
Related Documentation
The following documents contain information that you may find helpful as you read this manual.
• The user manuals for the data acquisition boards you use
• LabVIEW Data Acquisition VI Reference Manual
• LabVIEW Tutorial
• LabVIEW User Manual
• LabVIEW Networking Reference Manual
• Application Note 025, Field Wiring and Noise Considerations for
Analog Signals
• Application Note 005, Thermocouples and Temperature
Measurements
Customer Communication
National Instruments wants to receive your comments on our products and manuals. We are interested in the applications you develop with our products, and we want to help if you have problems with them. To make it easy for you to contact us, this manual contains comment and configuration forms for you to complete. These forms are in
Appendix B, Customer Communication , at the end of this manual.
National Instruments Corporation xxi LabVIEW Data Acquisition Basics Manual
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