Find data acquisition systems including DAQ systems, data acquisition and control, data loggers and more. From acquisition software to temperature recorders, you will find the data acquisition system you need. Use the time-saving Request for Quote tool to submit your inquiry to all the data acquisition system manufacturers and suppliers you select.
DATAQ® Instruments is a manufacturer and supplier of PC-based data acquisition hardware and software products for industrial applications. We serve life sciences research and engineering. Contact us for quality data acquisition systems and portable data logging equipment.
Astro-Med is an industry leader in data acquisition. Our Test & Measurement group designs data recorders for use in many industries, including defense, aerospace and transportation. Our products include portable data loggers, PC-based data acquisition systems and ruggedized data loggers.
Computer Aided Solutions carries a variety of data acquisition systems with anywhere from 1 to 100 channels capable of measuring input signals including temperature, humidity, pressure, flow, voltage, current and digital signals. Let us help you find the data logger with all the features you need.
CyberResearch is a leading supplier of PC-based data acquisition systems, rack-mount PCs, personal instrumentation and motion control systems. We have hundreds of products for PC-based data acquisition, data acquisition software, industrial PC systems, instrumentation and motion control.
ACCES I/O Products designs and manufactures data acquisition systems. We also offer popular and proven digital, analog, serial and relay I/O boards. These are isolated and non-isolated, including distributed wireless I/O products. PCI, Low Profile PCI, PC/104, USB, Ethernet, RS-485 and ISA.
Data acquisition systems (DAQs) gather information
from one or more signal inputs or sensor sources and convert this information
into a digital form for further analysis. These data acquisition systems
are a means for monitoring and regulating manufacturing processes and
systems. Data acquisition systems, alternately known as data
loggers,
are typically made to measure light, humidity, temperature, voltage,
pressure, acceleration, rotation, strain and other similar events. Many
data acquisition systems are compact and battery-powered for ease of
use and storage. Numerous variations of instrumentation and modular systems
are available from data acquisition system manufacturers. These data
acquisition systems can be simple or complex, depending on the need.
Data acquisition system manufacturers create systems that consist of
three main components. First, sensors respond to physical stimulation
by transmitting signals or altering electrical properties like resistance.
Data loggers then take the signal and convert it into a number—by
a process called digitizing—and store the value or change it into
a statistic. The final component of data acquisition systems is a type
of computer that communicates with the data logger to collect what information
has been measured. The data that is displayed on the computer is only
as good as the sensor’s ability to measure conditions and the data
logger’s ability to resolve the measurements.
Data acquisition systems can be used for all kinds of applications in
field studies, troubleshooting and research. Along with monitoring and
making appropriate adjustments for processes, manufacturers can test
all types of technical products using data acquisition systems. Other
applications include safety warnings and data gathering for research
projects. Data acquisition systems monitor environmental conditions for
various purposes, such as regulating temperature, and weather stations
frequently use these systems to monitor meteorological conditions. Sensitive
environments, like museums that need to stay at a constant temperature
to preserve artifacts, benefit from data acquisition systems that measure
factors like temperature and humidity. Among the many industries and
fields that use data acquisition systems are aerospace, material handling,
gas and oil processing, defense and military, mining, electrical, water
treatment and disposal, pulp and paper, medical, amusement parks, chemical
processing, laboratory equipment and shipbuilding.
It is important to keep certain factors in mind when looking for data
acquisition systems and equipment. The accuracy of the system depends
on the quality of the following: differential analog input channels,
digital I/O channels, sampling frequency, resolution and accuracy. Other
important factors are the transducers, ease of use and the quality of
excitation. Many of these data acquisition systems are available with
specialized features as well, ranging from waterproof for underwater
operations to sizes smaller than a credit card. There are variations
in the way the information is handled, for some will print out the data
and others will transmit the measurements directly to a computer. Data
acquisition system manufacturers, as a general rule, design very durable
and either fixed or mobile systems, depending on the specific need.
Types of Data Acquisition Systems
Data acquisition is the process in which electric signals from various devices are converted into a digital form that can be analyzed.
Data acquisition software enables computers to recognize and process signals received from monitoring devices.
Data loggers are acquisition systems that store information from various devices.
Electronic data loggers
need a computer to operate. These devices are programmable and allow
the user to choose the different interval readings.
Mechanical data loggers
are stand-alone instruments that do not require computer operation and
print the measurements directly on a chart.
Pressure
sensors are used to measure and record the pressure of a particular environment.
Temperature recorders
are a specific kind of data logger that record temperature and sometimes
humidity. Many of these devices are highly compact and can monitor conditions
inside packages; they also monitor the temperatures of facilities that
require regulated environments.
Wireless data loggers
are very small and remote-controlled, and scan data by lasers. These
models are the latest technology in data acquisition systems.
Data Acquisition Systems Terms
Accuracy – The sum of all factors
of error in a data acquisition device.
Aliasing – The false reading
of high-frequency signals as lower-frequency signals. These readings are
expected errors from the discrete calculations with sampling devices like
analog-to-digital (A/D) converters.
Anti-Aliasing Filter – An apparatus
that attenuates the content of signals outside the preferred bandwidth
and comes before the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in instrumentation
designs, which, in theory, permits the frequencies only in the pass band
to be sampled with the ADC.
Analog – A signal that has a
value somewhere between two extremes and can constantly change.
Analog-to-Digital Conversion (A/D) – The procedure of converting
analog signals into a digital value or signal that is then able to be
stored on a computer.
Asynchronous – Transmission of data between receiving and transmitting
mechanisms in the form of zeros and ones. For correct data interpretation,
the receiving data needs to start at the appropriate location of the sequence.
Automated Local Evaluation in Real Time (ALERT)
– Protocol of data transmission for flood warning systems.
Calibration
– The process of adjusting a device to increase its accuracy.
Common Mode Range – The required
voltage range as related to the datalogger ground into which both inputs
of a differential calculation must fall in order to make a differential
measurement.
Data Retrieval – Receiving data
from an RTU, datalogger or field recording apparatus. This process is
done locally or remotely, depending on the data retrieval peripheral.
Differential Input – An input channel configuration consisting of
two signal wires coupled with each input signal, one wire for input and
one for return signals. The measurement is the variation of voltage between
the wires.
Differential Measurements –
Analog measurements that measure the voltage between two inputs. Differential
measurements are able to reject noise better than single-ended calculations,
and can purge errors from differences in ground potential between the
sensors and the datalogger.
Digital I/O Ports – Input/output
ports that sense status, read SDM peripherals or SDI-12 sensors and maintain
external devices.
Excitation – The electrical
current or voltage used with transducers.
External Signal Conditioning –
The use of a peripheral device to change a sensor’s signal so another
non-compatible device is able to read the signal. Signal conditioning
mechanisms can be simple or complex.
Jitter – The frequent or periodic displacement of a signal away
from its intended location.
Queue – A temporary storage location for information that has yet
to be processed or has not yet been transmitted.
Resolution – The lowest vital number at which a measurement is determined.
Sample Rate – The pace of measurements.
Sampling – Procedure of calculating a signal’s value at discrete
time points.
Sampling Frequency – Amount of times per second that an analog signal
is measured as A/D conversion occurs.
Sensitivity – A measure of the minimum amount of change in a signal
that an instrument can detect.
Sensor – A device that responds
to a physical stimulus and generates an electrical signal or alters an
electrical property, such as resistance. The stimuli can be things like
light, sound, heat, pressure and motion.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) – System that correlates redundant data storage with
measurement regulation, typically for regulating a manufacturing process.
Water treatment plants generally use SCADA systems.
Transducer – A sensor that converts
energy into readable electrical signals, which dataloggers measure and
record. Examples of these include thermocouples
and strain gauges.
