Andrew Lees, Internal Sales Team leader at Concilium Technologies, official South African Agilent distributor says "As data acquisition systems become more complex with multi-configuration and multi-vendor components and instruments, Agilent saw the need to reduce this complexity through easy-to-use DAQ modules and non proprietary standard USB interfaces. Plus, if you combine the ability to use any module standalone with a PC and then combine it into a card cage for larger acquisition requirements, users undoubtedly benefit from enhanced flexibility and lower cost"

Today, DAQs are commonly used to perform measurement, monitoring, control or simulation of real-world signals such as temperature, pressure, vibration and strain.

"In light of industry as well as home technologies' increasing complexity and speed, more emphasis is placed on not only collecting data from sensors but collecting it fast enough, for long enough, to study transient phenomena that are likely to influence the performance of not only the device itself but other devices in the same environment," Andrew Lees comments.

DAQ devices, for example, can be applied in various industry-specific tests such as everyday electrical appliances. One example would be a standby mode test where measurements like voltage and current are taken and verified over a period of time.

Andrew Lees explains : "The critical parameter would be the glitches, which occur during these measurements. Thus, the recommended measuring instruments should have high sampling rate and deep memory."

"In the case of Agilent's USB DAQ the voltage is measured directly while the current is measured using a current transducer. The current transducer will then convert the current into a voltage signal and send this to the DAQ. The data will be displayed and post- analysed on the PC." Andrew Lees continues.

The Agilent U2300A Series USB modular multifunction DAQ device, for example, uses a common, non-proprietary standard interface that provides ease of connectivity - allowing users to set up and configure their tests swiftly with its plug-and-play USB interface. When used with the Agilent U2700A Series USB modular instrument chassis, the DAQ system provides more channels for today's various measurement needs.

The U2300A and the U2700A are part of Agilent Open, supporting open industry-standard software and PC-standard IO.

Additionally, the DAQ device application is bundled with Agilent Modular Instruments Measurement Manager application software. This software eases instrument configuration and control, supports data-logging and enables export of data to printable formats for ease of analysis.

"Agilent's U2300A Series USB modular multifunction data acquisition device is an ideal tool for design validation and manufacturing engineers who conduct data logging, measurement or monitoring in a broad range of industries," says Lees.

It has a plug-and-play PC interface for high-speed data acquisition applications. The U2300A series consists of seven modules with Hi-Speed USB 2.0, up to 64 analogue input channels (384 channels when used with the U2700A Series chassis), and up to 3 MSa/s sampling rate for a single channel. U2300A Series can work either as a standalone or modular instrument with the U2700A Series USB modular instrument chassis.

The series is compatible with a wide range of application development environments such as Agilent VEE, NI LabVIEW and Microsoft Visual Studio.

The Agilent U2700A Series USB modular instrument chassis is a 6-slot USB modular chassis. Like the U2300A series device, it offers an easy plug-and-play setup and configuration with its Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface.

The ability to connect up to six modules of U2300A series DAQ devices, the chassis allows an expansion of up to 384 channels for various tests and measurements in today's high-performance applications. Compact and portable, Agilent's U2700A series is also mountable to a rack-mount kit and provides star trigger bus synchronisation for the modules.