1. Data acquisition system
components
A basic data acquisition system consists of sensors, measurement hardware, and a computer with
programmable software. The objective of a data acquisition system should be high accuracy,
high precision, and resolution as high as appropriate for a given application.
The components of a basic data acquisition system are shown in the following figure.
Following is a list of typical data acquisition system components:
l Sensors - Electronic sensors convert the state of a phenomenon to an electrical signal (see
Sensors (p. 3) for more information).
l Datalogger - The datalogger measures electrical signals or reads serial characters. It
converts the measurement or reading to engineering units, performs calculations, and
reduces data to statistical values. Data is stored in memory to await transfer to a computer
by way of an external storage device or a communications link.
l Data Retrieval and Communications - Data is copied (not moved) from the datalogger,
usually to a computer, by one or more methods using datalogger support software. Most
communications options are bi-directional, which allows programs and settings to be sent
to the datalogger. For more information, see Sending a program to the data logger (p. 26).
1. Data acquisition system components 1
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