Learn more about Data Acquisition Toolbox

Product Overview

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Understanding Data Acquisition Toolbox Software Exploring the Toolbox Supported Hardware

Understanding Data Acquisition Toolbox Software

Data Acquisition Toolbox™ software is a collection of M-file functions and a MEX-file (shared library) built on the MATLAB^® technical computing environment. The toolbox also includes several dynamic link libraries (DLLs) called adaptors, which enable you to interface with specific hardware. The toolbox provides you with these main features:

• A framework for bringing live, measured data into the MATLAB workspace using PC-compatible, plug-in data acquisition hardware

• Support for analog input (AI), analog output (AO), and digital I/O (DIO) subsystems including simultaneous analog I/O conversions

• Support for these popular hardware vendors/devices:

  • Advantech^® boards that use the Advantech Device Manager

  • Measurement Computing™ Corporation (ComputerBoards) boards

  • National Instruments^® boards that use Traditional NI-DAQ or NI-DAQmx software

    Note   The Traditional NI-DAQ adaptor will be deprecated in a future version of the toolbox. If you create a Data Acquisition Toolbox™ object for Traditional NI-DAQ adaptor beginning in R2008b, you will receive a warning stating that this adaptor will be removed in a future release. See the supported hardware page at www.mathworks.com/products/daq/supportedio.html for more information.

  • Parallel ports LPT1-LPT3

    Note   The parallel port adaptor will be deprecated in a future version of the toolbox. If you create a Data Acquisition Toolbox™ object for 'parallel' beginning in R2008b, you will receive a warning stating that this adaptor will be removed in a future release. See the supported hardware page at www.mathworks.com/products/daq/supportedio.html for more information.

  • Microsoft^® Windows^® sound cards

    Additionally, you can use the Data Acquisition Toolbox Adaptor Kit to interface unsupported hardware devices to the toolbox.

• Event-driven acquisitions

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Exploring the Toolbox

A list of the toolbox functions is available to you by typing

help daq

You can view the code for any function by typing

type function_name

You can view the help for any function by typing

daqhelp function_name

You can change the way any toolbox function works by copying and renaming the M-file, then modifying your copy. You can also extend the toolbox by adding your own M-files, or by using it in combination with other products such as Signal Processing Toolbox™ or Instrument Control Toolbox™.

The MathWorks™ provides several related products that are especially relevant to the kinds of tasks you can perform with Data Acquisition Toolbox software. For more information about any of these products, see http://www.mathworks.com/products/daq/related.jsp.

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Supported Hardware

The list of hardware supported by the Data Acquisition Toolbox software can change in each release, since hardware support is frequently added. The MathWorks Web site is the best place to check for the most up-to-date listing.

To see the full list of hardware that the toolbox supports, visit the supported hardware page at www.mathworks.com/products/daq/supportedio.html. For more information about unsupported hardware, see Unsupported Hardware.

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Introduction to Data Acquisition

Anatomy of a Data Acquisition Experiment

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