How can I use the National Instruments USB-6212 and USB-6216 devices with the Data Acquisition Toolbox 2.12 (R2008a)?

The National Instruments boards USB-6212 and USB-6216 are M-Series data acquisition (DAQ) devices for USB that deliver faster sampling rates and more digital I/O features than previously released bus-powered M Series devices for USB. I would like to use these boards with the Data Acquisition Toolbox 2.12 (R2008a).

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This enhancement has been incorporated in Release 2008b (R2008b). For previous product releases, read below for any possible workarounds:

The Data Acquisition Toolbox software does not support the National Instruments USB-6212 and USB-6216 boards.

From version 2.12 (R2008a) onwards of the Data Acquisition Toolbox software, you can manually add support for these devices as follows:

1. Exit the MATLAB environment.

2. Find the following file:

$MATLABROOT\toolbox\daq\daq\private\mwnidaqmx.ini

where $MATLABROOT is the MATLAB root installation directory obtained by issuing:

matlabroot

at the MATLAB Command Prompt.

3. Make a copy of this file and rename it to mwnidaqmx.ini.old.

4. Open the file mwnidaqmx.ini in a text editor, and add the following lines at the end of the file:

 [USB-6212] 

 hasAnalogInput   = true 

 numAIChannels    = 16 

 hasAnalogOutput  = true 

 numAOChannels    = 2 

 maxAOSampleRate  = 250000,250000 

 minAONumSamples  = 2 

 hasDigitalIO     = true 

 digitalPortSize  = 16,8,8 

 digitalPortCap   = 4,4,4 

 [USB-6216] 

 hasAnalogInput   = true 

 numAIChannels    = 16 

 hasAnalogOutput  = true 

 numAOChannels    = 2 

 maxAOSampleRate  = 250000,250000 

 hasDigitalIO     = true 

 digitalPortSize  = 16,8,8 

 digitalPortCap   = 4,4,4

5. Save the file mwnidaqmx.ini and restart MATLAB.

You cannot work around this issue if you are using versions earlier than 2.12(R2008a) of the Data Acquisition Toolbox software.