How do I use elvis to record data from a pasco rotary motion sensor

[PCM]

I want to use a pasco rotary motion sensor (a rotary encoder) with ELVIS to record angular velocity.  I have a LabPro system which I could also interface.  But I was hoping to keep the hardware less complicated by wiring the sensor directly to ELVIS.  Does anyone have a sample .vi which would record sensor output?

[Ana P]

Hi PCM,

I understand that there is no example in NI-ELVIS to measure Angular velocity. However, if you have LabVIEW, you can use one of the NI-ELVIS’ analog inputs and read the data into a LabVIEW program that will record angular speed. Please give us more information on what software and data acquisition hardware you are using in this system and we’ll be able to help you further. I hope this helps,

[PCM]

Hi

I am using ELVIS, USD 6251, and LabVIEW 8.0.  I think that I get a stream of digital pulses from the rotary motion sensor but I am not sure.  If I am correct then all I need to be able to do is determin the time between pulses since I know that each pusle represents 1/4 of a degree.  An added complication is that the sensor can determin the diretion of rotation and I am not sure how this is done.

Thanks for any help.

[Ana P]

Hi PCM,

Measuring the time between pulses can be a little complicated. You can have a look at this knowledge base to get an idea of how it can be accomplished. However, since the sensor's output is a stream of digital pulses you can use the counters in this card to get some information from the digital signal. You can use one of the counter’s inputs in the NI-ELVIS and get the frequency or period of the digital signal. One good point to get started is by looking at the counters examples built in LabVIEW, you can find them going to Help > Find Examples > Hardware Input and Output > DAQmx > Counter Measurements. I hope this is helpful.

[Eckman]

I am working on the same problem. Have you been had any success?