Hi Erny,
You certainly can sample data and record it on the CompactRIO!
How long you can sample depends on many factors. First and foremost is the amount of memory the device has, as the data you obtain will have to be stored either in internal DRAM, or in removable nonvolatile Flash storage. For example, the cRIO-9002 has 32MB of DRAM and 64MB of flash memory for file storage, whereas the cRIO-9004 has 64MB DRAM and 512MB Flash storage. These figures give you the physical limit of amount of space you have to store data in the unit, bearing in mind that you need to have space for the actual control program in DRAM as well.
Secondly you will need to consider how many samples you need to take, on how many input channels and at what sampling speed. When you know these specifications, you can do a rough calculation of the amount of data you are generating per second, and thus the length of time you can sample before the unit fills up its memory.
To sample real-world signals you will also either need some input modules (Analogue or Digital Inputs) or RS232 hardware to gather the signals and take them into the cRIO. Bear in mind that you can only transfer data from the input modules to the processor unit at the speed of the backplane, around 70-100kB/s.
Hope this helps you, good luck with your application!
Mark Lee
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
