Standalone cDAQ or cRIO

[mass835]

I'm looking for some assistance on which DAQ chassis is needed.  What I want to do is acquire up to four voltages via a 9239 module and analyze them individually for peak voltages.  Then output the peak voltages of each channel from a certain time window through a 9269 module.  

I would like this to be a portable unit so this would need to operate without a connection to a PC. Can I use a standard cDAQ for this or is a cRIO necessary?  Is it possible to deploy a Labview project to the DAQ hardware and have it launch upon powering up?

[crossrulz]

Assuming you have the FPGA module, I would go with a NI-9147.  It is a 4 slot FPGA chassis.  You just load the FPGA bit file onto it and it just runs at startup.  It can also communicate with a PC over Ethernet if you so choose, but not necessary.

[Frankay]

Hi mass835,

Crossrulz is absolutely correct in that you can use an FPGA to headlessly run a program. If you would rather not program the FPGA you could use a cRIO-906X or cRIO-903X (seen HERE) to create a real-time application that can be set to run as start up. This does require the Real-Time Module which is purchasable if you do not already have it.

You can also potentially use a cDAQ chassis with an embedded controller and operating system to have an EXE always running on the controller. However, I would not recommend this as it sounds like you are looking for some determinism in your project and in my experience DAQ program are not meant to be run for weeks at a time.

If you are looking to purchase new equipment or software I would recommend you give our sales department a call to provide input on what would be best for your application. Their phone number is (877) 387-0015.

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Aaron F.

National Instruments

Applications Engineers