Upgrade AT-MIO-16E-10 with PCI 6024E

[Samlu]

HI,

We have an AT-MIO-16E-10 Card on our old computer system which we are using for data acquisition using Labview 5. We are trying to upgrade our system, hence we recently purchased the PCI-6024E DAQ card as suggested in one of the threads here as a good replacement for the AT-MIO-16E-10. I had two questions regarding the upgrade,

1) What type of adaptor would we require so that we can use the same cable we are using currently with the old AT-MIO-16E-10 card so as to use the same BNC connection box?
2) Would the LabView program need to be changed for the new DAQ card if we use LabView 5 and the device number was kept the same?

Thank you.

[Steve_B]

Hi Samlu,

Thanks for posting your question! The pinouts and connections for the AT-MIO-16E-10 and PCI-6024E are the same which means you will be able to use the same cable and breakout box. Both cards will be able to be programmed with our Traditional NI-DAQ driver, which is what you should have been using with the AT-MIO-16E-10 card. The issue that could arise is that you may need to upgrade to a newer version of the driver that supports the PCI-6024E if your current version does not have support for that device. You can search for Traditional DAQ at the Drivers and Updates link below to find the options for your upgrade. You will want to be sure that the device and operating system are supported by the upgrade. You can find this information in the Readme for each version.

Since the driver is the same, regardless of whether or not you have to upgrade the version, you will likely not have to make changes to the actual code and can continue to work with your program. If you are going to be developing additional code the PCI-6024E is supported with our newer DAQmx driver, but it is only compatible with LabVIEW 7.0 and later. The new driver is being maintained with new fixes and device support, but it would require upgrading LabVIEW and would also be differrent programmatically than the Tradiotnal NI-DAQ driver you might be familiar with. 

Let me know if you have additional questions!

[Steve_B]

Hi Samlu,

I meant to include the link to the Drivers and Updates on ni.com. You can find it below:

Drivers and Updates

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/fn/p/lang/en

[Samlu]

Hi Steve,

Thank you very much for the information. We are now more confident with the upgrade.

We actually bought LabView 8.5 since we wanted to upgrade our software. However I am not sure if we will be able to utilize the new version. Initially I was not able to open the code we had using 8.5 and after going through the forum realised that it was because of compatibilities with the new version. I finally can open it as someone on the forum generously converted it for us. The problem now is that whenever I open the program, it says that the following VIs are missing (AI Sample Channels (single-point) waveform, AI Sample channels, Array to delim string, Extract numbers from delim string, DIO Port Write, DIO Port Read, DIO Port Config, AI Acquire waveform, AI Read (waveform), AI Read, AI Clear, AI Start, AI Config, AO Waveform Gen (scaled array), AO Write One Update (scaled array), AO Waveform Gen, and AO Write One Update.) I worked with the new version after we bought it and it seems to be very efficient, but the code that I am currently working on has been updated since the last 10 years and has grown so big that I am not sure if I can write the whole thing again. Would installing the traditional DAQ drivers provide the missing functions? Is there a way I can replace the missing VIs in the new version?

Thanks again for all the help. We really appreciate it.

Sam

[Steve_B]

Hi Sam,

The VIs you are missing are from the Traditional NI-DAQ driver, which means that you will have to reinstall that driver to include support for LabVIEW 8.5. You may need to upgrade your driver version to include LabVIEW 8.5 support, but you can download a newer version from the Drivers and Updates page. You should check the Readme for the driver version to see what HW and SW is supported by that version. I would recommend 7.4.4 if it will suit your needs as far as OS and hardware support. Let me know if you have questions about choosing a driver.

[Samlu]

Dear Steve,

Thank you very much for your reply. I installed Traditional DAQ 7.4.4 and everything is now working absolutely fine. We had to make some changes in the VIs since some of the outputs changed, but that was very minor.

I had one more question. We are controlling two dc motors using this card and so that takes up 7 digital channels and the one remaining digital channel is used to trigger the motion capture system. In the experiment I am designing, I require an additional digital signal to trigger a stimulator. Is there any other channel I can use from the DAQ card for doing this?

Also one of my collaborators has an extra PCI6602 Board lying around, and a 3490-3 connector. Can we use this card for this purpose?  

Thanks for all the help.

[Steve_B]

Hi Sam,

Depending on your timing needs and the control over the trigger you require, you may want to look at using an analog output or a counter output to create your trigger signal. The card you mentioned would be able to provide additional counters for you to use, but the 6024E has 2 counters you could use. You would need to create a new task to use these other outputs. If you could provide some more details about what you need from this trigger we could direct you toward an example that will provide some similar functionality.

[Samlu]

Dear Steve,

We require the additional trigger to trigger the MagStim 200 Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator.  Based on the specifications of the stimulator, it requires the application of a signal (TTL level) of either polarity for being triggered. In our experiment design we would like to configure this trigger so that the stimulation coil is activated at different times in the course of the experiment, basically based on position and velocity thresholds.  I would really appreciate any help regarding this.

Thanks,

Sam

[Steve_B]

Hi Sam,

Depending on the determinism you need and how your application is set up either an Analog Output or a Counter Pulse Generation could work. If you are acquiring data, analyzing it, then sending your pulse you might be fine using a software timed Analog Output task. You could write a 5V output and then a 0V output after a few milliseconds (depending on your needs).

In the Example Finder you will want to choose Browse according to: Directoruy Structure and then look under the daq folder. Under the daq folder there is a folder called anlogout that will contain the analog output examples and the Generate 1 Point on 1 Channel.vi example will show the basic AO configuration that you could call when necessary.

There is a possibility of using a finite pulse train generation from the counters on the 6024E and this example can be found under the daq folder in the Example Finder under counter>>daq-stc.llb and is called Finite Pulse Train (DAQ-STC).vi.

There are some options of configuring a trigger to start the pulse generation, but a software timed pulse may suit your needs if you are sending this pulse based on some analysis in software.