Using Labview to control an old tape drive using a DAQ card

[nlthomas]

I am trying to find an easy way of controlling an old military tape drive. It does not have a standard interface. I was hopeing that I would be able to use a DAQ card to control the drive. Are there functions in LabVIEW that will allow me to handshake with the drive? I will need 16 inputs, 16 outputs, and 8 Bidirectional lines on the card. Which DAQ card would you recommend? Would this be easier with NI Measurement Studio? How would you recommend to accomplish this in either software package?

[Spencer S.]

Greetings,

With regards to a hardware recommendation, this is dependent upon the I/O rates you require and how you will be using the bidirectional lines. You will, most likely, want to consider the NI 6533 or NI 6534. Below, are links to the product pages for these devices:

NI PCI-6533 (DIO-32HS)

NI PCI-6534

The NI 6534 supports higher I/O rates than the NI 6533. What I/O rates do you require? These devices, however, do not support bidirectional lines. What bidirectional functionality do you require?

With regards to the programming environment you use, my suggestion is LabVIEW (minimal development time, extensive
set of example programs, etc.). However, if you are more comfortable in Visual Studio, Measurement Studio may be your best choice.

Spencer S.