National Instruments Introduces Its Smallest, Most Portable Measurement Device

Engineers and scientists now can turn standard PDAs into customized, portable measurement tools with the new National Instruments CompactFlash data acquisition (DAQ) device. The NI CF-6004 device – which is slightly larger than a standard postage stamp – plugs into any PDA with a CompactFlash slot to create a handheld instrument with the processing and wireless communication capabilities of the latest PDA devices.

The NI CF-6004 is a 14-bit multifunction data acquisition device that plugs directly into a PDA CompactFlash slot to provide up to 200 KS/s single-channel sampling on four analog input channels in a handheld form factor. It also offers four lines of digital I/O for controlling and measuring LVTTL or LVCMOS signals. Engineers can use the NI LabVIEW graphical programming environment for Pocket PC to acquire, analyze and view the data on their PDAs.

“The small size of the CompactFlash DAQ device opens up many new portable data acquisition and monitoring applications,” said Tim Dehne, NI senior vice president of research and development. “The concept of virtual instrumentation – where customers define their own instruments through graphical programming and modular hardware components – is moving to smaller and smaller form factors, making data acquisition even more convenient and portable.”

The flexibility and mobility of the NI CF-6004 make it ideal for applications such as wearable computing and field monitoring and diagnostics, as well as in laboratory and educational settings. Compared to buying several traditional, handheld instruments, engineers can save valuable space by using a single PDA with LabVIEW and the NI CF-6004 DAQ device. Because engineers can define their own unique instruments in LabVIEW and then easily deploy them to their handheld devices, they also can later change and redeploy these applications to repurpose their PDAs for new measurements. In addition, because PDAs are typically less expensive than laptops, PDA-based data acquisition is a cost-effective option for handheld, portable instruments.

National Instruments DAQ
By integrating commercial PC-based technologies and investing in innovative research and development, NI continues to lower the cost of measurement and control while improving system performance, accuracy and reliability. NI recently announced the new M Series, the next generation of data acquisition hardware, capable of taking measurements with up to 18-bit accuracy and at speeds of up to 1.25 MS/s. Readers can learn more about all of National Instruments DAQ offerings at www.ni.com/dataacquisition.

About National Instruments
National Instruments (
www.ni.com) is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation – a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging the PC and its related technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs through easy-to-integrate software, such as the NI LabVIEW graphical development environment, and modular hardware, such as PXI modules for data acquisition, instrument control and machine vision. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,400 employees and direct operations in approximately 40 countries. In 2004, the company sold products to more than 25,000 companies in 90 countries. For the past six years, FORTUNE magazine named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.

Contact Information

NI CF-6004 Contact Sales: www.ni.com/contact
Web: www.ni.com/dataacquisition E-mail: [email]info@ni.com[/email]
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