My data acquisition system allowed the data to go directly to the computer, although the screen display lagged considerably behind the sampling. Thus it was well into the process that I realized the data had stopped making sense, a wire had wiggled loose.
No data. I had wasted hours, and the dog had suffered a certain amount of needless discomfort. With a real-time display, the loose wire would have been immediately apparent. Many data acquisition software packages are available, such as Lab Tech’s Notebook, but they cannot provide a real-time display above rates of 100 or 200 samples per second. A special hardware/software combination is necessary for anyone who wants to work at faster rates.
Of the packages currently on the market, I have found the more powerful and convenient to be a product from Dataq Instruments called CODAS—for Computer-based Osdillograph and Data Acquisition System.
I learned its power while ...
