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Out-of-the-box virtual instruments log, analyse and display data, and generate signals without the need to write code

Measurement Computing Corporation (Norton, Massachusetts), the market leader in low-cost data acquisition, has announced through its UK distributor Adept Scientific (Letchworth, Herts.) the release TracerDAQ ProTM, a software combination of four virtual instrument applications designed for data acquisition professionals.

TracerDAQ ProTM is a full-featured data acquisition software suite, built specifically for users of Measurement Computing’s PCI- and USB-based hardware. Designed to work straight out of the box to minimise the time between set up and first measurement, it is a ready-to-run application that doesn’t require the user to write a single line of code.

TracerDAQ ProTM provides a virtual strip chart recorder, oscilloscope, function generator and rate generator to graphically display and store input data, and generate output signals, within minutes of installing Measurement Computing data acquisition hardware. The applications allow the user to customise appearance, store configurations for future use, save data to a file for export, and – with the use of interactive hotspots – change settings while the application is running.

TracerDAQ Pro applications include:

A Strip Chart for logging and graphing data from analogue, digital, counter and temperature inputs from one or more Measurement Computing DAQ devices. Featured are sampling at the maximum speed of the DAQ board (up to 1 million samples per channel), triggering, plus the ability to set alarm conditions, add comments (annotations) to the display plot, play back an acquisition, and import and plot binary and text data.

An Oscilloscope application displays values acquired from analogue inputs. Featured are sampling at the maximum speed of the DAQ board, triggering, and the ability to add a reference or a maths channel, display specific measurement values for each channel and scale channel data.

A Function Generator application generates user selectable sine, square, triangle, constant, saw tooth or custom waveforms for analogue outputs at the maximum rate of the Measurement Computing device. The function generator displays the sample waveform, samples per cycle, internal scan rate, and base frequency of the selected analogue channel output signal. It can perform linear and logarithmic sweeps, and change the phase, duty cycle, rate multiplier and gate ratio of the waveform.

A Rate Generator application for use with Measurement Computing’s counter devices allows users to output clock signals with variable frequency, duty cycle and initial state of the waveform.

TracerDAQ ProTM is a much enhanced version of TracerDAQ, the free software supplied with Measurement Computing data acquisition hardware for reading from analogue and digital inputs, and logging to disk.

“We’ve expanded our product portfolio”, explained Jim Ficaro, Measurement Computing’s director of marketing, “and with it, the number of applications in which our products are used. In turn, we’ve expanded TracerDAQ’s capabilities to better meet the diverse test and measurement needs of our customers.

“With TracerDAQ ProTM we offer the enhanced functionality and throughput our users desire, while at the same time delivering the out-of-the-box, non-programming solution our customers expect from us.”

At the same time, Measurement Computing has released version 2.0 of TracerDAQ, as part of the new MCCDAQ Software CD 5.70 release which also contains updated versions of InstaCal calibration software, Universal Library and Universal Library for LabVIEW programming tools, and user guides. This software collection will be included with all shipments of Measurement Computing USB, PCI and Wireless data acquisition products and is compatible with Windows XP and Vista.

TracerDAQ Pro and the complete range of Measurement Computing hardware and software for measurement data acquisition is supplied and supported in the UK by Adept Scientific. Details can be found at www.adeptscience.com.

Measurement Computing Corporation is the market leader in the design and manufacture of low-priced, computer-based test and measurement hardware and software. These products include analogue I/O and digital I/O devices for the USB, Wireless, PCI, ISA, PCMCIA, and PC/104 buses, as well as serial and GPIB interface products and a growing line of remote data loggers.

With offices in the UK, USA, Germany and throughout the Nordic region, Adept Scientific is one of the world’s leading suppliers of software and hardware products for research, scientific, engineering and technical applications on desktop computers.