Running a mixed-vendor DAQ bench
DAQ devices from different vendors run on their own crystals and write their own file formats, so lining up one run starts with a shared wall-clock start time.
Few test benches come from one vendor’s catalog. They grow over years: a USB-TC thermocouple module from a temperature test, a LabJack T7 someone bought for vibration, an Analog Discovery on the power rail, a benchtop DMM on the network. Each device came with its own software, file format and idea of when the test started. During a test you watch four windows, and afterward you spend an afternoon in a spreadsheet lining up timestamps by eye.
1. Agree on one timeline before you press Run
Every file from a run should answer “what time is sample zero?” the same way. Record a wall-clock start time with each device’s data and sync every computer involved to the same time source. If your tools can start every device from one action, use it, because starting four apps by hand gives you four different start times.
2. Expect the clocks to drift
Devices from different vendors run on their own crystals. Aligning them in software by start time gets you close, and over a long run the clocks drift apart slightly. That is fine for thermal tests, power logging, vibration summaries and most environmental work. For phase-sensitive measurements, such as comparing two waveforms cycle by cycle, keep those channels on one device so they share a sample clock.
3. Mark events where they happen
“The door opened about ten minutes in” is useless at analysis time. Drop a marker when something happens, and make sure it lands on every device’s timeline rather than in one file.
4. Pick sample rates per signal
Logging a thermocouple at 10 kS/s gains nothing. Match each rate to the signal: a few samples per second for temperature, hundreds to thousands for vibration and audio-band signals, and the device maximum only where a signal needs it. Lower rates keep files small enough for long unattended runs.
5. Keep raw data, compute the rest
Record raw channels in engineering units and compute RMS, power, ratios and filtered versions as math channels on top. A wrong calculation can be redone later from the raw data. If you only kept the derived number, it can’t.
6. Choose one export format for the whole team
Mixed hardware usually brings CSV from one tool, TDMS from another and a proprietary log from a third. Settle on one format for analysis and convert everything into it. Our guide to test data formats compares CSV, MATLAB, TDMS, Parquet and HDF5.
How DAQAtlas handles a mixed bench
We are building DAQAtlas, which is in development, because we kept running into this. MCC, LabJack, Digilent and SCPI devices connect directly, and NI-DAQmx hardware streams in from another PC through DAQAtlas Bridge. Run starts every device together, Record writes them all into the same run folder, and a marker lands on every device’s timeline at once. In review all channels share one time axis, and the export writes the whole run in the format your team agreed on.
See which devices are covered on the supported hardware page, or join the beta and bring your own bench.