Grabbing data with a PDA

Engineers can now turn standard PDAs into customized, portable measurement tools with a 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 provides 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.

Once the data is acquired, engineers can use the NI LabVIEW graphical programming environment for Pocket PC to analyze and view the data on their PDAs.