What Is Data Acquisition?
Data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that a computer can process. The term also refers specifically to collecting physical or electrical signals from sensors, such as temperature, pressure and other physical phenomena. These signals are converted into usable digital values by data acquisition devices, known as DAQ devices.
How a Data Acquisition System Works
A data acquisition system connects sensors to a computer. The sensor signal is sampled, converted into digital values, and then stored or analysed by software. Data acquisition systems are used in data science and engineering, and they range from simple single-channel setups to systems that record many signals at once. The main factors when setting up a system are the number of channels, the sampling rate, and the processing power and storage available on the host computer.
Use Cases
Data acquisition is used in test and measurement, industrial monitoring, process control and research. A host computer for data acquisition needs a processor that can handle continuous sampling, enough memory to buffer incoming data, and enough storage to keep recorded results. Industrial PCs are typically chosen when the system must run in factory or field environments.
Thinvent Products for Data Acquisition
| Model | Processor | Cores | Max Frequency | Cache | Memory | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial PC IPC5 | Intel Core i5-1240P | 12 | 4.4 GHz | 12 MB | 16 GB DDR4 | 512 GB SSD |
| Industrial PC IPC5 | Intel Core i5-1240P | 12 | 4.4 GHz | 12 MB | 32 GB DDR4 | 1 TB SSD |
| Industrial PC IPC3 | Intel Core i3-1215U | 6 | 4.4 GHz | 10 MB | 8 GB DDR4 | 256 GB SSD |
| Industrial PC IPC5 | Intel Core i7-1255U | 10 | 4.7 GHz | 12 MB | 16 GB DDR4 | 512 GB SSD |
| Industrial PC IPC5 | Intel Core i7-1255U | 10 | 4.7 GHz | 12 MB | 32 GB DDR4 | 1 TB SSD |
| Aero Mini PC | Intel Core 5 120U | 10 | 5.0 GHz | 12 MB | 16 GB DDR4 | 512 GB SSD |
| Aero Mini PC | Intel Core i3-1215U | 6 | 4.4 GHz | 10 MB | 8 GB DDR4 | 256 GB SSD |
| Treo Mini PC | AMD Ryzen 5 7430U | 6 | 4.3 GHz | 16 MB | 16 GB DDR4 | 512 GB SSD |
| Treo Mini PC | Intel N5095A | 4 | 2.9 GHz | 4 MB | 4 GB DDR4 | 128 GB SSD |
| Micro 5R Thin Client | ARM Cortex A53 | 4 | 2.0 GHz | - | 2 GB | 16 GB eMMC |
The Thinvent range includes Industrial PC IPC5 and IPC3 models for factory and field use, with Windows 11 IoT Value, Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu Linux options. The IPC5 with Dual LAN supports two network connections. Thinvent does not include a dedicated DAQ interface card in this range; the Industrial PCs act as the host computer that receives sampled data.
