Acquiring Signals

Most projects you create using LabVIEW SignalExpress analyze or log signals you acquire from a data acquisition device or modular instrument. LabVIEW SignalExpress provides the following methods for acquiring signals:

• Acquiring Signals Using USB Plug-and-Play—If you use LabVIEW SignalExpress with an NI USB device, such as NI CompactDAQ, the NI Device Monitor that installs with NI-DAQmx software detects when you connect the device to the PC. Use USB plug-and-play functionality if you want LabVIEW SignalExpress to configure data acquisition and begin acquiring signals automatically.
• Acquiring Signals Using the Channel View—If you use LabVIEW SignalExpress with NI-DAQmx or NI-DMM devices or NI Switch modules, the Channel View displays all analog input (AI) channels available for the device or module. You can use the Channel View to acquire signals from the supported devices.

Note  You can install NI-DAQmx, NI-DMM, or NI Switch software from the National Instruments Device Driver DVD, or you can download the latest version of NI-DAQmx, NI-DMM, or NI Switch software from ni.com/downloads.

• Acquiring Signals Using Steps—You can use the Acquire Signals steps to acquire signals from a hardware device. You can use the IVI steps to acquire signals from hardware of the specified IVI class. Some NI modular instruments, such as NI-DMM, NI-SCOPE, and NI-HSDIO also install instrument-specific Acquire Signals steps.