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Version: current

NI USB-6000X

Description

The NI USB-6000X equipment type is a way of acquiring and outputting electrical signals from the NI USB-6001, NI USB-6002, and NI USB-6003. SAFE utilizes the NI-DAQmx driver through the nidaqmx package API made by NI. Use this equipment to measure different voltage and signals from different kind of sensors, and output digital and analog voltage to control devices.

USB

Attributes

AttributeValue
NameUSB-600X (Dev1)
Manufacturer
Model
Serial Number
Internal Number
Driver
Device
Dev1
TypeUSB-600X
Sample Rate20000 Hz
Block Size1024
Channels (IN)
Channels (OUT)

Name

Name specifies the name of the block. It will automatically be given the name of the device.

Manufacturer

Manufacturer is an optional specification you can write.

Model

Model is an optional specification you can write.

Serial Number

Serial Number is an optional specification you can write.

Internal Number

Internal Number is an optional specification you can write.

Driver

Only 1 driver is supported so no need to change anything.

Devices

Devices is the name of the devices that are connected. For USB-600X this is only Dev1 and is automatically selected when you use the specific device.

Type

Type is the type of hardware connected. Will either be USB-6001, USB-6002 or USB-6003.

Sample Rate

Sample Rate is how many times the device samples per second given in Hertz (Hz). Default is 20000 Hz which is maximum. It can be set lowered to any number. However dependent on the number of channels connected this must be lowered to fit the samples per channel.

Block Size

Block Size is the number of samples requested by the NI hardware at a time. The lower the block size the lower the latency. However a low block size can lead to clicks on outputs or overflow in the input buffer due to the PC not being able to deliver and fetch data. Our recommendation is that low latency should only be used for specific real time applications. The default block size is 1024.

NOTE that if the sample rate is 10 Hz and block size is 100 it will be 10 seconds before any data is outputted making SAFE very slow. Therefore as a rule of thumb keep the block size somewhat below the sample rate.

Channels (IN)

Channels (IN) contains every input channel available on the hardware denoted aiX for analog inputs and portX-lineY for digital inputs. Each channel has its own settings which can be seen below for analog inputs:

Dev1-aiXCURRENT
CouplingDC
Terminal ConfigurationRSE

Dev1-aiX

Dev1-aiX is the name of the channel and could be Dev1-ai0 for channel 0. Here you set what kind of channel you want it to be. Choose between CURRENT, VOLTAGE, TEMPERATURE THERMOCOUPLE, RESISTANCE etc. This impacts the way the hardware measures.

Coupling

Coupling is the type of Coupling. If the channel should be DC or AC coupled.

Terminal Configuration

Terminal Configuration is how the device is configured which can either be RSE or DIFFERENTIAL. RSE is based on GND and DIFFERENTIAL is based on another channel.

Channels (OUT)

Channels (OUT) contains every output channel available on the hardware including analog outputs and digital outputs denoted aoX for analog outputs and portX-lineY for digital outputs. Each channel has its own settings which can be seen below for analog outputs:

Dev1-aiXVOLTAGE

Dev1-aoX

Dev1-aoX is the name of the channel and could be Dev1-ao0 for output 0. Here you set what kind of channel you want it to be. Choose between VOLTAGE. This impacts the way the hardware measures.