Usb Data Acquisition Units Provide New Measurement And Control Options For Engineering Technology Students

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become a ubiquitous technology for computer peripherals. It is available on virtually every new computer and in most cases provides a seamless connection method for a variety of consumer electronics devices such as digital cameras, scanners and printers. This ease of connection together with the inherent high data rate of USB also makes this technology very useful for data acquisition and control units. This paper presents the use of USB data acquisition units in an electromechanical engineering technology laboratory environment. Features, advantages and disadvantages of the hardware are discussed. The LabVIEWTM software tools (virtual instruments) developed to interface with the USB device are presented. Examples of sensing and control systems experiments and projects are also given.