SPviewIT
Software that streams measurement data to hard disks at up to 80 MBytes/s.
Overview
SPviewIT is a powerful new data acquisition program that has been optimized for continuous, gap-free recording to hard disk at up to 80 MBytes per second.
This equates to 80 MSamples per second using 8-bit A/D boards or 40 MSamples per second when using 12, 14 or 16 bit A/D boards, and is the maximum board rate - so divide these figures by the number of used channels to obtain the maximum sampling rate for each channel.
SPviewIT supports all of the Digitizer and high-speed Digital input boards.
Why SPviewIT ?
Before SPviewIT, it was necessary to write your own program in c/c++ or Delphi for fast disk recording applications. Although this is not extremely complicated and all UltraFast boards are supplied with source code examples that demonstrate the use of the FIFO mode, SPviewIT is a faster and standard solution with built-in graphic displays and analysis functions.
Programs such as MATLAB, VEE and DASYlab are very flexible but not optimized for streaming to disk. In our tests, we found these limited to approximately 15 MSamples per second.
Recording to disk performance issues
To obtain the maximum recording rate it is absolutely necessary to have a PC configuration that is able to write data to disk at the required speeds. PC's equipped with a single hard disk that is also used to hold Microsoft Windows, will have a maximum write performance in the region of 20 MB/s to 30 MB/s.
To obtain a continuous recording rate of up to 80 MB/s, you will need a PC equipped with multiple, higher performance hard disks connected in a RAID configuration. We recommend the use of SATA-type hard disks.
It's easy to use
Setting up SPviewIT is remarkably easy. Most users will manage to create their first measurement without looking at the manual. First you set up the measurement parameters of the board, such as number of channels to use, channel voltage ranges, sampling rate, trigger function and the number of samples you want to record. At this stage you can also decide to convert the recorded voltages to meaningful engineering units.
Then you can design your own real-time displays, choosing from a palette of oscilloscope, digital (numeric), gage and X/Y types. Multiple types, including FFT displays, can be positioned on the screen together with background images and labels.
Next you can define if you want to perform mathematic processing on the recorded data while the measurement is still running. Possible real-time calculations include engineering unit conversion, apply a free-formula calculation to a signal, design and apply a basic filter, set and monitor alarm conditions.
Note that when you apply a maths function to a signal, then a new 'calculated signal' is created. It's even possible to then perform additional calculations on these signals.
After the measurement has been started and completed, you can post-analyze the data or export it as an ASCII (text) file, or directly in MATLAB or NI's DIAdem program.
SPviewIT options
The software is supplied with a single card license. Please note that the license is tied to the card serial number. Two options exist: a license for using up to 8 cards and a remote control option. Both are described in the Software section of this website.
Manual and Demo
We can supply the user manual and a 30-day evaluation copy that simulates a Digitizer card, on request.
Software