DSA Support

Testing your PCI-445X Instrument

You can test your PCI-445X by using the NI-DAQ driver software through Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX).

(Note: You will need a 50 Ohm or 75 Ohm BNC cable if you wish to perform an acquisition test through the BNC-214X signal accessory.)

1. Launch the Measurement & Automation Explorer (this ships with NI-DAQ 6.5 or higher). Look for the blue and yellow icon on your Windows Desktop (as shown below) and double-click it.

   

2. Once in the top level window of the Measurement & Automation Explorer, double-click on "Devices and Interfaces", then double-click on your PCI-445X device.

   

3. Double-click on the label "Device Number" and the Configuration window will open.

   

   Note: The resources shown in this window may differ from the ones that you will see.

4. Launch the NI-DAQ Test Panels by pressing the Run Test Panels button.

5. Click on the Analog Input tab, and select the channel number you wish to test. Enter an appropriate sampling rate, then click on the Continuous button to start a continuous acquisition of the time domain signal. Changing the Input Limits will alter the gain the board uses to read the channel data.

   

   It is important to select the Input Limits according to the maximum and minimum voltage values of your signal, in order for the board to use the correct amplification or attenuation factors and to acquire the signal across the entire 16 bits of ADC (analog to digital converter) resolution of the delta-sigma converters.

   Your choice of Input Limits will depend on the input range and gain specifications of your DSA hardware. The PCI-4451 and the PCI-4452 have gains from -20 dB to 60 dB in 10 dB increments; that is:

   -20 dB: +- 42.0 V
   -10 dB: +- 31.6 V
   0 dB: +- 10.0 V
   10 dB: +- 3.16 V
   20 dB: +- 1.00 V
   30 dB: +- 316 mV
   40 dB: +- 100 mV
   50 dB: +- 31.6 mV
   60 dB: +- 10.0 mV
   

6. Connect a known signal either directly or through a transducer to the input using the BNC-214X channel connectors.

   Alternatively, if you have a PCI-4451 board with two inputs and two outputs, then you can perform a simple feedback test. Use a feedback BNC cable to connect Output Channel 0 to Input Channel 0, and then click on the Analog Output tab to start a sine wave generation. Make sure your parameters look the same that the ones shown in the window (below) and click on the Start Sine Generator button. After starting the sine wave output, go to the Analog Input tab and start a continuous acquisition. You should see the output waveform on the analog input waveform graph.

   

This quick test confirms that the board is working properly , that the resources were allocated correctly, and that the communication between the NI-DAQ driver and the hardware is working properly.

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