Global trends point to a changing daq market

Smart measurement technology requiring relatively unskilled staff is often seen as key to efficiency and cost-saving goals via reduced production cycles with consistent quality.

To gain a better insight into the market and how it is evolving, data-acquisition and analysis company HBM recently undertook an international survey in seven languages - Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese - to ensure maximum participation.

This was one of the first surveys of its type and it generated a strong response with nearly 600 replies from professional engineers answering 16 questions covering a range of topics such as the type of equipment used, and what options and features were important.

The general trends emerging indicated that the needs of data-acquisition (DAQ) system users worldwide are very similar, although there were some slight differences between Europe, East Asia and the Americas. One key message that emerged from the survey was the need for
Ease of use and performance, precision and quality were considered the most important features in a DAQ system, with 80% of respondents highlighting ease of use and the other aspects scoring 97%. Another requirement was the multi-functional capability of any DAQ equipment to handle different measurement quantities, with 66% of all respondents feeling that this was an important issue.

This is in line with a perception that markets require smart measurement technology, including integration of TEDS (transducer electronic data sheet) and APM (advanced plug and measure) into DAQ equipment.

Japanese performance

These results are broadly similar in all countries surveyed, although Japanese engineers rated ease of use as the most important feature in a DAQ system, rather than the actual performance of the equipment.

This was interesting as previous surveys of DAQ equipment in the country had indicated that Japanese-manufactured equipment is better known for performance rather than for user-friendliness.

In terms of the way equipment is configured, there was a clear preference across all countries to use a PC for data acquisition and configuration, with 86% of all respondents believing this was the best method; in the UK the figure was 93%.

Alternative methods for data acquisition and configuration, such as using integrated controls or storage within the instrument/data logger, were less than half as popular as using a PC.

These results seem to reflect the current demands for greater flexibility in data acquisition: the PC is a more mobile, yet robust, option for gathering data and either analysing it on the PC or transferring it elsewhere for further analysis.

This trend is evident in the type of interface that engineers prefer, with the two PC interfaces - USB and Ethernet - being considered roughly of equal importance; more than 60% of respondents preferred these methods. However, both digital I/O and analogue output were very close behind, at just under 60% each.

Interface demands

This suggests that engineers have a slight preference for PC interfaces, but there is still sufficient demand for DAQ equipment that utilises a wide range of interfaces. By contrast, the relative importance of fieldbus interfaces was only of interest to 41% of respondents; in the US nearly twice as many engineers felt fieldbus interfaces were either ’less important’ or ’not very important’ as felt they were ’important’.

The feedback indicated the increasing importance of mobile applications. Overall, 34% of engineers were involved with mobile applications, although this rises to nearly 50% in the US, Germany, China and France. Nevertheless, experimental stress and structural analysis, along with
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the mains supply, at 73%, was the most popular power source. However, alternatives, such as an on-board vehicle network, DC voltage and a separate battery supply, are all considered roughly of equal importance. The popularity of the PC is underlined here again, as 34% of all respondents utilise power direct via the USB port. This aligns closely with the numbers in mobile applications.

The underlying trend that further emphasises the need for the PC is the popularity - at 43.3% - of using a mixture of centralised and distributed units for multi-point measurements, compared with 30% for a centralised system and 16% for a pure distributed system on a world-wide basis. The US is slightly different in that both centralised systems and a mixture of centralised and distributed units were considered equally important.

This highlights a requirement for equipment that can easily be integrated into both centralised and distributed systems, as well as a mixture of the two.

Ambient conditions

Most DAQ equipment is used in either a laboratory or in an industrial setting, where the ambient conditions can be easily regulated. However, 39% of applications are deployed outdoors where ambient conditions are frequently more variable. This tallies with the numbers stating that their applications are purely mobile, as there are also a number of static outdoor applications.

The need for DAQ equipment that performs in extreme ambient conditions is underlined by the fact that 18% of DAQ tests are conducted in ambient temperatures of greater than 60°C, while 11% are in very cold temperatures of less than -20°C.

A strong trend towards high channel counts was found, especially in the US, where 19% of all measurements utilise a channel count of between 32 and 64 channels, while a further 22% are for more than 64 channels - this compares with the global rates of 14% and 11% for the same channel count bands.

Equally, there is a clear need for accurate equipment, with 41% of respondents requiring accuracies of up to 0.1% of the measured value, while 21% required an accuracy of 0.05% of the measured value.

Another significant trend was the constant increase in the number of channels used in the DAQ industry. According to HBM’s analysis, most countries will follow the US by adding more and more channels to their measurements. The higher number of channels being demanded does not imply any moves towards lower accuracy, however.

Most engineers use sampling rates up to 10,000 samples/sec, while a significant number - 11% - use rates of more than 50,000 samples/sec. By contrast, only 4% of respondents identified low sampling rates of less than 10 samples/sec as their primary area of interest.

DAQ equipment is connected with a wide array of different plugs. The common screw terminal or stranded wire connection is still commonly used, with 39% of respondents saying that they used this plug. The BNC plug, at 36%, is nearly as popular worldwide, although 54% of users in the US prefer this plug.
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