Laptop for Data Collection

[nimaq]

Does anyone have used Laptop with NI-IMAQ to collect data ? And if yes, what kind of hardware required (PCI, PCX...) ?  Thanks.

[Lorne H.]

nimaq,

You are in luck.

If you want to acquire images from your laptop.  Use a firewire camera.  If you laptop does not have a firewire port, you can buy one.

National Instruments sells the NI-IMAQ for IEEE 1394 (firewire) driver.  Below is the link to the Vision Acquisition Software page.  The Vision Acquisition Software page is a software bundle which includes the NI-IMAQ for IEEE 1394 driver.

Vision Acquisition Software

Also, below is document which talks about firewire cameras...

Acquiring from Firewire Cameras using National Instruments NI-IMAQ for IEEE 1394

I hope this helps,

Lorne Hengst
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[nimaq]

Thanks for your response. However, I have to use our customized camera (instead of a firewire camera) connected to NI-IMAQ board. This camera powered by a power supply that provides 6V-20V. I think that I can use PCX to install the 1422 IMAQ,  do you know any configuration that allows using LAPTOP to collect data ?

Regards,

[Lorne H.]

nimaq,

All of our frame grabber products use PCI or PXI.  I am guessing your laptop has a cardbus slot.  If this is the case you might be able to get one of our cards to work with a cardbus to PCI converter.  Below is a link to a company that sells a converter...

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=250&message.id=18256

I cannot promise this will work, since National Instruments has not tested this setup.  The conversion from Cardbus to PCI might not be seemless and our frame grabber board might not work properly (or at all).

Maybe someone monitoring this thread has tried this before and can tell you whether or not it will work.

Lorne Hengst

Application Engineer
National Instruments

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

If your camera is custom, you may have a hard time getting a camera configuation file that works. NI has a camera file generator available, if this would help your situation:

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/14207

[Lorne H.]

nimaq,

One of my more astute coworkers (a know it all, so he thinks, hehe), reminded me that we do sell a PCMCIA/Cardbus PXI Chassis controller and a ExpressCard PXI controller (if you have a computer with an ExpressCard slot).

Cardbus controller link...
NI PXI-CardBus8310

ExpressCard controller link...

NI PXI-ExpressCard8360

If you buy a PXI controller for your Laptop, a PXI Chassis, and a PXI digital frame grabber, then you will have a system that allows you to grab images from your digital camera via your Laptop.  If you have not yet purchased a Laptop, I highly recommend you purchase a Laptop with an ExpressCard slot (they have much higher bandwidth) which you will want for frame grabbing.

Below is a Link to a 4 slot PXI Chassis...

NI PXI-1031

Below is a Link to a Digital PXI Frame grabber...

NI PXI-1422

Buying these 3 products (PXI-ExpressCard8360, PXI-1031, and the PXI-1422) and the proper laptop, will give you a top of the line digital camera acquisition system.

Lorne Hengst

Application Engineer
National Instruments