Flexible and Multipurpose Data Acquisition System Design and Architecture for a Multi-force Testing Facility

Abstract

Testing facilities that combine simultaneous forces on test articles, such as the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Combined Environment Acoustic Chamber (CEAC), require a data acquisition system that is both robust, flexible, and able to record data at different acquisition rates and store the data separately and simultaneously. This paper will provide an overview of how the Air Force Research Laboratory, Structural Dynamics Lab designed their data acquisition architecture using National Instruments PXIe model hardware and LabVIEW software interface to meet the current and future technical requirements for a flexible combined environment data acquisition system.