The management of wireless real-time data acquisition processes using Virtual Instruments

Abstract

Nowadays, virtual labs are interacting with many domains including education processes, social processes, distributed control processes, data acquisition processes and automation fields. The present paper is focused on the management of the information support required to connect the virtual labs to the processes of temperature, vibration data acquisition and real-time process control using 802.11 b/g communication protocols. Using the experience of distributed smart sensor systems delay, and Field Programmable Gate Array-based (FPGA) data acquisition systems, it was described a management approach of the 802.11 b/g-based data acquisition (DAQ). Buffering processes, sampling rates, and wireless connections were studied. A few Virtual Instruments (VI's) applications were created for controlling several FPGA-based DAQ devices. Few accelerometers tilt sensors and photovoltaic panels were used and connected to the acquisition modules of DAQ device. A network protocol analyzer was also used for analyzing acquisition process in terms of data packets. The analysis is relevant for finding and controlling some “mission-critical” situations caused by data packets loss in wireless distributed control systems.