NI-DAQ Driver Software

The NI-DAQ driver software is included at no charge with all National

Instruments DAQ hardware. NI-DAQ is not packaged with signal

conditioning or accessory products. NI-DAQ has an extensive library of

functions that you can call from your application programming

environment. These functions include routines for analog input (A/D

conversion), buffered data acquisition (high-speed A/D conversion),

analog output (D/A conversion), waveform generation (timed D/A

conversion), digital I/O, counter/timer operations, SCXI, RTSI,

calibration, messaging, and acquiring data to extended memory.

NI-DAQ has both high-level DAQ I/O functions for maximum ease of

use and low-level DAQ I/O functions for maximum flexibility and

performance. Examples of high-level functions are streaming data to

disk or acquiring a certain number of data points. An example of a

low-level function is writing directly to registers on the DAQ device.

NI-DAQ does not sacrifice the performance of National Instruments

DAQ devices because it lets multiple devices operate at their peak performance.

NI-DAQ also internally addresses many of the complex issues between

the computer and the DAQ hardware such as programming interrupts

and DMA controllers. NI-DAQ maintains a consistent software

interface among its different versions so that you can change platforms

with minimal modifications to your code.