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MCC DAQ Driver

Updated Driver for Measurement Computing Corporation DAQ Product Line
Introduction
Please review these notes before working with MCC data acquisition hardware.

When installing software and hardware, you may need to log into an account with Administrator privileges. If you have any
problems, please verify your account privileges before calling technical support.
This driver is referred to as an Extension driver or DLL driver to distinguish it from the previous drivers that used the traditional
driver interface to communicate with DASYLab. This driver replaces the existing Multi-board and Multi-board/Multi-speed
drivers for MCC DAQ hardware.
The DASYLab MCC-DAQ driver supports all data acquisition devices that are supported by the Universal Library hardware driver
from Measurement Computing Corporation (MCC).
The MCC-DAQ driver does not support the following hardware functions:

Quadrature encoder boards such as the CIO-QUAD02 or PCI-QUAD04

Hardware clocked and fast analog output
Frequency output

Devices mentioned in this Technical Note were supported as of the date of this noteDAQ hardware released after this note may be
automatically supported by this driver, but that support cannot be guaranteed.
The MCC-DAQ driver creates the MCC-DAQ menu in DASYLab. This menu allows you to open the InstaCal configuration program,
with which you can calibrate, configure, and test your installed MCC hardware. While you can open InstaCal from within DASYLab,
DASYLab does not accept the modified configuration until you close and reopen DASYLab. If you installed the Universal Library
from MCC, you can open the help for the hardware driver from the StartProgramsMeasurement ComputingUniversal
Library Online Help menu item. If you need documentation on your hardware, you can gain access to the MCC internet page by
selecting MCC-DAQProduct Manuals Homepage (www.mccdaq.com/manuals.html) from the DASYLab Help menu where you
can download product manuals.
Warning: In DASYLab you cannot operate the MCC-DAQ driver at the same time as earlier versions of the MCC-DAQ

driver. DASYLab informs you whether an earlier version of the driver is installed. Delete the listed driver libraries in the
DASYLab folder.

Refer to the "Table of MCC Hardware with UL Support" section at the beginning of the Universal Library Users Guide
(www.mccdaq.com/PDFmanuals/sm-ul-user-guide.pdf) for a list of supported hardware.
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Installing the driver

Before you install the DASYLab MCC-DAQ driver, you must either:

install the Universal Library version 5.56B or later, or

install the InstaCal configuration software version 5.56B or later from MCC.

This version does not remove older driversyou may receive a message when first starting DASYLab V9 with a list of possible files
that conflict with this driver. Remove them by moving them to a different folder or by deleting them.
If you install the Universal Library from MCC, you can find the Help menu item MCC-DAQMeasurement ComputingUniversal
Library Online Help in DASYLab. This menu item opens the Universal Library help file, which contains information on the hardware
and on the functions for the installed hardware driver.

Use the Experiment Measurement Boards Settings MCC-DAQMeasurement ComputingInstaCal menu item to open
the InstaCal configuration software. Use InstaCal to calibrate, configure, and test the installed hardware.
To use the modified hardware in DASYLab, close and then reopen DASYLab.
Configuring your hardware
Once you have installed your DAQ hardware, configured it with InstaCal, installed DASYLab and installed the MCC-DAQ driver,
you must configure the MCC-DAQ driver to correctly support your installed DAQ hardware.
You must know the following:

Resolution of the DAQ device (12-, 14-, or 16-bit see "Change the DAQ hardware resolution for 16-bit devices" section)
Whether or not the device supports a software-programmable channel/gain queue

You may need to review the product specifications for your DAQ device, which are available on the MCC web site
(www.mccdaq.com/specs.html). You can also get this information from the Universal Library Online Help.
Use the Experiment Measurement Boards Settings MCC-DAQHardware Setup menu item to configure each DAQ device
that you have installed and will use in this worksheet. The settings are saved with the worksheet.
The Hardware Setup dialog has a tab in the dialog box for each device installed in InstaCal. Each subsystem for the device has
settings that can be configured. You can define the following, depending on the device:

Clock mode
Scan clock
Settings
Trigger settings
Functions

You must first select the Function setting tab to specify the resolution and the programmable channel/gain queue setting. If you do not
select this, it defaults to 12-bit resolution with a programmable channel/gain queue. If the board does not support a channel/gain
queue, you receive an error message when you start the measurement.
If the board is a 14-bit or 16-bit device, there is no error message, but the data is interpreted as if it is 12-bit, and it is
scaled incorrectly.

Working with the MCC-DAQ driver

Please review the online help for the MCC-DAQ driver. All modules that work with this driver are found in the Modules
Input/OutputMCC-DAQ menu. To configure the sampling rate and block size for each installed MCC device, choose the
Experiment Experiment Setup MCC-DAQExperiment Setup menu option. You can also use the ExperimentTime
BasesAll Settings menu item to access the driver timebase settings.
To add an analog input module, choose MCC-DAQAnalog Input. A dialog opens from which you can choose the device that you
want to use. See the online help for information about the device properties that you can configure.
Some devices do not support simultaneous analog input and output refer to the documentation and specifications for your device. If
an error occurs, DASYLab displays the error message that the Universal Library provides.
Note for the USB-1608FS
The USB-1608FS was designed so that it processes data in groups of 31 when doing normal continuous analog input. DASYLab does
not automatically recognize this requirement. You must change your DASYLab block size in the time base settings to 31 or a multiple
of 31. For example, sample data at 100 samples/second (S/s) with a block size of 31. If your sample rate is less than 31 S/s, you may
change the Experiment Measurement Boards Settings MCC-DAQHardware Setup for your device to use the SINGLEIO
mode. Use a sample rate of 1-to-10 S/s and a block size of 1.
Note for EXP expansion cards
The driver correctly identifies installed EXP devices, but does not automatically assign the channels. When you first create an analog
input module to read an EXP expansion board, you must identify the channel start number.
CIO-EXP boards are used only in combination with an A/D board. Channel numbers for accessing the expansion boards begin at 16
for 8-channel and 16-channel boards, and at 64 for 64-channel boards. To calculate the channel number (Chan) for access to CIO-EXP
channels, use the following formula:
Chan = (ADChan * 16) + (16 + MuxChan)
MuxChan is a number ranging from 0 to 15 that specifies the channel number on a particular bank of the expansion board. An EXP32
has two banks, so the channel numbers for one EXP32 connected to an A/D board would range from 16 to 47.
If all A/D channels are not used for CIO-EXP output, direct input to the A/D board is still available at these channels (using channel
numbers below 16).
For example, a PCI-DAS08 board with three EXP-BRIDGE16 boards addresses the first EXP starting at channel 16 ( 0 * 16 ) + (16 +
0). The second EXP starts at channel 32, the third at 48, and so on. Channels 0-2 on the PCI-DAS08 should not be used, and the first
direct input channel on the PCI-DAS08 would be Channel 3.
Change the DAQ hardware resolution for 16-bit devices
The driver defaults to 12-bit resolution and software-programmable channel/gain queue.
To change the setting in MCC-DAQHardware Setup for your 16-bit device, click on the Functions tab.

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DS DASYLAB-Tech-Notes.doc
Document Revision 1, February, 2007

Copyright Measurement Computing Corporation