Data acquisition systems and methods may be used in a variety of applications. For example, data acquisition systems may be used in nuclear magnetic resonance imaging systems and fourier transform spectrometer systems. In the healthcare field, hospitals utilize a significant amount of data retrieval and acquisition, with respect to patient information. In cardiography and similar medical applications, it is common to use a plurality of transducers which are affixed to a patient for deriving signals indicative of physiological conditions and functions. Data acquisition apparatus is often provided in a wellbore to monitor the movement of fluid within a fluid producing reservoir or movement of fluid within the wellbore itself. Seismic data is collected to remotely sense subsurface geologic conditions, particularly in connection with the exploration for and production of hydrocarbon reserves, such as oil, natural gas, or coal. The automotive industry utilizes data acquisition and analysis in order to optimize vehicle performance.

A data acquisition system (DAQ) is a combination of computer hardware and software that gathers, stores or processes data in order to control or monitor some sort of physical process. A typical data acquisition system comprises a computer system with DAQ hardware, wherein the DAQ hardware is typically plugged into one of the I/O slots of the computer system. The DAQ hardware is configured and controlled by DAQ software executing on the computer system. A data acquisition system mostly includes transducers, sensors, amplifiers and other means for provision of the signal representation by their measurement and/or monitoring. These components provide field electrical signals representing a process, physical phenomena, equipment being monitored or measured, etc. The transducers or other detecting means convert the physical phenomena being measured into electrical signals, such as voltage or current, measurable by the DAQ hardware. A data collection system for providing a controller with data typically comprises a sensor, including a sensing element and an electronic circuit for converting the output of the sensing element into electric signal, and a readout device for analyzing the output of the electronic circuit of the sensor. In data acquisition systems, information about a plurality of parameters is often obtained by simultaneously deploying numerous sensors. Data acquisition involves interfacing an analog sensor with a recording or display device to measure and record some value of interest over a period of time. A signal generated by the one or more sensors may need to be amplified and/or filtered by the data acquisition system for proper operation. Sensors are commercially available which can produce environmental information in the form of an electrical or optical signal about the local area in which the sensor is situated.

The advent of the information age has been made possible by computer technology. Information processing and handling had been performed by hand on paper. Computers provide an effective and efficient way for humans to manage, locate, peruse and manipulate data or objects. A personal computer may be configured by software programs and by plug-in peripheral equipment to perform a wide variety of special purpose tasks, including data reduction or computation, data acquisition and control. In the particular area of data acquisition, peripheral devices for performing measurements of physical phenomena and converting such measurements to digital signals conventionally are attached to a personal computer through an expansion bus. Messages are transmitted through the expansion bus to issue commands to instruments and to receive data back in return. Computer systems have been indispensable in reducing the amount of menial labor surrounding data acquisition and record keeping. Computer systems can maintain large databases associated with a particular organizations operation. For example, the internal revenue service can maintain tax data for each taxpayer on a computer system in a manner that facilitates a more efficient organization and access for agency purposes. In many organizations, computer storage devices such as hard disks and the like are replacing filing cabinets, thereby reducing the need for large space requirements for record keeping. With the advent of low cost digital computers, almost all data storage is now done digitally. Typical commercially-available data acquisition systems sample the voltage signal from a sensor in discrete time interval. Generally, this analog voltage must be converted to a digital signal that the computer can process and store. This analog-to-digital conversion is typically done with specialized data acquisition hardware and software which must be installed in a user's computer.

All data acquisition systems generally operate in a similar fashion. They receive an external input from some type of sensing device, condition and/or convert the input to a format suitable for transmission, and transmit it a computer. In data acquisition systems, it is necessary to convert one or several analog signals into one or several digital signals capable of being stored in a digital memory and processed by a digital processor. Analog signals must be digitized before they can be used by a computer as a basis for supporting computations. An analog to digital convertor is an electrical device that converts an analog signal to a digital signal. When the analog signal has been converted to a digital signal it can be processed and stored by computer systems. An analog to digital converter is often fabricated on a single integrated circuit. Data acquisition systems for generating digital data for the purposes of computation may receive analog input signals from a plurality of sensors. There are numerous applications where digital data from analog to digital convertors is gathered, stored, and analyzed. Data and information are constantly being transferred from one location to another. Data acquisition systems can operate the TCP/IP protocol over an Ethernet network medium. Radio frequency (RF) wireless data acquisition systems can convert the input to a conditioned electronic signal which is used to modulate a carrier frequency which is then transmitted as a radio frequency signal to equipment in another location.