Fairport, NY, USA: Saelig Company, Inc. (www.saelig.com) has announced the M300 Data Acquisition System, which integrates Rigol’s 6.5-digit DMM technology into a robust and versatile system mainframe with modules to enable applications from multichannel scanning to switching and control. The M300 mainframe can hold up to five modules and up to 320 switch points. The mainframe’s user-friendly graphical display makes scan configuration, monitoring, and storage significantly easier than more traditional front panel interfaces.

The M300 Series Data Acquisition/Switch System, with its modular structure, 4.3″ color LCD, and intuitive GUI, combines precision measurement capability with flexible signal handling to provide versatile solutions for applications where multiple points or signals need to be tested.   While it can be operated without a PC connection, the M300 also comes with UltraAcquire PC Software for advanced data-logging applications for LAN- or USB-connected remote control or data storage. Up to five M300 systems can be controlled simultaneously for parallel scanning and high channel count applications, and all controlled from this single software interface. 

An important application for multichannel acquisition systems is multipoint temperature measurements. Environmental sensing of temperature measurements is critical to research in sensors, biotechnology, and the engineering disciplines as well as environmental and late-stage design verification where aging or thermal testing is often done.  The flexibility of Rigol’s multiplexing modules makes it easy to configure a mix of thermocouples, RTDs, and thermistors to maximize the accuracy and throughput of temperature scans. The terminal blocks for these modules contain CJC or Cold Junction Compensation references to improve temperature reading accuracy.  Once a scan is configured, users can monitor trend graphs of critical channels on the display as well as set up multiple alarms. Optionally, data can be stored for every scan to a USB memory stick attached to the M300.   For automated testing, fifty test points can, for instance, be connected up to the M300 and set to repeatedly scan and measure them all.  This is ideal for thermal testing in environmental test chambers, since the provided software allows for easy relay setup to make measurements over the LAN in a few milliseconds – far quicker than manual methods! 

Modules for the M300 include: a 6½ digit DMM module; 32-channel (support 4-wire measurements) and 64-channel single-ended multiplexers; a mix-multiplexer with 20 voltage channels and 4 current channels; a multiplexer with 20 voltage channels and 4 current channels; a 16-channel actuator; a multifunction module with four 8-bit digital input/output ports, four totalizer input ports, and four analog output ports; a 32 channel (4×8) two-wire matrix switch for connecting multiple devices to multiple points on the device under test, connecting any combination of inputs and outputs simultaneously; and a dual 4-channel RF multiplexer to switch high frequency or pulse signals.