DAQiFi Nyquist 1 Wireless Data Acquisition System

DAQiFi Nyquist 1 Wireless Data Acquisition System

The DAQiFi Nyquist 1 is a portable data acquisition system built for measurements that have to happen away from a bench. It carries a 4000mAh Li-Ion battery, an 802.11n radio, and a microSD slot, so it can be placed on the machine, the structure, or the vehicle under test and left to record on its own. Data comes back over WiFi in real time, over USB, or off the SD card afterwards.

All sixteen analog inputs are single-ended 0–5V with 12-bit resolution, four of which can be reconfigured as differential pairs. Sixteen digital I/O lines are individually configurable as inputs or outputs with PWM available on select channels. Every input carries TVS diode protection, and the digital lines add PTC resettable fuses.

DAQiFi Nyquist 1 Features

• 16 single-ended analog inputs, 0–5V, 12-bit resolution — 4 configurable as differential pairs
• Sampling to 19,250 Hz per channel (single channel enabled); 5,000 Hz per channel with all 16 enabled
• Factory calibration included; ±0.1% gain error and ±0.1% offset error post-calibration
• 16 digital I/O, 5V logic, 32mA source/sink per pin, PWM capable
• 802.11n WiFi (2.4 GHz) in Access Point or Station mode, WPA2-PSK
• USB 2.0 virtual COM port; multiple units can stream to one client simultaneously
• microSD logging at up to 450 KB/s sustained, with automatic FAT32-compatible file splitting
• Protocol Buffers, JSON, or CSV output formats
• 4000mAh Li-Ion battery with USB charging — runs independently of mains power
• Regulated 5V outputs on both the analog and digital connectors, 800mA combined, for powering sensors and signal conditioning
• TVS diode protection on all analog and digital channels; PTC resettable fuses on digital I/O
• Pluggable screw terminals for fast swapping between test setups
• Compact profile (4″ x 4″ x 1.6″)

Pairs With the Tacuna Systems EMBSGB200 Load Cell Amplifier

The Nyquist 1 measures voltage. The Tacuna Systems EMBSGB200 turns a strain gauge or load cell into a voltage. Together they make a complete, battery-powered strain measurement chain that writes to an SD card or streams over WiFi — with no PC, no mains power, and no cabling back to a control room.

The two are a direct electrical match:

• Output range lands inside the input range. The EMBSGB200 delivers 0.030–4.85 VDC single-ended, which sits entirely inside the Nyquist 1’s 0–5V analog input span. The amplifier’s unipolar output means no bipolar front end is required.
• The DAQ can power the amplifier. Ordered with the 5V-only supply option, the EMBSGB200 runs from the Nyquist 1’s regulated 5V rail — typically 52mA each against an 800mA budget. (The 6–16 VDC and 8–24 VDC variants need their own supply.)
• The amplifier excites the bridge. The EMBSGB200 supplies 5V bridge excitation to the load cell, so no separate excitation source is needed.
• Bandwidth is comfortably oversampled. The EMBSGB200-M and -C roll off at roughly 60–85 Hz with a 350Ω bridge, and the -X at roughly 190–225 Hz. The Nyquist 1 samples far above either, so the amplifier’s filter sets the measurement bandwidth and acts as the anti-aliasing filter.
• Room for a full test setup. With 16 single-ended analog inputs, one Nyquist 1 can capture several amplified strain channels at once alongside other 0–5V sensors.

Typical use: mount the load cell and EMBSGB200 on the structure, run the amplifier’s 0–5V output into an analog input, power the amplifier from the DAQ’s 5V rail, and either log to the microSD card for later retrieval or stream live to a laptop or tablet over WiFi.

DAQiFi Nyquist 1 Sampling Performance

Maximum sustained Protocol Buffers streaming rate in Hz per channel, measured at a 252 MHz core clock and rounded to the nearest 250 sps. Every enabled channel samples at the listed rate, so aggregate throughput is the per-channel rate multiplied by the number of active channels.

DAQiFi Nyquist 1 Applications

• Mobile and field strain measurement, paired with the EMBSGB200 amplifier
• Load cell and force monitoring away from a wired test stand
• Structural and vibration monitoring on bridges, towers, and machinery
• Vehicle and equipment instrumentation where a PC cannot ride along
• Pressure, temperature, pH, position, and any other transducer with a 0–5V output
• Multi-channel bench data logging and automated test racks
• Teaching and research laboratories needing an open, scriptable DAQ

Open Platform and Software Support

The Nyquist 1 speaks SCPI, the same command language used by Keysight, Tektronix, and Rohde & Schwarz instruments, over either USB or WiFi. Commands are plain text, so anything that can open a socket or a serial port can drive the device.

• DAQiFi Desktop App (Windows) — real-time graphing, logging, CSV export, and firmware updates
• LabVIEW — native VIs for analog in, digital in, PWM out, and CSV logging
• Python, .NET, and Java APIs for scripted automation and custom applications
• Node-RED nodes for drag-and-drop dashboards and IoT workflows
• Onboard CLI for direct device access and configuration
• Open source — firmware (C/FreeRTOS), hardware schematics, and every client library are published under MIT/BSD licenses. No proprietary drivers and no vendor lock-in.

Contact us with any product-related questions, or for help specifying an amplifier and load cell to pair with the Nyquist 1.

Tacuna Systems Commitment

We strive to help our diverse customer base achieve their desired outcomes. As a small business, we take great pride in providing free consultation for product design & prototyping to ensure our valued clients have the right equipment to be successful. Our engineering specialists have extensive R&D experience in strain gauge load cell technology, and we are well-known for our in-house designed customizable signal conditioners and amplifiers.