Universal measurement system for analog electronic circuits?

Hi all,

I am looking for a system to run automated measurements on analog electronic circuits. It needs to be a general environment in which I can

  • set >1 analog output pins (these will be input to the electronic circuit)
  • read >1 analog input pins (output of the elec. circuit)
  • collect these data and send them to the computer for further processing

This system needs to be able to take commands from the computer like

  • which pins to use
  • range of voltages to put on analog output pins
  • interval between voltages (linear/logarithmic)
  • time between measurements

Between different test scenario’s I do not want the code on the Arduino to be recompiled and uploaded. The Arduino should just take commands on what to do from the computer.

This system will consist of code running on an Arduino, and software running on a computer. Does anyone know of a system, or combination of packages which can do this task?

Koen

A google search for "arduino data acquisition" or "arduino data logger" will yield information on the capabilities of arduino for data acquisition and maybe some complete projects.

Such devices are used in the semiconductor industry to test components and circuits on integrated circuit wafers. They are custom made and cost hundreds of thousands of $.

Seems pretty practical on the Arduino side. Don't know what it would take on the PC side. You'd have to define a protocol for sending the commands and for the data going back.

You would typically need a DAC to generate decent output values - low-pass filtering PWM has its limitations.

Lack of RAM might be a real issue.

We need far more details /specifications to give better advice.

You could consider a Teensy3.6 which has an DAC on board and is 10x (and more) faster than a bare Arduino.
It has float math support

check www.pjrc.com