NI data acquisition, also known as data acquisition, is an interface that uses a device to collect data from outside the system and input it into the system. Data acquisition technology is widely used in various fields. For example, cameras and microphones are all data collection tools.

The collected data are various physical quantities that have been converted into electrical signals, such as temperature, water level, wind speed, pressure, etc., and can be analog or digital. The acquisition is generally a sampling method, that is, the same point data is repeatedly collected at a certain time (called the sampling period). Most of the collected data are instantaneous values, but also a characteristic value within a certain period of time. Accurate data measurement is the basis of data collection. There are contact and non-contact data measurement methods, and there are various detection elements. Regardless of the methods and components, the premise is not to affect the state of the measured object and the measurement environment to ensure the correctness of the data. Data collection has a wide meaning, including the collection of continuous physical quantities in a plane. In computer-aided mapping, surveying, and design, the process of digitizing graphics or images can also be referred to as data collection. At this time, what is collected is geometric (or physical, such as gray) data.

With the rapid development of the Internet industry today, data collection has been widely used in the Internet and distributed fields, and important changes have taken place in the field of data collection. First of all, intelligent data acquisition systems in distributed control applications have made considerable progress at home and abroad. Second, the number of bus-compatible data acquisition plug-ins continues to increase, and the number of data acquisition systems compatible with personal computers is also increasing. Various data acquisition machines at home and abroad have come out one after another, bringing data acquisition into a new era.