National Instruments

With the explosive growth and adoption of Universal Serial Bus (USB) in the PC industry, engineers are evaluating the viability of USB in industrial environments. Industrial applications require a measurement system with high-speed, accurate analog input, fast data logging, and analysis capabilities; a permanently installed efficiency monitoring system; and a portable diagnostic system for troubleshooting. USB can easily meet these requirements, providing a measurement system with industrial I/O levels and high data throughput; a solution for short-term diagnostic systems that require quick and easy setup; and data acquisition systems that can be permanently installed.

USB has been widely adopted as the standard bus for PC peripherals because it offers ease of use and high data throughput, and because it is one of the fastest-growing bus technologies in the computer industry. Because of its broad adoption and high performance, USB is finding its place on the industrial measurement scene.