DAQiFi's Nyquist 1 Is a Robust, Self-Contained Solution for Wireless Data Acquisition

Data acquisition specialist DAQiFi is hoping to make your next sensor project simpler to put together with the launch of the Nyquist 1, a standalone device designed to offer easy capture of analog or digital data.

"DAQiFi Nyquist 1 is a self-contained, mobile connected, battery powered, wireless data acquisition device," its creators explain. "It’s perfect for general data acquisition applications where economical, feature-rich DAQs are required. Nyquist is completely wireless, utilizing a built-in li-ion battery for power and an 802.11 Wi-Fi connection, allowing it to be deployed virtually anywhere and everywhere."

The Nyquist 1 board, supplied housed in a dedicated casing to protect it in the field, offers an impressive 16 analog inputs to one side, eight of which can be combined into four differential inputs, and 16 digital inputs/outputs to the other — all exposed as screw terminals, allowing data sources to be connected and disconnected without cracking open the case.

According to DAQiFi's testing, the Nyquist 1 is capable of handling 1kHz sampling rates per channel and 10kHz aggregate rate, and comes pre-calibrated — a major selling point over rival devices, which either have no lab-suitable calibration offering or ask for additional cash for the service. Windows and Android software is included, while a microSD slot provides room for local storage. The company also promises full compatibility with "industry standard software," including LabVIEW, Mathematica, and Node-RED.

"Aside from ease-of-use and rich feature set," DAQiFi says, "the [Nyquist 1] hardware is designed to be incredibly robust. All its ports and electrical interfaces are protected against overvoltage, overcurrent, electrostatic discharge, and reverse polarity. The USB interface and internal lithium-ion battery are protected with automatically resetting polyfuses and are safeguarded against overvoltage, overcurrent, improper charging, and temperature extremes."

The company has launched the Nyquist 1 on Crowd Supply at $199 with free worldwide shipping; those feeling generous can pay $349 to take part in the company's "give one, get one" program and provide a board to a student or academic lab in need. All hardware is expected to ship towards the end of February 2023, with 200 units already manufactured.

While DAQiFi has pledged to release source code and design files for the Nyquist 1, at the time of writing the company had not made the repositories public.