Hi there,
My company is currently setting up automated testing for our PCBs in the factory, and we're trying to figure out if an NI DAQ such as the USB-6211 would be suitable for our needs.
Our test requirements are fairly straightforward: measure voltages at different test points, input test signals, measure the resultant outputs and run some simple analysis on them. We need the tests to run quickly and automatically, so that the results can be easily interpreted by someone on the assembly line. The device also needs to be low-cost. We can't afford the higher-end NI test solutions.
I'm sure that something like the USB-6211 paired with LabView would work fairly well for this, but the main question we have is over the development time/learning curve. We need something we can deploy quickly. In other words, we don't have a lot of time to dedicate to sitting down and learning a whole new software/programming framework, even if, once learned, it is very easy and quick to use.
Do we have to use TestStand in addition to LabView? There aren't a large number of different test sequences to manage, so maybe it isn't necessary?
Is it possible to interface with NI's DAQs through other programming languages, like C or Python? Is there a way to automate an NI DAQ without using LabView (apologies if this is a sacrilegious question)? If not, is it realistic to dive into using LabView with little or no experience and get a working test solution (in terms of software, not the physical test fixtures) up and running in a matter of a week or two?
These are fairly general questions, I know, but thanks for your attention and help!