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Discover NI Devices

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This example shows how to discover National Instruments™ devices visible to MATLAB® and get information about channel and measurement types available in those devices.

Display a List of Available Devices

Use daqlist to display a list of devices available to your machine and MATLAB.

d = daqlist("ni")

d =

  12×4 table

     DeviceID                 Description                    Model             DeviceInfo     
    ___________    __________________________________    _____________    ____________________

    "cDAQ1Mod1"    "National Instruments NI 9205"        "NI 9205"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "cDAQ1Mod2"    "National Instruments NI 9263"        "NI 9263"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "cDAQ1Mod3"    "National Instruments NI 9234"        "NI 9234"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "cDAQ1Mod4"    "National Instruments NI 9201"        "NI 9201"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "cDAQ1Mod5"    "National Instruments NI 9402"        "NI 9402"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "cDAQ1Mod6"    "National Instruments NI 9213"        "NI 9213"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "cDAQ1Mod7"    "National Instruments NI 9219"        "NI 9219"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "cDAQ1Mod8"    "National Instruments NI 9265"        "NI 9265"        [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "Dev1"         "National Instruments PCIe-6363"      "PCIe-6363"      [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "Dev2"         "National Instruments NI ELVIS II"    "NI ELVIS II"    [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "Dev3"         "National Instruments PCIe-6363"      "PCIe-6363"      [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]
    "Dev4"         "National Instruments PCIe-6363"      "PCIe-6363"      [1×1 daq.DeviceInfo]

Get Details About a Device

The daqlist command shows you the overview of devices available. To obtain more information about a particular device, view the "DeviceInfo" table cell for it.

deviceInfo = d{1, "DeviceInfo"}

deviceInfo = 

ni: National Instruments NI 9205 (Device ID: 'cDAQ1Mod1')
   Analog input supports:
      4 ranges supported
      Rates from 0.6 to 250000.0 scans/sec
      32 channels ('ai0' - 'ai31')
      'Voltage' measurement type
   
This module is in slot 1 of the 'cDAQ-9178' chassis with the name 'cDAQ1'.

Dynamic Hardware Discovery

When the hardware configuration changes (for example, a new CompactDAQ module is plugged into the chassis), use daqreset followed by daqlist to observe the changes.