Human beings often must monitor a handful of signals over extended periods of time, and then graph and analyze the resulting data. The need to monitor, record and analyze data arises in a wide range of applications, including the design-verification stage of product development, environmental chamber monitoring, component inspection, bench top testing and process trouble-shooting.
This application note describes the various methods and devices you can use to acquire it, record and analyze data, from the simple pen-and-paper method to using today's sophisticated data acquisition systems. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each method and provides a list of questions that will guide you in selecting the approach that best suits your needs.