BSL PRO Software Guide - Biopac

Recording Data 47Setup AcquisitionsOnce you have set up the channel parameters, the next step is to specify the acquisition settings. You can do this bychoosing Setup Acquisition from the MP UNIT menu. This generates a dialog box that will describe the type ofacquisition about to be performed.There are a number of options here, but the basic parameters involve specifying: where data should be stored as it isbeing acquired, the sample (data collection) rate, and the acquisition length.Data storage — At the top of the Acquisition Setup dialog box, you should see a display that reads Record andAppend using PC Memory. This is the default option for collecting data and tells the Biopac Student Lab PRO toautomatically record data into single continuous file, and to store the data in computer memory (RAM) during theacquisition. The third pop-up menu (which defaults to PC Memory) allows you to specify where the data should bestored during the acquisition. You will need to choose PC Memory or Hard Disk storage. Computer memory(RAM) is usually faster (but less abundant) than disk space. If your system uses any virtual memory, the BiopacStudent Lab PRO software will use as much as possible.Sample rate — This is analogous to “mm/sec” on a chart recorder, and refers to how many samples the MP UNITSystem should take each second. As the sample rate increases, the representation of the signal becomes moreaccurate — however, so does the demand for system resources memory, disk space, etc.). The Biopac Student LabPRO’s sampling rate has a lower bound of 1 sample per second, and an upper bound of 100,000 samples per second(2 kHz). Choose the best sample rate from the pull-down menu generated when you click the Sample Rate entry. A good rule of thumb is to select a sampling rate at least four times the highest frequency ofinterest for the signal.Acquisition Length — This entry controls how long an acquisition will last (duration). This can be scaled inseconds, minutes, hours, milliseconds or number of samples, as selected from the pull-down menu. Set this value byentering a number in the Acquisition Length box or by moving the scroll box left (to decrease) or right (to increase).Repeat — The Repeat function is an advanced operation and is discussed on page 686.