How NI CompactDAQ Reduces Test Costs

This article is the first in a three-part series exploring the advantages of cDAQ. In Part 1, I’ll focus on cost savings across the test lifecycle. In Part 2 we’ll explore how flexibility keeps cDAQ relevant across diverse projects, and in Part 3 we’ll highlight the portability that makes it practical outside the lab.

As a Test Engineer at Ball Systems, I spend much of my time thinking about efficiency—both in the test systems I design and the tools I use myself. Testing is at the core of engineering. It ensures designs work as intended, protects companies from costly failures, and accelerates time to market. The challenge is that testing itself can quickly become one of the most expensive parts of the product development process.

Over my career, I’ve worked with systems ranging from massive racks of expensive equipment to portable, modular setups. Again and again, one platform has proven its value—for our customers and in my own projects: NI CompactDAQ (cDAQ) platform. At Ball Systems, it has become our go-to platform for scalable, portable testers.

Reducing Hardware Duplication

One of the biggest cost drivers in traditional setups is hardware duplication. In a rack-based system, you might have an oscilloscope, a DMM, a temperature logger, and multiple DAQs all running in parallel. Each instrument must be purchased separately, calibrated, and maintained—adding cost and complexity.

With C Series I/O modules, a single cDAQ chassis can host multiple measurement types: voltage, current, temperature, strain, vibration, and more. Instead of buying five instruments, you buy one chassis and swap in the right modules. This consolidation not only reduces upfront costs but also simplifies wiring, reduces integration time, and minimizes the learning curve for engineers.

I’ve seen this in action repeatedly. Different teams once bought separate instruments for essentially the same purpose, driving up budgets and cluttering labs. With cDAQ, that pattern disappears.

Scaling Without Overbuying

Scalability is another cost saver. In many organizations, engineers are pressured to buy more capacity than they need, since expanding traditional systems usually means a redesign. Imagine needing 16 channels today but 64 next year—you’d be told to buy the 64-channel system now “just in case.”

With cDAQ, you can start with a 1-slot USB chassis and a couple of modules—perfect for quick proof-of-concept testing. Later, you can expand into a 14-slot Ethernet chassis for production environments. The system grows with you, protecting budgets from wasted, unused capacity.

 At Ball Systems, I’ve used this “pay-as-you-grow” model directly. Starting small in R&D and scaling seamlessly into production lets us deliver value faster without throwing away previous investment. You can see examples of this approach in our Project Gallery.

Lowering Maintenance Costs

Maintenance often hides in the background of test budgets. Rack instruments require regular calibration, firmware updates, and sometimes vendor-specific servicing. Multiply that across dozens of instruments and the costs pile up quickly.

cDAQ minimizes this. Calibration is isolated to individual modules. If a thermocouple module drifts out of spec, it can be swapped or sent for calibration without pulling the whole system offline. This keeps projects moving and dramatically lowers downtime costs.

One of our customers almost lost weeks of test data due to a module failure. Instead, they paused, swapped in a new Analog Input module, and were running again within minutes. That resilience saves both time and money.

Faster Setup, Faster ROI

Time is money in test engineering. Every hour spent configuring hardware or troubleshooting connectivity is an hour not spent advancing your product or solving customer problems. I’ve worked with rack systems that take days to configure, requiring multiple engineers just to get everything talking.

By contrast, with cDAQ setup time is drastically reduced. You plug in the chassis, load NI-DAQmx drivers, and begin collecting data within minutes. Integration with LabVIEW, Python, or FlexLogger makes the path from hardware to visualization short and intuitive.

Personally, this has been a game-changer. It allows me to get test data quickly without writing complicated code, and it allows teams to focus on engineering instead of fighting with hardware.

Smarter Cost Management in Test

Cost pressures are unavoidable in test engineering, but NI CompactDAQ provides a smarter path forward. Consolidating instruments, scaling with demand, minimizing downtime, and reducing setup all add up to meaningful savings. Just as importantly, they do so without sacrificing reliability or capability.

That’s why at Ball Systems we continue to turn to CompactDAQ for projects where budgets matter—but results cannot be compromised.

Next up in this series: Flexibility That Keep NI CompactDAQ Relevant.

Want to see how Ball Systems has deployed cDAQ in real projects? Visit our Project Gallery.