List NI DAQ devices visible to this machine.

Returns the device name, product type, serial number, and which channel types it supports. Call this first — channel names are device-specific.

Describe one device's full channel inventory.

Returns available analog input, analog output, digital input, and digital output channels, plus voltage ranges and max sample rates. Use this to pick valid channel names before reading or writing.

Read voltage samples from an analog input channel.

channel: fully qualified, e.g. "Dev1/ai0" samples: how many samples to acquire (1 = single instantaneous reading) rate_hz: sample rate for multi-sample reads

Returns the samples plus min/mean/max, so the model can reason about the signal without pulling thousands of raw floats into context.

Read the current logic level of a digital input line.

channel: e.g. "Dev1/port0/line0" Returns {"channel": ..., "value": true/false}.

Set a digital output line high or low.

Requires DAQ_MCP_ALLOW_WRITE=1. Returns the line's state after the write (read back from hardware, not echoed) so the model can confirm the effect.

Set an analog output channel to a DC voltage.

Clamped to AO_VOLTAGE_LIMITS. Returns both the requested and the actual applied voltage, and flags whether clamping occurred — never silently changes the value the model asked for.

Acquire a finite analog waveform and return summary statistics.

Built for the "is my sensor behaving?" question: returns mean, RMS, peak- to-peak, standard deviation, and a downsampled preview rather than the full sample array. Keeps large acquisitions out of the context window.

Run the device's built-in self-test and report pass/fail.

Useful as a first diagnostic when reads return unexpected values.