Various embodiments of a system and method for performing a measurement application are described herein. The system may include a host computer having a processor, and a measurement device having a programmable hardware element. The programmable hardware element may be configured to perform a loop to acquire measurement data from a physical system. The host computer may be configured to perform another loop to read the measurement data from the programmable hardware element and use the measurement data in a measurement and control algorithm. The host computer may be further configured to perform a synchronization algorithm to keep the measurement data acquisition loop performed by the programmable hardware element synchronized with the measurement and control loop performed by the host computer.