-------------------------Monitor------------------------ The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control Issue 118 www.windmill.co.uk May 2008 --------------------ISSN 1472-0221---------------------- Welcome to Monitor. I hope you enjoy the newsletter but if you want to remove yourself from our mailing list please do so at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html CONTENTS ======== * Windmill Notes: The Messages sent by RS232 Devices * Excel Corner: More on E-mailing Alarm Alerts * DAQ News Roundup ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill Notes: The Messages sent by RS232 Devices ________________________________________________________ In the response to our recent survey, you asked for a list of message strings sent by popular measuring devices over RS232. Here is the first installment of the list. We are still looking to add devices - if you have used Windmill with an RS232 instrument please could you help us by sending an example of its data message to monitor@windmillsoft.com? Our thanks to everyone who has aready done so and who has helped us compile this list. Free software to collect data from RS232 devices is available to all our newsletter subscribers. Notes: ====== The "typical message string" gives an example of the sequence of characters sent by the instrument when it transmits data. Where the instrument requires a command to transmit data, this is shown below as the "prompt string". <cr> represents a carriage return. <lf> represents a line feed. The "Windmill parse string" gives an example of how you might set up Windmill to extract data from the instrument. We haven't included this for instruments sending many items of data in one message. For more details of parsing data see https://www.windmill.co.uk/parse.html Ashtech G12 GPS Board Typical message string = $GPGGA,145229.80,5141.086059,N,00006.429733,W,1,8,1.0,61.620,M,45.78,M,999,0*4F More details at https://www.windmill.co.uk/serial_driver.html Atlas Deso Echosounder Typical message string = $GPGGA,082545.00,3411.57308,S,01826.70951,E,1,06,1.5,30.1,M,31.8,M,,*4C More details at https://www.windmill.co.uk/nmea.html Desoutter Torque Tester TMP220 Typical message string = ( # 5 0.48 Nm ) Windmill parse string = \S"#"I06\E04 More details at https://www.windmill.co.uk/torque.html Garmin GPS Typical message string = $GPRMC,hhmmss,A,llll.ll,N,yyyyy.yy,W,kk.k,tt.t,ddmmyy,mm.m,W*CS More details at https://www.windmill.co.uk/garmin.html ICP DAS I-7000 Series analogue and digital modules Typical message string for analogue input reading = >+05.123+04.153+07.234-02.356+10.000-05.133+02. 345+08.234 More details at http://www.icpdas.com/index.php Mettler Toledo Balance Prompt string = S<cr><lf> Typical message string = S S 100.0 g Windmill parse string = \I"0123456789"\E" " (extracts just the numerical part of the string) More details at https://www.windmill.co.uk/mettler.html Parker PDFX Stepper Drive Typical message string with encoder positions for rotator scan = 1R(EP) *+1355 1R(EP) *+1364 Windmill parse string = \S"*"\E5 SG Brown Gyro Compass Typical message string for heading = $GPGGA,082545.00,3411.57308,S,01826.70951,E,1,06,1.5,30.1,M,31.8,M,,*4C DA00013.67 m DB00013.67 m BC00.0dB More details at https://www.windmill.co.uk/nmea.html Sylvac Dial Gauge (digital indicator) Typical message string = +00.0000<cr> Windmill reply parse string = \I"+-"\E"\C013 More details at https://www.windmill.co.uk/sylvac.html TSS DMS motion sensor Typical message string for roll, pitch, heave = :003D31 0000U 0026 0005 Further Reading =============== Parsing Messages from RS232 Instruments https://www.windmill.co.uk/parse.html Instrument setup files https://www.windmill.co.uk/serial_driver.html ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Excel Corner: More on E-mailing Alarm Alerts ________________________________________________________ Last month we discussed how to send an e-mail from Excel whenever a channel crossed an alarm level (https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitor117.html#Excel). One of our readers - Brian Yeager of SCE & G - suggested that some users wouldn't want the e-mails to show the default e-mail address of their PC, and gave a solution. A slightly modified version of this is below. On an alarm condition, this sub-routine sends an e-mail containing the data in cells A2 to G2. The e-mail is from whatever you specify in the From = line below. You can download an example spreadsheet with this sub-routine at https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/sendemail3.xls Sub SendEmail() Dim iMsg As Object Application.ScreenUpdating = False Dim cell As Range Dim MsgTextBody As String MsgTextBody = "The temperature reading in cell A2 is in alarm " & vbNewLine For Each cell In Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A2:G2") MsgTextBody = MsgTextBody & cell.Value & vbNewLine Next Set iMsg = CreateObject("CDO.Message") With iMsg .To = "myemail@mycompany.com" .CC = "" .BCC = "" .From = "excelalarm@mycompany.com" .Subject = "Alarm alert" .TextBody = MsgTextBody .Send End With Set iMsg = Nothing Set iConf = Nothing Application.ScreenUpdating = True End Sub Notes: (1) If your company is using a firewall, you may need to define via your email system any recipients outside the firewall that will receive messages (e.g., cell.myemail@mycompany.com). Otherwise, the firewall will likely block the home-grown email. (2) If your From address is not a real e-mail, make sure you add a line to the MsgTextBody telling people not to respond to this e-mail. (3) The code won't work in Windows 98 or ME. (4) To test the spreadsheet you may like to use Windmill's automatically generated data values provided by the Software Signal Generator. Just add the Signal Generator in the ConfIML program and make sure it is in your SetupIML listing. * Further Reading =============== For more tips on using Excel for data acquisition and analysis see https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/ and https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/excel-charting.html For more on sending e-mail from Excel https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb268022.aspx ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ DAQ News Roundup ________________________________________________________ Welcome to our roundup of the data acquisition and control news. If you would like to receive more timely DAQ news updates then grab our RSS newsfeed at https://www.windmillsoft.com/monitor.xml. Read https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsfeed.php for notes on how to display the news on your own web site, read it via e-mail, mobile phone or a newsfeed viewer. Bluetooth gives spies a window into your life Cellphones with Bluetooth are more of a privacy threat than RFID chips, say researchers who used the system to track 10,000 people in one city. Bluetooth makes our movements trackable by anyone equipped with a PC and an appropriate receiver. Scientists in the UK placed four Bluetooth receivers in the city's centre. Over four months, they tracked 10,000 Bluetooth phones and were able to "capture and analyse people's encounters" in pubs, streets and shops. Source: New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/ Explosive sensor Scientists at the University of Massachusetts have created complex molecules containing zinc for use in portable sensors that quickly and reliably detect the presence of plastic explosives. Sensors containing the zinc complexes are also the first devices that allow the user to identify which type of explosive is present, since each metal complex has a unique response to explosives and explosive mimics. Source: University of Massachusetts http://www.umass.edu/ Role of Sensors in Automotive Applications to Grow New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the availability of better next-generation sensors makes electronics one of the fastest growing areas in automotive technology. Sensors advancements include those affecting tire pressure, engine control, vehicle safety and fuel efficiency. Source: Frost & Sullivan http://www.frost.com/ Adapted aircon can track movement in the home Pressure detectors in air-conditioning units can track the movement of people through a building and could be used to save energy. An HVAC system circulates air throughout a house using a system of ducts. In an empty house, that circulation reaches a steady state and there is a constant airflow through the central filter. But the flow is disturbed if a person moves through the house, particularly if they open and close doors as they go. A research team found that they could detect these tiny disturbances to airflow simply by placing five air-pressure sensors on the filter that lies at the centre of the HVAC system. Source: New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ * Copyright Windmill Software Ltd * Reprinting permitted with this notice included * For more articles see https://www.windmill.co.uk We are happy for you to copy and distribute this newsletter, and use extracts from it on your own web site or publication, providing the above notice is included and a link back to our website is in place. An archive of previous issues is at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html and an index of articles at https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html Windmill Software Ltd, PO Box 58, North District Office, Manchester, M8 8QR, UK Telephone: +44 (0)161 834 6688 Facsimile: +44 (0)161 833 2190 E-mail: monitor@windmillsoft.com https://www.windmill.co.uk/ https://www.windmillsoft.com/
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