-------------------------Monitor------------------------ The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control Issue 132 www.windmill.co.uk July 2009 --------------------ISSN 1472-0221---------------------- Welcome to Monitor, the data acquisition newsletter. I hope you find it useful, but should you wish to remove yourself from our mailing list please go to https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html CONTENTS ======== * Windmill Notes: Connecting a Remontec TRL-50 Sonar * Excel Corner: Editing the Same Cell in Several Sheets * DAQ News Roundup ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill Notes: Connecting a Remontec TRL-50 Sonar ________________________________________________________ The TRL-50 is a microprocessor-controlled system for determining when a towed body is on the seabed. It uses sonar to send and receive data. You have a choice of two Windmill programs with which to collect data from the TRL-50: COMIML or LabIML. COMIML is part of the Windmill 6 suite of software and has many more facilities than LabIML - details are at https://www.windmillsoft.com/daqshop/rs232-modbus.html LabIML is part of the Windmill 4.3 suite of software and is free to Monitor subscribers. How to connect the TRL-50 to a PC ================================================ Here is how to configure the free LabIML software to log data from the TRL-50. There are three basic steps. 1. Run the Windmill ConfIML program and enter your communication settings. 2. Run the Windmill SetupIML program and choose names and units for your data. 3. Run the Windmill DDE Panel or Logger program to display or save data. Once you have configured the Windmill software you can in future go straight logging data. * Windmill ConfIML This program detects and saves a record of the hardware you want to use, in our case the TRL-50. 1. Start ConfIML and Press the Add button. 2. Select LabIML RS232 ASCII Instrument Handler. 3. Type a name for the instrument, eg Trawl, and a description. Enter 1 for the number of channels of data. Press OK. 4. Enter your instrument's settings: - Reading Protocol: Continuous Flow - Instrument Idle or Wait Time: 0 - Data Persistence: 10 000 mS - Returned Message Length: 8 - Instrument Initialisation String: Leave blank 5. Click the Channels button and tell the software how extract the reading from the string of data received. - Make sure that Read channel is checked - Enter the engineering units, eg metres - You can ignore the maximum and minimum settings: these are just a guide for chart scaling etc. - Tell Windmill how to extract the data. In the ConfIML Reply Parse String enter: \S"9:"\E"\C013"\I01. This instructs Windmill to search for 9:, extract data until the carriage return and ignore the next character. It then starts again by searching for 9:. 6. Enter the communication settings used by your TRL-50, eg: - Baud: 4800 - Data Bits: 8 - Parity: None - Flow control: Xon/Xoff 7. Save your settings, close ConfIML and start SetupIML. * Windmill SetupIML With the SetupIML program you can name convert units, set alarms and so on. 1. Choose to Create a New Setup and enter a name and description. This can be anything you like. 2. From the Device menu select LabIML. 3. Your data channels will be shown as a number, for example 10000. Double click this channel number. 4. Type name for your channel, eg Trawl and make sure Enable for Input is checked. 5. Save your settings in a *.ims file, close SetupIML and run DDE Panel or Logger * Windmill DDE Panel 1. From the File menu select Load Hardware Setup and choose the *.ims file you just saved. 2. Connect your channels. You should see your readings in DDE Panel. 3. Proceed similarly for the Logger programs. * Getting the data into Excel You can use the Windmill Logger program to collect data, and after collection has finished import it into Excel. Alternatively, you can collect data with Excel. For more details see our Excel page at https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/ * Trouble-Shooting If you are having problems receiving data, right-click the LabIML icon on the tool bar and select "Debug Options". If the LabIML Debug window says "Parsing Failed", go back to the ConfIML window and edit your Reply Parse String. Note that with RS232 connections Windmill can collect data at speeds of up to 5 readings per second, or one reading every 0.2 seconds. Don't try to run Windmill any faster otherwise you may inadvertently slow the system down. If you still have problems, or are interested in the Windmill settings for a different instrument, fill in the form at https://www.windmill.co.uk/techsupp.html Further Reading =============== Interfacing a NMEA Device https://www.windmill.co.uk/nmea.html ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Excel Corner: Editing the Same Cell in Several Sheets ________________________________________________________ You may have organised your data in Excel so that each day's or week's data is in a separate worksheet in a workbook. The layout of the worksheets, though may be identical. If this is the case you can edit the same cell in all worksheets at once. This is useful for entering or changing formulae. 1. Select the sheets you wish to modify. To select all sheets: Right-click a sheet tab then click Select All Sheets on the shortcut menu. To select several non- adjacent sheets: hold down the Ctrl key and select the sheets. Excel adds the word "Group" to its title bar. 2. Edit a cell in the worksheet that is currently visible. Your changes are made on every other selected sheet as well. 3. Click any tab other than the first to deselect the group of worksheets. For more on using Excel for data acquisition see https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 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 live news on your own web site. Sensor hears collapsing bubbles The UK's National Physical Laboratory has developed the first sensor capable of measuring localised ultrasonic cavitation – the implosion of bubbles in a liquid when a high frequency sound wave is applied. The sensor will help hospitals ensure that their instruments are properly disinfected before they are used on patients. Source: NPL http://www.npl.co.uk/ Wireless LAN use to expand Manufacturers plan to expand use of wireless LAN and wireless sensing technologies within manufacturing plants, says a survey commissioned by Motorola Inc. The study found manufacturers with mobility applications saved a daily average of 42 minutes per employee. Source: Control Engineering http://www.controleng.com/ New transistors save power The power gadgets waste when converting alternating current to direct current could be cut by a third by switching to converters that use gallium nitride transistors instead of silicon ones. These transistors will also make adaptors small enough to fit inside a laptop - doing away with the need to carry a separate adaptor, says a team at Fujitsu Laboratories in Kawasaki, Japan. Source: New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/ Keeping track of hospital equipment Technology that uses Wi-Fi and ultrasound to track hospital equipment could improve patient care. The tracking system, developed by Airetrak, is designed to address the issue of lost equipment in environments that have an existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. Source: The Engineer Online https://www.theengineer.co.uk/ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ * 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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