-------------------------Monitor------------------------ The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control Issue 148 www.windmill.co.uk November 2010 --------------------ISSN 1472-0221---------------------- Welcome to Monitor. I hope you find the newsletter useful, but should you wish to remove yourself from our mailing list please go to https://www.windmill.co.uk/newsletter.html CONTENTS ======== * Windmill News: Windmill release USB Drivers for Windows 10, 8, 7 * Excel Corner: Debugging Formulae * Data Acquisition and Control News Roundup ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill News: Windmill release USB Drivers for Windows 7 ________________________________________________________ Windmill are pleased to announce that their USB drivers are now fully compatible with 64-bit Windows 7. USB is a popular option for data acquisition for many reasons. 1. With a USB hub you can connect many devices to one socket - letting you easily expand your system should requirements grow. 2. The equipment can obtain power from the USB; it doesn't need to be battery powered or plugged into the wall. This makes USB ideal for portable data acquisition with a laptop. 3. You can plug in and unplug your equipment without switching off your computer or restarting Windows. 4. The USB cable can be up to 5 m long. However, using USB hubs between cables you can reach 30 m. 5. You can use USB devices alongside existing data acquisition equipment. USB data acquisition units are available from the Windmill on-line shop at https://www.windmillsoft.com/daqshop/data-acquisition.html. These let you: - measure temperature, strain, pressure, resistance, voltage and current - control analogue voltage and current outputs - switch digital outputs - monitor digital inputs - count events Prices start at just £295 for hardware, drivers and Windmill Logging, Charting and Control software. See a comparison of USB units at https://www.windmillsoft.com/daqshop/wm700.html ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Excel Corner: Debugging Formulae ________________________________________________________ You've entered a complicated formula, but it is not working as expected. What is the quickest way to find the problem? Let's use as an example a formula to find the average readings per hour: =SUMIF(Hour,"=16",Temperature)/COUNTIF(Hour,"=16") (See Monitor 80 for details: https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitor80.html#Excel) Highlight the SUMIF part and press the F9 key. Excel shows you the results for just this part of the formula. Now do the same with the COUNTIF part. A quick and easy way to see which is causing the problem. More tips on using Excel are at 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. Sonar device sees through bubble clouds Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new kind of underwater sonar device that can detect objects through bubble clouds that would effectively blind standard sonar. Source: University of Southampton http://www.southampton.ac.uk/mediacentre/ 4.3 million cars in Europe have a telematics device According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, 4.3 million passenger cars in Europe will have an on-board telematics device at the end of 2010. Stolen vehicle tracking is still the main application, followed by automatic emergency call, driver assistance and motor insurance telematics. Source: BERG Insight http://www.berginsight.com/News.aspx?m_m=6 MEMS microphones to map noise pollution A wireless array of low-cost Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) microphones provide a means of collecting noise data over a widespread area, for the purpose of augmenting the production and validation of noise maps. Source: The Engineer https://www.theengineer.co.uk/ Updated NIST Software Uses Combination Testing to Catch Bugs Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have released an updated version of a computer system testing tool that can cut costs by more efficiently finding flaws. Source: NIST https://www.nist.gov/itl/csd/bugs_110910.cfm ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ * 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/
Subscribing
To receive Monitor every month please fill in your e-mail address below. We will not pass your address to any third parties, nor send you any unsolicited e-mail.
Subscribe Monitor
You will receive an e-mail confirming your subscription, with details of how to download the free software. If you don't receive this then your spam filter may be blocking our message. Make sure it is set to accept messages from monitor@windmillsoft.com. If you have problems contact the Editor.
