-------------------------Monitor------------------------ The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control Issue 162 www.windmill.co.uk January 2012 --------------------ISSN 1472-0221---------------------- Welcome to our first Monitor of 2012: we wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. To start the year we are delighted to launch an improved version of our data acquisition software. ComDebug can now log data from devices connected over the Internet, Ethernet, RS232, RS422, RS485 and Modbus. Read below for more details and how Monitor subscribers can download the software for free. We are also asking for your help to improve Monitor, the Windmill Software and our technical support service. If you could fill in the short survey below we would be very grateful. I hope you find the newsletter useful, but should you wish to remove yourself from our mailing please go to Monitor Newsletter CONTENTS ======== * New Year Survey * Windmill News: Free logging software for devices connected over TCP/IP * Data acquisition and control exhibitions * DAQ News Round-up ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ New Year Survey ________________________________________________________ As an aid to improving Monitor, and our technical support service, we are seeking your views. We would be very grateful if you could answer these few questions and return the survey to us. If you prefer you can fill it in on-line at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RVRQ9HP. All information is confidential and won't be passed to any third parties. Miss out any questions you don't want to answer.Many thanks for your help. ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Windmill News: Free logging software for devices connected over TCP/IP ________________________________________________________ Today we are extremely pleased to launch a new version of our ComDebug fault-finding and data logging software. We have added TCP/IP capabilities, which means that you will be able to log data over Ethernet or Internet, as well as RS232, RS422, RS485 and Modbus. ComDebug offers many fault-finding features, and lets you log data from several channels on one instrument or device: latitude and longitude from a GPS receiver for example. All data is timestamped. The data files can be passed to other software like Excel and Matlab. ComDebug can also send commands to instruments, asking for different types of data. If you need to connect more than one device you can upgrade the software to the licenced version for just £50, 77 USD or 60 Euro. The licenced Windmill offers many logging options, including... 1. Logging only when new data is available from your instrument: when a weight changes on a balance for instance. Even if two items weigh the same, Windmill knows that a change has occurred, so no readings are missed. 2. Logging to a new data file at regular intervals, every hour or every week for example. This is useful in continuous, long-term logging. 3. Logging data only when channels are in an alarm state, for example when a temperature reading rises above a set point for five minutes. The temperature is regularly logged throughout this time. 4. Logging data for a fixed duration, for example during an alarm condition and for ten minutes afterwards. 5. Use Excel to start and stop logging. 6. Logging from different channels at different rates. 7. Logging from different channels to the same or different files. 8. Logging data from RS232 instruments alongside Modbus and Ethernet devices. To download the new ComDebug please subscribe to Monitor. Further Reading: Understanding TCP/IP Licence your Free Copy of Windmill and ComDebug ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Data Acquisition Exhibitions and Conferences ________________________________________________________ Our quarterly update of data acquisition and control exhibitions around the world. SLAS2012 4-8 February San Diego, USA Showcasing the latest in laboratory technologies and automation. http://www.slas2012.org/ IIC-China 23-25 February Shenzhen, China Electronic design, automation and test exhibition. AIMEX - Automation World 4-6 March Seoul, South Korea Korea's international automation, instrumentation and control system exhibition. http://automationworld.co.kr/index.html?TPL=en_main.tpl Metromeet 8-9 March Bilbao, Spain International conference on industrial dimensional metrology. http://www.metromeet.org/en/ DATE 12-16 March Dresden, Germany The European event for electronic system design and test. http://www.date-conference.com/ Hannoveer Messe 23-27 April Hannover, Germany Eight trade fairs including Industrial Automation, Digital Factory and Research and Technology. A showcase of industrial technology. http://www.hannovermesse.de/ M+R 2012 9-10 May Brussels, Belgium Belgium's specialised trade show for measurement and control instrumentation. http://www.easyfairs.com/events_216/automation-engineering2012_25805/m-r-2012_25839/ Sensors Expo and Conference 6-7 June Illinois, USA Focuses exclusively on sensors and sensor integrated systems. http://www.sensorsmag.com/sensors-expo ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ DAQ News Round-up ________________________________________________________ Welcome to our round-up of the data acquisition and control news. If you would like to receive more timely DAQ news updates then either grab our RSS newsfeed at https://www.windmillsoft.com/monitor.xml or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/DataAcquisition Wireless Makes Waves in the Building Automation Market IMS Research's latest report "The EMEA and Americas Markets for Building Automation Controllers, Software and Sensors – 2011 Edition" has found the air waves in buildings are increasingly being filled with signals from building automation systems. Source: IMS Research http://imsresearch.com/press-release/ Wristband plugs you into smart buildings Packed with environmental sensors, an unobtrusive wristband will help you keep comfortable indoors – and could do much else besides Source: New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/ ISA publishes Control Systems Engineer Technical Reference Handbook New technical reference guide for the control systems professional provides a detailed, insightful view into the fields of measurement: final control elements; signals, transmission and networking; automation and control systems; codes and standards; hazardous areas and safety instrumented systems. http://tinyurl.com/82v3ygn NPL Develop Software for Measurement Uncertainty Evaluation New software developed at NPL to promote and support the use of the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement is now available. Source: National Physical Laboratory http://www.npl.co.uk/news/ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ * 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/monitorindex.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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