-------------------------Monitor------------------------
The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control
Issue 163 www.windmill.co.uk February 2012
--------------------ISSN 1472-0221----------------------
Welcome to February's issue of Monitor. Thank you very
much all those who filled in our survey last month.
The results are below. If you would like to let us know
your thoughts on the newsletter, our software and our
technical support service, you can still do so. Go to
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RVRQ9HP
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 Results
* Windmill Notes: Logging data when you press a button
on your measurement instrument
* Excel Corner
* DAQ News Round-up
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New Year Survey Results
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Thank you everyone who completed our survey last month.
If you haven't yet filled it in, and would like to, go to
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RVRQ9HP.
We found that some people wanted information on topics
we have already covered - you might find our full
subject index of previous issues useful at
https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitorindex.html.
Regarding the format of the newsletter - whether you
wanted plain text; mainly text with just a few pictures or
fancy formatting and pictures; - 35% wanted plain text,
40% wanted mainly text but with some pictures and
30% would prefer it fully formatted. We'll therefore
be including more pictures in future issues, but will
keep the format quite plain.
We were pleased to see that most respondants reported
having no problems with the software (although of course
those that did might just have stopped getting the
newsletter).
"...Windmill worked better than the other packages
for my 'quick and dirty' measurements"
was one response. However, if you have had problems
we would like to hear from you - contact
monitor@windmillsoft.com.
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Windmill Notes: Logging data when you press a button
on your balance or other measurement instrument
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The Windmill Logger program regularly saves data from
sensors and instruments to the computer's hard disk.
You can choose from many logging options, including:
to log continuously, to log only when readings cross an
alarm threshold, to log for a set time or to log only
new data values. The latter allows external events to
control logging, for instance when you press a button
on your instrument.
The data does not have to change to be logged. For example,
imagine you are using our COMIML serial driver to gather
data from an electronic balance. Every time you press a
button on the balance, COMIML takes a reading. It might
be that two consecutive readings happen to be identical.
However, every time COMIML takes a reading it updates a
"record number". Logger watches the record number and so
knows when new data is available, even if it is the same
value as the previous reading.
To set Logger to log data only when you press an
instrument button:
1. In ComDebug, create a new data channel and "Extract
Record Number" to it. Also, make sure the data
persistence time (the time that the data remains valid)
is longer than Logger's "Read Inputs Every" interval.
2. Open Logger and select the Inputs menu. Make sure
that the first channel in the Connected Channels list
is the one to be monitored for updates. For data
supplied by COMIML, this should be the channel holding
the record number.
3. Select Settings from Logger's menu bar.
4. Select "Log on First Channel Change".
5. Enter a Log Duration of 0 as you only want to take
one reading at a time.
6. Clear the Indicate empty scans box.
7. Decide how often you want Logger to check the first
channel for a new value and enter this into the
Read Inputs Every box.
8. Press the Logger's Start button. Now, whenever your
instrument sends new data, and only then, Logger will
record the value.
To download a trial of Windmill Logger subscribe to
Monitor.
Further Reading:
https://www.windmill.co.uk/logging.html
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Excel Corner
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Our survey showed that the Excel Corner was a popular
section of the newsletter.
We have a large index of tips for using Excel for data
acquisition and control at
https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/ and
https://www.windmill.co.uk/excel/excel-charting.html.
We've now updated this so there is even more
information there.
The Excel Corner proper returns next month - but we
need your help. Please send us a question on using
Excel for measurement or control tasks and we will
endeavour to answer it in a subsequent issue.
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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
Electronic Eyes Monitor Tuna Fishing
A Spanish purse seiner is the first tropical tuna
vessel to test the latest in electronic monitoring
technology, designed for instances where an onboard
human observer is not a practical option. A vessel
has been outfitted with a video-based electronic
monitoring system. The system uses an array of sensors
to monitor key fishing gear, and trigger the video
cameras when it detects fishing activity. An onboard
control center manages the system and logs the data,
along with vessel location, speed, and heading
information provided by the system's GPS receiver.
Source: ISSF
http://iss-foundation.org/
NASA pinning down 'here' better than ever
Before our Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation
devices can tell us where we are, the satellites that
make up the GPS need to know exactly where they are.
NASA is helping to lead an international effort to
upgrade the four systems that supply this crucial
location information.
Source: Eureka Alert
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/nsfc-npd022312.php
Electronic tagging system could replace barcodes
Researchers have developed a cheap electronic tagging
system that could replace barcodes with a much more
detailed store of information. They have developed a
high-performance radio frequency identification (RFID)
tag that could be cheaply mass-produced and prevents
data transfer from being interrupted.
Source: The Engineer
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/
Europe to Experience Five-Fold Growth in Smart Meters
The European smart meter market is at a growing
stage. While smart meter developments are taking
place in countries like Denmark, Finland and Norway,
large scale rollout has been planned in countries
such as UK, France, Spain and Portugal to meet the
energy targets and environmental policies set by
the EU. New analysis from Frost and Sullivan finds
that the smart meter revenue in Europe is expected
to grow at a compound annual rate of 29.3% to 2017.
Source: Frost and Sullivan
http://tinyurl.com/6uob3bn
Parking sensors to take pain out of finding a space
Bringing together wireless sensors and mobile apps
could steer drivers towards vacant spots, and lead
traffic wardens to parking offenders.
Source: New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/
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* 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
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or publication, providing the above notice is
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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
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E-mail: monitor@windmillsoft.com
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