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Monitor 29
-------------------------Monitor------------------------
The Newsletter for PC-Based Data Acquisition and Control
Issue 165 www.windmill.co.uk April 2012
--------------------ISSN 1472-0221----------------------
Thanks for subscribing to Monitor. This month we are
delighted to announce a new Ethernet-based data acquisition
and control unit: the Microlink 851. The 851 uses the
the TCP/IP protocol so you can also communicate with it
over the Internet
In addition we have articles on how to show spatially-
referenced data from Excel as a moving track
on Google Earth; and about the benefits of Ethernet
systems.
I hope enjoy the newsletter, but should you wish to
remove yourself from our mailing please go to
Monitor Newsletter
CONTENTS
========
* Windmill News: Windmill Announce Microlink 851
Ethernet Unit
* Benefits of using Ethernet for Data Acquisition
* Excel Corner: Tracking Paths on Google Earth
* DAQ News Round-up
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________________________________________________________
Windmill News: Windmill Announce Microlink 851 Ethernet Unit
________________________________________________________
We are extremely pleased to announce the new Microlink
multi-function, data acquisition and control unit.
The Microlink 851 connects to an Ethernet network and lets you:
- Measure voltage, temperature, strain, pressure, pH and
current through 16 differential (or 32 single-ended)
analogue input channels
- Switch up to 32 digital outputs
- Monitor up to 32 digital inputs
- Count events or frequency with up to 8 counters
- Comes complete with Windmill 7 software and
free technical support for life
- Choose one of four analogue input ranges, selected
with Windmill software individually for each channel
- Use Windmill software to select the resolution of the
data, from 12- to 18-bits: choose high throughput
or high resolution
- Connect one, ten or hundreds of 851s to one network
- Transfer data to Excel and other Windows software
- From just £695 (other
modules may be needed to monitor temperature, strain, etc)
Go to https://www.windmillsoft.com/daqshop/acquisition-control.html
for more information or e-mail sales@biodataltd.com
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________________________________________________________
Benefits of using Ethernet for Data Acquisition
________________________________________________________
Ethernet offers a good, low-cost, option for distributed
measurement and control.
You may add data acquisition devices to existing
Ethernet systems: saving installation costs and time.
Speed-wise it is faster than serial communications.
As with all distributed systems, you can place
data acquisition hardware close to sensors, reducing
cabling costs and errors produced by noise.
Ethernet uses the TCP/IP protocol so you can access
data over the Internet.
More Ethernet Systems...
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Excel Corner: Tracking Paths on Google Earth
________________________________________________________
Today's Excel Corner explains how to show spatially
referenced data from Excel, as a moving track of readings
over time on Google Earth. You can do this when you
save data readings along with their latitude and longitude
co-ordinates, and the times that the readings were taken.
For example, you might be measuring conditions on a moving
train: any wheel slip in poor weather for example. With a
Windmill system you could record co-ordinates from a
GPS receiver, data from the wheel-slip detection mechanism,
wheel speeds and other details.
Subscribers to the Monitor newsletter can download a
trial of Windmill.
Once the data is collected you need to transfer it to Excel
and make sure it is organised properly for Google Earth.
We covered how to do this for static data in last month's
Monitor, archived at
https://www.windmill.co.uk/monitor164.html.
To show moving tracks on Google Earth you also need a
column in Excel headed "TimeWhen". Windmill saves
two columns of time data: one containing the date and
one containing the time
You need to combine these into one in the format:
2012-03-22T07:30:15Z
Where
T separates the date from the time.
Z indicates that the time is UTC (Greenwich Mean Time)
If your time zone is different, instead of Z put - for
example - +03:00. More details are at
https://developers.google.com/kml/documentation/kmlreference#timestamp
In Excel...
1. Combine the contents of the date and time columns
into 1 new column, eg column F.
- In an empty column in Excel enter this formula
=TEXT(A2,"yyyy-mm-dd")&"T"&TEXT(B2,"hh:mm:ss")
This combines the date and time, adds a "T" between
them and formats the result as text.
2. Copy the formula down for each row.
3. Select all the new date/time entries and copy
them to the clipboard.
4. Click cell A2, from the Edit menu select
Paste Special.
5. Paste as values.
6. You can now delete the Time column and column F.
7. Change the title of Column A from "Date" to "TimeWhen"
8. Finally, add a new column with the title
"LineStringColor". Fill the rows in this column with
the name of a colour, for example Yellow.
Getting the Data into Google Earth
==================================
Now your spreadsheet is ready, you need to convert it to
kml format. The easiest way to do this is to use the
online tool provided by EarthPoint at
http://www.earthpoint.us/ExcelToKml.aspx.
Save the file and then open it in Google Earth. Adjust
the settings of the Google Earth slider to show a
moving path of your data.
Further Reading:
================
Collecting Data from a GPS Receiver
Getting Data into Excel
Excel into Google Earth
KML Tutorial
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
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
Real-time GPS sensor could give earlier quake warning
Super-precise sensor networks promise to deliver almost
instant warnings when strong earthquakes hit, and assess
their magnitude more accurately
Source: New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/
Double Digit Growth for Building Automation Institutional User Markets
IMS Research forecasts the market for building automation
equipment in institutional users, such as education and
hospitals, will see double digit growth over the coming
three years.
Source: IMS Research
http://imsresearch.com/
Industry Group Established for Wireless Smart Meters
An industry group - Wi-SUN Alliance - has been formed
to establish a system to certify a logo for ensuring
the interconnection and promoting the use of
smart meters in the global market.
Source: Tech-On
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/
Innovative blanket could monitor your health
A network of tilt sensors embroidered into green
taffeta fabric, allows a blanket to wirelessly
create a 3D model of itself on a computer in real
time. And by adding sensors for temperature,
pressure, humidity and heart rate, it could become
the ultimate comforter.
Source: The Star
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
* Copyright Windmill Software Ltd
* Reprinting permitted with this notice included
* For more articles see https://www.windmill.co.uk
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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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