Happy New Year - we which you a peaceful and prosperous one.
You can download a pdf version of this newsletter.
Windmill Logger records analogue and digital data from a vast range of sensors and instruments. The one thing they all have in common is that they can all be connected to a computer running Windows. You might connect them directly, or you might use a data acquisition interface between the sensor and computer.
Start logging when you press a key on the keyboard.
Start logging when you click a button in the Logger software.
Start logging when you start up the computer.
Log data only when a channel is in an alarm state, for example when a temperature reading rises above a set point then Logger will start collecting readings.
Use other programs, like Excel, to tell Logger to start collecting data.
Stop logging when you click the Logger Stop button.
Log data for a fixed duration.
Log data depending on conditions. For example, log data when an alarm occurs and for ten minutes after the alarm ceases.
How many Instruments and Data Channels can Logger Handle?
Each Logger window records data from up to 100 analogue and digital channels. To log from more channels simply open another Logger window. You can log from many different instruments into one file, or you can log from various equipment independently - with results from different test rigs being logged to different files at different rates.
You can vary the sampling rate from less than once per hour up to 200 samples per second. Each set of samples is time stamped: choose from time of day, seconds and hundredths since start, date and time and so on. For long term logging, Logger will create a separate file for each hour, each day or each week. If required Logger can overwrite old data to continue logging indefinitely.
What can I use to Open the Logged Data File?
You can use any program that can open ASCII text files.
The values can be separated by tabs (tsv), commas (csv) or spaces.
You can also send data in real time to other programs like Excel.
With Windmill you can set warning and critical alarms on each channel of data. Should you only be interested in saving data when alarm levels are crossed, you can tell Windmill to start logging only on alarm. You can also set the duration of logging. Say a temperature reading rose above a set point for 5 minutes. Windmill would log data throughout this time. When the temperature returned to normal, Windmill would continue logging for your chosen duration. It would then stop until another alarm occurred.
You can download a free trial of Logger, and the other Windmill programs. The trial works with devices communicating over RS232, RS485, Modbus and TCP/IP. Logger also works with the Microlink series of data acquisition hardware. For more information please get in touch.
Logger, and the other Windmill programs, are currently on special offer from the Windmill catalogue for just £50.
Drivers on a rainy day regulate the speed of their windshield wipers according to rain intensity: faster in heavy rain and slower in light rain. This simple observation has inspired researchers to come up with 'RainCars', an initiative that aims to use GPS-equipped moving cars as devices to measure rainfall. Conventional rain gauges are accurate, but are often distributed too sparsely to capture much of this variation. Having good information about precipitation is important for flood prediction and prevention, for example.
Chips that reduce energy use by approximating some calculations could allow mobile devices to be smarter at understanding the world.
A 'Cycle Eye' unit fitted to the outside of a bus uses radar and camera sensors to identify whether an object alongside the vehicle is a cyclist and gives the driver an audio alert, typically 'cyclist left'. The device was involved in a trial by Transport for London and over 3 days of testing had a 98.5 percent success rate at identifying cyclists.
A thin sheet of dyed plastic could cut the cost of solar power, particularly for applications that require solar cells to be highly efficient and flexible.