Data acquisition using Palm OS devices

Santa Clara, Calif. - Datastick Systems Inc. has announced availability of Datastick Connection 2.0 and the alternative Datastick Connection Plus 2.0, the software component of the Palm-OS-based MyCorder DAS-1206 Data Acquisition System. The system allows users to take sophisticated scientific and industrial measurements in the field, record them, display them on a Palm handheld, and sync them at a later time to their desktop computers for analysis.

By Control Engineering Staff April 9, 2002

Santa Clara, Calif. – Datastick Systems Inc. has announced availability of Datastick Connection 2.0 and the alternative Datastick Connection Plus 2.0, the software component of the Palm-OS-based MyCorder DAS-1206 Data Acquisition System. The system allows users to take sophisticated scientific and industrial measurements in the field, record them, display them on a Palm handheld, and sync them at a later time to their desktop computers for analysis. Datastick Connection Plus 2.0 includes a broader set of logging and display options, such as the ability to assign alarms and recording thresholds to various input channels.

Version 2.0 includes such improvements over the previous version as a streamlined interface, faster data logging, and greater accuracy of measurement. The software now provides four viewing modes: numeric, bar chart, line graph vs. time, and a new gauge view – with needle and dial. All are shown in real time and include numerous user-adjustable features. Users can monitor up to six input channels simultaneously, using the Datastick MyCorder DAS-1206, and configure each input to their specific hardware.

The software allows users to compensate for a sensor’s non-linear response curve by custom-editing any of seven different conversion functions, which enables real-time data acquisition in appropriate units of measure, such as degrees of temperature or pounds per square inch. Each display channel can be easily labeled for quick identification. Users can save channel configurations for a particular sensor suite, and quickly load the necessary setting when swapping out different sensor arrays.

Datastick Connection Plus 2.0 adds two additional display channels and allows setting recording thresholds for individual channels, causing the system to automatically begin recording when the threshold is exceeded and continue to record until the signal drops below the threshold. In addition, each channel can be set to give audible and/or visible alarms at user-defined thresholds. Alarm thresholds can be set independently of recording thresholds. Each channel has three different alarm thresholds, and the user can select a distinct alarm sound for each one. The user can also select a visible warning, which will either outline or invert the display graph of the selected channel when the alarm is triggered. Added display options allow the user to configure channel assignments to allow the same input channel to be seen multiple display channels, each with a different scale, so the user can, in effect, zoom in on a different portion of each.

Datastick Connection 2.0 is included with the MyCorder DAS-1206 Data Acquisition System, which also includes the MyCorder peripheral that snaps onto the modem connector of the Palm handheld. Current MyCorder users can upgrade to Datastick Connection 2.0 for a fee of $45.00. Datastick Connection Plus 2.0 is $165.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskGary A. Mintchell, senior editor gmintchell@cahners.com