The software distributed with and the firmware contained in this product is Copyright (c) 2003 by Industrologic, Inc.
Industrologic, Inc. reserves the right to change any product's features, specifications, documentation, warranties, fee schedules, and conditions at any time and without notice.
Industrologic products are provided as printed circuit board level assemblies. Some Industrologic products may include mechanical packaging accessories which are provide for the purchaser's convenience, and are not intended to be final assembly enclosures.
Industrologic products are provided with the understanding that the purchaser will determine fitness for any particular application as well as achieve compliance with any particular specifications or regulations as required or desired for that application.
Industrologic's obligation under this Warranty is limited to replacement with a new or repaired unit to the original purchaser. The unit must be returned, and replacements obtained from Industrologic, Inc. or the Distributor or OEM from whom it was purchased.
This warranty will not apply if, in the judgment of Industrologic, Inc., damage or failure of the product has resulted from accident, alteration, misuse, abuse, connection to or operation with incompatible signals or power sources, or improper installation.
Under no circumstances shall Industrologic, Inc. be liable to purchaser or any third party for any loss of profits or other direct or indirect costs, expenses, losses, or consequential damages arising out of or as a result of any defects in or failure of Industrologic products or any part or parts thereof.
THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ANY OTHER WARRANTY, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO DESCRIPTION, QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, OR ANY OTHER MATTER.
Products must be returned by original purchaser with a Return Materials Authorization (RMA) number issued by Industrologic, Inc. or the Distributor or OEM from whom it was purchased, authorizing its return. Current repair or replacement fees and procedures will be related during the issue of the RMA number.
Warranty or repair units must be returned with postage and insurance paid by purchaser. Industrologic, Inc. is not responsible for damages or loss during shipment.
Switches and indicators are designed to withstand physical abuse, and switches are protected against accidental operation. All are located on the same end of the enclosure and add approximately 1/2 inch to the overall length of the unit.
If your PDAS-3 has experienced this type of impact it is important that
you inpect the unit both inside and outside for damage or shifting of
parts. If you have any questions as to the integrity of a unit that has
experienced a high-G impact, please contact Industrologic, Inc.
The Event signal can also be used to start recording on the PDAS-3 unit. See the section of this manual Operating the PDAS-3 Unit for information about how the Event signal is used to start recording.
Power Supply:
Charging voltage: 12 to 14 volts DC, regulated or unregulated
Charging current: Up to 160 mA
Operating voltage: 12 volts DC regulated
Operating current: Charge current if charging, plus 50mA circuit
Power supply connector:
Pin type, 5.5 mm outside diameter, 2.1 mm inside diameter
Special note on power supplies:
Be advised that all unregulated wall pack power supplies produce their
rated voltage only at their specified current, and will actually produce
a much higher voltage at lower current drains.
The PDAS-3 unit contains a NiCad battery pack with a nominal voltage of 9.6 volts, and can be operated portably from this battery pack, or can be used in a more permanent location when powered by a regulated 12 volt DC supply. The charge method and rate for this unit is a series resistor C/3 rate, or "quick charge". At this rate NiCad batteries will not become overheated if left charging longer than the time neccessary to recharge them, however, their life may be reduced by doing so. The time to charge the batteries from a full discharge at this rate should be about 5 hours. At 25 degrees Celsius the voltage of the battery pack when fully charged will be 11.2 volts or greater.
When NiCad batteries are partially discharged to the same point many times, they sometimes produce a "memory" of this discharge point, and will no longer provide adequate service beyond this discharge. If you suspect that NiCad batteries are exhibiting this operation, you can fully discharge and recharge them several times to make them recover from this state.
Event Input:
(10K pull-up resistor to +5, .1uf capacitor to ground)
Voltage input high: 1.9 volts minimum
Voltage input low: 0.9 volts maximum
Analog Inputs:
This circuit is based on the Maxim MAX197B.
For more information see the MAX 197 data sheet.
Voltage range: 0 to +5 volts
Input capacitance: 40 pf
Input Dynamic Resistance: 21K ohms
Accuracy: +/- 1 LSB
Resolution: 12 bits
Non-volatile SRAM memory:
Dallas Semiconductor DS1270Y or ST Micro Devices M48Z2M1Y.
Size: 2 megabyte
Data retention time: 5 years (DS1270Y) or 10 years (STM M48Z2M1y)
minimum in the absence of external power from the time first tested
during manufacture.
The non-volatile Static RAM memory device is specified to retain data in the absence of external power for a period of 5 years by using its internal lithium battery and control circuitry. This period of time can be extended by leaving the power switch on and the PDAS-3 unit connected to a source of power, which provides power to the memory so that it will not need to use its internal battery. Using 11.5 volts DC will provide a charge current to the internal NiCad battery pack of slightly less that trickle charge current and prevent the batteries from being overcharged. (If the PDAS-3 unit is left in this condition for extended periods of time it is advisable to cycle the battery pack several times as descibed in the section "NiCad Battery Pack".)
Keep in mind that even if the internal lithium battery in the Static RAM memory has failed completely, the PDAS-3 unit can still function normally as long as the power switch is on and the internal battery pack or external power supply is powering the unit from the time data collection begins until download of the data is complete.
To determine if your PDAS-3 unit contains the ST Micro device you may remove the lid of the case. Both types of memory devices are clearly identified by their markings on the top of the device. If necessary the label indicating the activation date can be removed to verify the device type, (but should be reinstalled or replaced with an equivalent label).
+5 volts regulated:
This voltage is the same regulated +5 that powers most of the PDAS-3 internal
circuit. Current drawn from this pin should be limited to 300 mA.
+9 volts:
This (nominal) 9 volt power is the battery voltage, and will range from the
maximum charging voltage (whether it be regulated or unregulated) down to
the voltage to which the batteries are allowed to discharge. If the PDAS
unit is being operated at the same time that it is being charged by an
unregulated power supply, this pin may not be supplying an appropriate
voltage for use with external circuits.
-5 volts:
This voltage is produced specifically to powered external signal conditioning
circuits requiring a negative voltage. The voltage ranges from -5 volts at
no load to -3 volts with a 35mA load. Loads over 40 mA should be avoided.
This circuit is based on the Intersil/Harris ICL7660. For more information
see the ICL7660 data sheet.
Beginning with firmware version 2.0, the PDAS-3 can be setup to asynchronously record the serial data stream from the serial port at a selected baud rate. If this feature is used, the baud rate will switch back to 19200 baud at the end of recording, and the PDAS-3 will send the menu of commands to the serial port as it normally does on powerup or during the configuration process. If this serial data interferes with the operation of the device connected to the serial port, it may be necessary to remove the PDAS-3 transmit (TX) signal going to the device and use only the receive (RX) signal and ground.
The option to record the serial data stream uses the "Null" control character, i.e., the ASCII character with the value zero, as a marker to indicate in the PDAS-3 memory the end of the serial data collected when the recording is stopped with the pushbutton or the record time limit. When downloading using the normal serial data stream data download command, any data that includes this character will stop the download when it sees this character. This is not a problem for data that includes only displayable text, however, an additional download command exists for when it is necessary to download the entire memory that may include this character and other non-displayable characters.
The PDAS-3 serial port connector and its pinout matches the 9-pin serial port of IBM PC compatible computers and can be easily connected to these computers using a pin-to-pin male-to-female cable. The PDAS-3 does not require hardware handshake signals and can be used with only the transmit, receive, and ground signals connected. Some programs, however, might require that some of the input handshake signals be asserted going into the PC. In order to make this easier, the PDAS-3 has the common PC handshake signals looped back on the board, so that when a 9-wire cable is used, the signals are asserted without further connection.
The following is a pinout of the serial port signals: PDAS signal - TX RX - GND - - - - pin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 PC signal DCD RX TX DTR GND DSR RTS CTS RI
The remote activation "PinSwitch" and the Event input on the Signal connector provide a method of initiating the start of recording as well as signaling an event, but with certain limitations: Recording cannot be stopped by the PinSwitch or Event signal, since it begins to function as an event indicator while recording. When used to start recording, it simply remains activated and indicates a positive Event status during data collection. Recording cannot be started a second time with the PinSwitch or Event signal. The PDAS-3 unit must be turned off and then back on for recording to again be started in this manner. This prevents inadvertent activation of the PinSwitch or an unexpected Event signal from causing a second record cycle that could write over existing data. Recording cannot be started by the PinSwitch or Event signal if the pin is already removed from the PinSwitch or the Event signal is already grounded since the unit must see a transition from ungrounded to grounded to start recording. If an event is being recorded that is initially grounded the Start switch must be used to start recording.
If the Start button is pushed, recording will begin in one second, (which gives the user time to release the button). If the Start button is pushed after that first second, recording will stop and the unit will go back to the standby mode. If the Event signal is activated to start recording, this one second delay is not needed and recording begins immediately.
If a delay before recording is specified in the setup parameters, the unit will wait that additional number of seconds before beginning to record. Again, if the Start button is pushed after the initial one second delay, the unit will stop recording (stop waiting) and return to the standby mode. It is important to note that if the Start button is pressed for longer than one second, recording will start, and then immediately stop. Starting recording with the button should be done with a quick press and release.
Once recording begins, it will continue for the record time specified in the configuration parameters, until the Start switch is pushed, or until the unit runs out of memory in which to store the data. At that point it will again enter the standby mode.
Once data collection is complete, the PDAS-3 unit can be turned off, (and can withstand a complete depletion of its battery power), since its non-volatile memory will retain the data and configuration information for the life of the battery inside the non-volatile memory. Only by initiating another record cycle can the current data be overwritten.
When recording is started, data is always stored starting at the beginning of memory, that is, the recording is not a "circular buffer" type of storage. If there ever exists any confusion about whether recording has been accidentally started and is beginning to record over existing data that has not yet been downloaded, simply turn the PDAS-3 unit power off as quickly as possible. If this is done soon enough, chances are that an accidental recording will not record over much of the previously recorded data, because normally there is at least a short amount of time prior to the actual data when the PDAS-3 unit is recording information that is not of interest anyway.
If this situation has occurred, the "E" command can be used to recover some or all of the data. This command ignores the amount of memory specified as being used to store data by any previous recording cycle, and simply downloads the entire contents of the memory. Refer to the section "Downloading after Data Collection" for more detail on this command.
The analog inputs and the Event signal can be tested by using a potentiometer and a switch to provide input to these signals. By connecting the circuit below to a connector that mates with the Signal connector, and using the "R" command at the menu, the analog input voltages and the on/off status of the Event signal can be changed and displayed.
The condition of the batteries in the PDAS-3 unit can be verified by using a resistor voltage divider circuit to drop the battery voltage to within the range of the analog inputs. By connecting the circuit below to a connector that mates with the Signal connector, and using the "R" command at the menu, the battery voltage proportional to the voltage divider resistances can be displayed.
The PDAS-3 unit displays its own menu of functions, provides commands to change parameters, prompts the user for commands, and even offers a "Help" screen for the commands. Commands not understood by the PDAS-3 or commands sent with an improper or out of range value respond with a beep and another menu. While sending menus and messages the LED is turned off to indicate that the PDAS-3 unit is not currently ready to record, but as soon as the message is complete the LED will come back on to indicate that recording is again possible.
When the communication program is ready to begin receiving data, use the PDAS-3 ASCII download command to transmit data to the computer by hitting the "A" key (upper case) and hitting ENTER. If desired, ASCII data can be transmitted without the header information by hitting the "a" key (lower case) and hitting ENTER.
Transmission time will vary greatly according to the sample rate and the amount of time that data was collected, and may be quite lengthy. After the PDAS-3 unit has finished sending the data in ASCII text format, it will again send the menu/parameter display. At this point the download should be terminated in the communication program and the data file saved. The file will now be ready to be imported into a number of other programs for graphing and analysis.
The download command to transmit binary data to the computer is by hitting the "B" key (upper case) and hitting ENTER. If desired, binary data can be transmitted without the header information by hitting the "b" key (lower case) and hitting ENTER. In this case the only other information included with the actual data bytes is a single byte checksum at the end.
When a binary data download is requested the PDAS-3 unit first sends the same heading information as the ASCII text download request. This information is followed by a line containing the text "Number of Bytes: xxxxxx" where xxxxxx is the ASCII coded hexadecimal number of data bytes to follow. Immediately following this information is the number of data bytes specified, followed by a checksum of the data bytes only, (meaning not including any of the heading information. The checksum is calculated by adding the ASCII value of each data byte as it is sent and letting the checksum value rollover when exceeding an 8 bit value.
When a binary data download is requested the PDAS-3 unit first sends the same heading information as the ASCII text download request. This information is followed by a line containing the text "Number of Bytes: xxxxxx" where xxxxxx is the ASCII coded hexadecimal number of data bytes to follow. Immediately following this information is a block of 256 bytes of data followed by a checksum of the block. The checksum is calculated by adding the ASCII value of each data byte as it is sent and letting the checksum value rollover when exceeding an 8 bit value.
The PDAS-3 will then wait for a single character response before sending more data. If the checksum sent by the PDAS-3 matches the calculated checksum, the communication program should send a "Y", and the PDAS-3 will send the next block of data. If the checksum does not match, the communication program should send a "N", which will cause the PDAS-3 to resend the same block of data. The download sequence can be terminated at any time if the communication programs responds with the "Escape" control character (ASCII 27 decimal or 1B hexadecimal). If the last block of data would be less than 256 bytes, the PDAS-3 will pad the data with "Null" control characters (ASCII zero), to make the block 256 bytes.
Beginning with firmware version 3.0, the A/D signals can be recorded without the Event signal. This allows the A/D values to be stored more efficiently and results in more memory being available for storage. This binary data is downloaded in the same way as in previous firmware versions, but is interpreted differently. The following describes the binary data when the Event signal data is not included.
Data bytes are sent in triplets, which contain two 12 bit values of the analog to digital converter. The first byte contains the upper 8 bits of the first value, the second byte contains the lower 4 bits of the first value and the upper 4 bits of the second value. The third byte contains the lower 8 bits of the second value.
The option to record the serial data stream uses the "Null" control character (ASCII zero), as a marker to indicate in the PDAS-3 memory the end of the serial data collected when the recording is stopped with the pushbutton or the record time limit. When downloading using the normal serial data stream data download command, any data that includes this character will stop the download when it sees this character. Therefore, if the serial data stream is expected to contain the Null character, it may be neccesary to download the entire contents of the memory.
ASCII text data can be transmitted from the entire memory by hitting the "E" key (upper case) and hitting ENTER. Just as with the ASCII text download command, the data can be transmitted without the header information by hitting the "e" key (lower case) and hitting ENTER.
Serial data stream data can be transmitted from the entire memory by hitting the "Y" key (upper case) and hitting ENTER. Just as with the normal serial data stream data download command, the data can be transmitted without the header information by hitting the "y" key (lower case) and hitting ENTER.
As an aid to communication programs that have options to command the PDAS-3 to send the data saved in its memory, the ASCII and serial port data stream downloads include at the end a "Substitute" control character (ASCII 26 decimal or 1A hexadecimal). This control character can be identified by the communication program as an end-of-file marker and written to a file along with the data.
When downloading from the entire memory there will be no "end-of-file" control character sent to tell the communication program to stop writing data to the file. Since the menu of commands is displayed after the download is completed, the text from this menu will be appended to the end of the data.
"Time Available" is calculated from the amount of memory available for data storage, the rate at which the data is being collected, and the number of channels used to collect data.
The ID Number can be used as an eight digit file name during download operations.
The version number on the example shown may not reflect the current version number.
Industrologic, Inc. PDAS-3 Portable Data Acquisition System Version 1.2 Active Channels: 8 Sample Rate: 1000 Record Time: 00 Time Available: 02:11 Record Delay: 00 ID Number: 12345 Message: message of up to 64 alphanumeric characters Channel 1 Name: 16 alphanumeric Channel 2 Name: 16 alphanumeric Channel 3 Name: 16 alphanumeric Channel 4 Name: 16 alphanumeric Channel 5 Name: 16 alphanumeric Channel 6 Name: 16 alphanumeric Channel 7 Name: 16 alphanumeric Channel 8 Name: 16 alphanumeric (Hit H followed by the ENTER key for a help screen) Command?
Beginning with firmware version 2.0 the following additional parameters are displayed:
Operating Mode: A/D Baud Rate: 19200
Beginning with firmware version 3.0 the following additional parameters are displayed:
Record Mode: A/D and Event (additional option) Secondary Rate: 0010 Secondary Rate Delay: 000 Pushbutton Mode: Start and Stop
Beginning with firmware version 3.0 the "Time Available" parameter is no longer calculated and displayed. Instead, a third help screen is displayed with information about how to calculate the available record time with a single sample rate or with a Secondary Sample Rate enabled.
The following is the HELP screen displayed upon request and contains detailed information on how to use PDAS-3 commands. Commands are available to control how data will be collected during the next data collection run, and to identify the individual channels with text descriptions. The "R" command can be used as a troubleshooting aid when checking for input from the analog inputs or for checking for an event switch closure during testing. The formats of the ASCII text and binary data downloads are explained in detail later in the manual.
(Beginning with firmware version 2.0 a second screen is displayed that includes additional commands and information needed only for troubleshooting and test purposes, and can be ignored by most users.)
Industrologic, Inc. PDAS-3 Portable Data Acquisition System Version 1.2
Commands- Commands that set parameters end with the ENTER key.
Sending/displaying data can be interrupted with the ESCAPE key.
C=x Active Channels, where x can be from 1 to 8 channels
S=xxxx Sample rate, where xxxx is 0001, 0002, 0005, 0010, 0020, 0050,
0100, 0200, 0500, 1000, 2000, or 5000 samples per second (HZ).
Note: 6 channels maximum at 2000 HZ, 1 channel at 5000 HZ
T=xx Record Time, the length of time to record data, where xx can
be from 01 to 99 seconds (00 for record to end of memory ).
D=xx Record Delay, the amount of time from Start switch pushed to
start of recording, where xx can be from 00 to 99 seconds.
I=[s] ID string, where [s] can be 8 or fewer alphanumeric characters.
M=[s] Message, where [s] can be 48 or fewer alphanumeric characters.
[N]=[s] Channel Name, where [N] is a channel from 1 to 8, and [s] can
be 16 or fewer alphanumeric characters.
Example: 8=X axis voltage
A (a) Transmit data in ASCII text format with (without) header.
B (b) Transmit data in Binary format with (without) header.
E (e) Transmit in ASCII from Entire memory with (without) header.
R Repeating display of Channels 1-8 and Event Switch.
Command?
O=x Operating mode, where x is A for A/D channels (and Event
signal) recording at the specified sample rate, or where x is
S to record Serial port data stream asynchronously.
P=xxxxx Baud rate during serial port data recording, where xxxxx is
00300, 00600, 01200, 02400, 04800, 09600, or 19200 baud
Beginning with firmware version 2.0 the following command is present after the "Transmit in ASCII" command:
X (x) Transmit stored serial port text data with (without) header. Y (y) Transmit serial port data from entire memory with (without) header.
O=x Operating mode (data to record), A for A/D and Event signals, B for
A/D without Event signal, and S for Serial port data stream.
Industrologic, Inc. PDAS-3 Portable Data Acquisition System Version 3.0 Recording time calculations: The PDAS-3 non-volatile RAM is 2MB (2097152 bytes). 256 bytes are used for operating parameters/names/messages, leaving 2096896 bytes for data storage. A/D and Event recording uses 2 bytes per sample allowing 1048448 samples. A/D only recording uses 1.5 bytes per sample allowing 1397930 samples. If a single sample rate is used, the number of seconds of recording time can be determined with this formula: Samples / Channels / Sample Rate = seconds recording time available If the sample rate is switched during recording the recording time can be determined with these formulas: samples - [Sample Rate * Channels * record time at Sample Rate (Secondary Rate Delay) ] = remaining samples remaining samples / channels / Secondary Rate = remaining time
Following the ASCII text is a "Substitute" control character (with the value of 26 decimal), which can be identified by a communication program and written to a file along with the ASCII text to be used as an end-of-file marker.
The version number on the example shown may not reflect the current version number.
Industrologic, Inc. PDAS-3 Portable Data Acquisition System Version 1.2 Active Channels: 8 Sample Rate: 0010 Record Time: 00 Time Available: 02:11 Record Delay: 00 ID Number: 11111 Message: Message text goes here Channel 1 Name: Channel 1 name Channel 2 Name: Channel 2 name Channel 3 Name: Channel 3 name Channel 4 Name: Channel 4 name Channel 5 Name: Channel 5 name Channel 6 Name: Channel 6 name Channel 7 Name: Channel 7 name Channel 8 Name: Channel 8 name 0.833 2.205 2.166 1.878 1.005 1.755 1.736 2.948 0 0.835 2.198 2.061 1.801 0.976 1.731 1.668 2.953 0 0.828 2.198 1.962 1.721 0.952 1.701 1.594 2.962 0 0.835 2.201 1.863 1.656 0.931 1.663 1.534 2.956 0 0.833 2.198 1.783 1.584 0.914 1.643 1.472 2.955 0 0.832 2.196 1.694 1.531 0.892 1.622 1.422 2.953 0 0.824 2.196 1.618 1.466 0.872 1.597 1.359 2.962 0 0.835 2.202 1.544 1.414 0.859 1.564 1.315 2.953 0 0.827 2.197 1.477 1.358 0.843 1.552 1.263 2.954 0 0.822 2.201 1.408 1.314 0.825 1.526 1.221 2.958 0
Industrologic, Inc. PDAS-3 Portable Data Acquisition System Version 3.0 Active Channels: 8 Sample Rate: 0010 Record Time: 00 Time Available: 02:11 Record Delay: 00 ID Number: 11111 Message: Message text goes here Channel 1 Name: Channel 1 name Channel 2 Name: Channel 2 name Channel 3 Name: Channel 3 name Channel 4 Name: Channel 4 name Channel 5 Name: Channel 5 name Channel 6 Name: Channel 6 name Channel 7 Name: Channel 7 name Channel 8 Name: Channel 8 name Number of Bytes: 0042E0[binary data/checksum(s) follow]