24/12/2016 DataloggerWikipedia

Datalogger
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Adatalogger(alsodataloggerordatarecorder)isanelectronicdevice
thatrecordsdataovermeorinrelaontolocaoneitherwithabuilt
ininstrumentorsensororviaexternalinstrumentsandsensors.
Increasingly,butnotenrely,theyarebasedonadigitalprocessor(or
computer).Theygenerallyaresmall,baerypowered,portable,and
equippedwithamicroprocessor,internalmemoryfordatastorage,and
sensors.Somedataloggersinterfacewithapersonalcomputer,anduse
sowaretoacvatethedataloggerandviewandanalyzethecollected
data,whileothershavealocalinterfacedevice(keypad,LCD)andcan DataloggerCubestoringtechnical
beusedasastandalonedevice. andsensordata

Dataloggersvarybetweengeneralpurposetypesforarangeofmeasurementapplicaonstoveryspecic
devicesformeasuringinoneenvironmentorapplicaontypeonly.Itiscommonforgeneralpurposetypesto
beprogrammable;however,manyremainasstacmachineswithonlyalimitednumberornochangeable
parameters.Electronicdataloggershavereplacedchartrecordersinmanyapplicaons.

Oneoftheprimarybenetsofusingdataloggersistheabilitytoautomacallycollectdataona24hourbasis.
Uponacvaon,dataloggersaretypicallydeployedandleunaendedtomeasureandrecordinformaon
fortheduraonofthemonitoringperiod.Thisallowsforacomprehensive,accuratepictureofthe
environmentalcondionsbeingmonitored,suchasairtemperatureandrelavehumidity.

Thecostofdataloggershasbeendecliningovertheyearsastechnologyimprovesandcostsarereduced.
Simplesinglechanneldataloggerscostaslileas$25.Morecomplicatedloggersmaycostshundredsor
thousandsofdollars.

Contents
1 Dataformats
2 Instrumentaonprotocols
3 Dataloggingversusdataacquision
4 Applicaons Smalldataloggerwithintegrated
4.1 Examples sensorsmeasuringtemperature,
5 Futuredirecons pressure,humidity,lightand3axis
6 Seealso acceleraon
7 References

Dataformats
Standardisaonofprotocolsanddataformatshasbeenaproblembutisnowgrowingintheindustryand
XML,JSON,andYAMLareincreasinglybeingadoptedfordataexchange.ThedevelopmentoftheSemanc
WebandtheInternetofThingsislikelytoacceleratethispresenttrend.

Instrumentaonprotocols
Severalprotocolshavebeenstandardisedincludingasmartprotocol,SDI12,thatallowssome
instrumentaontobeconnectedtoavarietyofdataloggers.Theuseofthisstandardhasnotgainedmuch
acceptanceoutsidetheenvironmentalindustry.SDI12alsosupportsmuldropinstruments.Some
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dataloggingcompaniesarealsonowsupporngtheMODBUSstandard.Thishasbeenusedtradionallyinthe
industrialcontrolarea,andtherearemanyindustrialinstrumentswhichsupportthiscommunicaon
standard.Anothermuldropprotocolwhichisnowstarngtobecomemorewidelyusedisbasedupon
Canbus(ISO11898).Somedataloggersuseaexiblescripngenvironmenttoadaptthemselvestovarious
nonstandardprotocols.

Dataloggingversusdataacquision
Thetermsdatalogginganddataacquisionareoenusedinterchangeably.However,inahistoricalcontext
theyarequitedierent.Adataloggerisadataacquisionsystem,butadataacquisionsystemisnot
necessarilyadatalogger.

Dataloggerstypicallyhaveslowersamplerates.Amaximumsamplerateof1Hzmaybeconsideredto
beveryfastforadatalogger,yetveryslowforatypicaldataacquisionsystem.
Dataloggersareimplicitlystandalonedevices,whiletypicaldataacquisionsystemmustremain
tetheredtoacomputertoacquiredata.Thisstandaloneaspectofdataloggersimpliesonboard
memorythatisusedtostoreacquireddata.Somemesthismemoryisverylargetoaccommodate
manydays,orevenmonths,ofunaendedrecording.Thismemorymaybebaerybackedstac
randomaccessmemory,ashmemoryorEEPROM.Earlierdataloggersusedmagnectape,punched
papertape,ordirectlyviewablerecordssuchas"stripchartrecorders".
Giventheextendedrecordingmesofdataloggers,theytypicallyfeatureamechanismtorecordthe
dateandmeinamestamptoensurethateachrecordeddatavalueisassociatedwithadateandme
ofacquisioninordertoproduceasequenceofevents.Assuch,dataloggerstypicallyemploybuiltin
realmeclockswhosepublisheddricanbeanimportantconsideraonwhenchoosingbetweendata
loggers.
Dataloggersrangefromsimplesinglechannelinputtocomplexmulchannelinstruments.Typically,
thesimplerthedevicethelessprogrammingexibility.Somemoresophiscatedinstrumentsallowfor
crosschannelcomputaonsandalarmsbasedonpredeterminedcondions.Thenewestofdataloggers
canservewebpages,allowingnumerouspeopletomonitorasystemremotely.
Theunaendedandremotenatureofmanydataloggerapplicaonsimpliestheneedinsome
applicaonstooperatefromaDCpowersource,suchasabaery.Solarpowermaybeusedto
supplementthesepowersources.Theseconstraintshavegenerallyledtoensurethatthedevicesthey
marketareextremelypowerecientrelavetocomputers.Inmanycasestheyarerequiredtooperate
inharshenvironmentalcondionswherecomputerswillnotfunconreliably.
Thisunaendednaturealsodictatesthatdataloggersmustbe
extremelyreliable.Sincetheymayoperateforlongperiods
nonstopwithlileornohumansupervision,andmaybe
installedinharshorremotelocaons,itisimperavethatsolong
astheyhavepower,theywillnotfailtologdataforanyreason.
Manufacturersgotogreatlengthtoensurethatthedevicescan
bedependedonintheseapplicaons.Assuchdataloggersare
almostcompletelyimmunetotheproblemsthatmightaecta
generalpurposecomputerinthesameapplicaon,suchas
PortableDataloggersmayreachupto
programcrashesandtheinstabilityofsomeoperangsystems.
20channelswithmaximum10ms
(100Hz)samplingrate.
Applicaons
Applicaonsofdatalogginginclude:

Unaendedweatherstaonrecording(suchaswindspeed/direcon,temperature,relavehumidity,
solarradiaon).
Unaendedhydrographicrecording(suchaswaterlevel,waterdepth,waterow,waterpH,water
conducvity).
Unaendedsoilmoisturelevelrecording.
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Unaendedgaspressurerecording.
Oshorebuoysforrecordingavarietyofenvironmental
condions.
Roadtraccounng.
Measuretemperatures(humidity,etc.)ofperishablesduring
shipments:Coldchain.[1]
Measurevariaonsinlightintensity.
Processmonitoringformaintenanceandtroubleshoong
applicaons.
Processmonitoringtoverifywarrantycondions
Wildliferesearchwithpopuparchivaltags
Measurevibraonandhandlingshock(dropheight)environment
ofdistribuonpackaging.[2]
Tanklevelmonitoring. Dataloggerapplicaonforweather
Deformaonmonitoringofanyobjectwithgeodecor staonatP2ILIPI
geotechnicalsensorscontrolledbyanautomacdeformaon
monitoringsystem.
Environmentalmonitoring.
VehicleTesng(includingcrashtesng)
MotorRacing
Monitoringofrelaystatusinrailwaysignalling.
Forscienceeducaonenabling'measurement','sciencinvesgaon'andanappreciaonof'change'
Recordtrenddataatregularintervalsinveterinaryvitalsignsmonitoring.
Loadprolerecordingforenergyconsumponmanagement.
Temperature,humidityandpoweruseforheangandaircondioningeciencystudies.
Waterlevelmonitoringforgroundwaterstudies.
Digitalelectronicbussnierfordebugandvalidaon

Examples

Blackbox(smulus/response)loggers:
Aightdatarecorder(FDR),apieceofrecordingequipmentusedtocollectspecicaircra
performancedata.Thetermmayalsobeused,albeitlessaccurately,todescribethecockpitvoice
recorder(CVR),anothertypeofdatarecordingdevicefoundonboardaircra.
Aneventdatarecorder(EDR),adeviceinstalledbythemanufacturerinsomeautomobileswhich
collectsandstoresvariousdataduringthemeframeimmediatelybeforeandaeracrash.
Avoyagedatarecorder(VDR),adatarecordingsystemdesignedtocollectdatafromvarious
sensorsonboardaship.
Atraineventrecorder,adevicethatrecordsdataabouttheoperaonoftraincontrolsand
performanceinresponsetothosecontrolsandothertraincontrolsystems.
Inautomobiles,alldiagnosctroublecodes(DTCs)areloggedinenginecontrolunits(ECUs)so
thatatthemeofserviceofavehicle,aserviceengineerwillreadalltheDTCsusingTech2or
similartoolsconnectedtotheonboarddiagnoscsport,andwillcometoknowproblems
occurredinthevehicle.SomemesasmallOBDdataloggerispluggedintothesameportto
connuouslyrecordvehicledata.
Inembeddedsystemanddigitalelectronicsdesign,specializedhighspeeddigitaldataloggerhelp
overcomethelimitaonsofmoretradionalinstrumentssuchastheoscilloscopeandthelogic
analyzer.Themainadvantageofadataloggerisitsabilitytorecordverylongtraces,whichproves
veryusefulwhentryingtocorrectfunconalbugsthathappenonceinwhile.
Intheracingindustry,DataLoggersareusedtorecorddatasuchasbrakingpoints,lap/sector
ming,andtrackmaps,aswellasanyonboardvehiclesensors.
Healthdataloggers:
Thegrowing,preparaon,storageandtransportaonoffood.Dataloggerisgenerallyusedfor
datastorageandthesearesmallinsize.
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AHoltermonitorisaportabledeviceforconnuouslymonitoringvariouselectricalacvityofthe
cardiovascularsystemforatleast24hours.
Electronichealthrecordloggers.
Othergeneraldataacquisionloggers:
An(scienc)experimentaltesngdataacquisiontool.
UltraWidebandDataRecorder,highspeeddatarecordingupto2GigaSamplespersecond.
AnopensourcedataloggerbasedontheRaspberryPicomputer[3]

Futuredirecons
DataLoggersarechangingmorerapidlynowthaneverbefore.Theoriginalmodelofastandalonedatalogger
ischangingtooneofadevicethatcollectsdatabutalsohasaccesstowirelesscommunicaonsforalarming
ofevents,automacreporngofdataandremotecontrol.Dataloggersarebeginningtoservewebpagesfor
currentreadings,emailtheiralarmsandFTPtheirdailyresultsintodatabasesordirecttotheusers.Very
recently,thereisatrendtomoveawayfromproprietaryproductswithcommercialsowaretoopensource
sowareandhardwaredevices.TheRaspberryPisingleboardcomputerisamongothersapopularplaorm
hosngrealmeLinuxorpreempvekernelLinuxoperangsystemswithmany

digitalinterfaceslikeI2C,SPIorUARTenablingthedirectinterconneconofadigitalsensoranda
computer,
andunlimitednumberofconguraonstoshowmeasurementsinrealmeovertheinternet,process
data,plotchartsanddiagrams...

Therearemoreandmorecommunitydeveloped(opensource)projectsfordataacquision/data
logging.[3][4]

Seealso
Blackbox
Busanalyzer
Computerdatalogging:loggingAPIs,serverlogs&syslog,weblogging&webcounters
Connuousemissionsmonitoringsystem
Runmeintelligence
Sequenceofeventsrecorder
SensorML
Shockandvibraondatalogger
Temperaturedatalogger

References
1.Riva,Marco;Piergiovanni,Schiraldi,Luciano;Schiraldi,Alberto(January2001)."Performancesofmetemperature
indicatorsinthestudyoftemperatureexposureofpackagedfreshfoods".PackagingTechnologyandScience.14
(1):139.doi:10.1002/pts.521.
2.Singh,J;Singh,Burgess(2007)."Measurement,Analysis,andComparisonoftheParcelShippingShockandDrop
EnvironmentoftheUnitedStatesPostalServicewithCommercialCarriers".JOTE.35(3).doi:10.1520/JTE100787.
3.hps://github.com/deguss/rpilogger
4.hp://real.mtak.hu/25714/1/28.pdf

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