Sources setup

The software supports data from recorded file source or live input sources.

One can setup the source type by either selecting “Setup”->”File Source Setup” or “Setup”->”Input Source Setup”.

The currently active source type is shown in the bottom left of the “Status Line”.

Tip

Once the sources have been setup, one can toggle between them by selecting: “Setup”->”Toggle Source”

Read rate:

All source have a “Read rate” setting. This is the frequency with which data is read from file/input hardware. It is also the update rate of the plots (and associated analysis).

A source setup can be loaded separately from a (.sava) setup file by selecting “Load setup” in the “File/Input Source Setup”-dialogs.

File source

File source setup

For file sources the following can be set:

Time format:

The display format in the toolbar file overview.

File read mode:

How fast the data is read from the file. The following options are available:

• 1x: Playback time is the same as original recording time

• Fast: As fast as possible (limited by amount and type of plots)

• 2x: Double 1x

• 1/2x: Half of 1x

• 1/10x: A tenth of 1x

File Source Setup Dialog

File Toolbar

When the file source is selected, the File Toolbar is visible in the button of the main window.

By pushing “Load File(s)” one can browse raw data files. See File Formats section for supported raw data formats.

Supported files can also be loaded by dragging them into the File Toolbar.

When a file is imported an overview of the data (heavily down-sampled) is shown on the toolbar.

In the overview the region on interest (in time domain) can be selected by dragging the range limits. When Stating the file source only the highlighted region will be processed. To select all time: “right click”->”Select all”. If the file contains multiple sources, only the first is shown in the overview.

Note

For detailed instructions on importing/exporting raw data, see importing and exporting sections.

Multiple files

Multiple files can be loaded at once (only .h5-format). This requires the files to be time-continuous (within set tolerences), meaning that the starttime of a file plus its duration (samples/fs) must match the starttime of another file and so forth. The acceptable maximum time-gap can be adjusted, section Recording/Exporting Preferences.

Closing a file

The file is closed when either closing the software, loading another file or manually by “right click”->”Close file”.

File Toolbar

Input source

The software currently handles two main categories of live input sources:

• NIDaq: National Instruments Data Acquisition Devices

• External Source Module: Custom Python script

Multiple sources

Multiple sources can be added in parallel by pushing “Add secondary source”.

The sources are running completely independent, with each own sampling frequency. They are only synchronized on source start.

All sources will be recorded to the same data file (only the *.h5 format supports multiple sources).

This feature should not be utilized to compare high frequency sources. But is convenient when mixing high and low frequency signals.

A source can be removed, by “right click” (on the source name)->”Remove”.

A source can be (re)named, by “right click” (on the source name)->”Rename”.

National Instruments daqs

To communicate with the NI hardware the NI-DAQmx driver is required.

The software supports the following analog input types from NI devices:

• Voltage

• Current

• IEPE (ICP,DeltaTron)

• Thermocouples

• RTD(PT100)

• Strain Gauges

All NI data acquisition devices that is supported by the driver is supported by the hardware.

Setting up NI devices

To setup a NI device, select “NIDaq” as “Source” and push “Rescan Devices”.

This will search for connected NI devices. If a device does not show up, check if there is an issue with the device in the “NI MAX” software. If using Network attached devices it is necessary to configure them first. Select the device from the “Device”-list.

The available sampling rates will depend on the selected channel types.

Under “Modules/Channels” the device modules (if multi module device) and channels will show.

Each module/channel can de activated/deactivated by toggling the check-mark.

Under each channel a number of settings will be available.

The available settings will depend on the channel type (see the NI documentation).

However the following settings, to convert from electrical unit (fx Volt) to the sensor unit (fx. m/s2), will always be available:

• Sensitivity: The sensitivity used in the conversion

• Offset: The offset used in the conversion

• Unit: The display sensor unit of the channel

Conversion example

Sensor Unit = (Offset+voltage)/Sensitivity

A channel can renamed by “right click” (on the channel name)->”Rename”.

Input Source - NIDaq

External source module

The software is able to load a custom Python script in runtime and use it an external source module.

This can be utilized to acquire data from other daq equipment, custom hardware, network sockets, other file-types etc.

Setting up an external source module

To setup an external source, select “External” as “Source”.

Select a file by either entering the path in “External Source” or browse for the file, by pushing “Browse files”.

The path can be absolute or relative (to current directory).

Tip

An example of external source module (“extSourceModule.py”) is located at: “Help”->”External Module Examples”.

The external source module has to have a specific format. The “external source class” must be named the same as the module. See the “extSourceModule.py” example for reference.

The external module will automatically be reinitialized if the file has been changed. The “Force Reload” setting forces reinitialization on every start (for instance if secondary file or a remote server has changes).

Input Source - External

Custom source controls/graphics

To accommodate external sources that may require custom controls and/or special input/output information during processing, it possible to render custom graphic elements (a “custom widget”) on the “Sources Ctrl Toolbar”.

If a more space is requried, the width of the toolbar can be set in the preferences, see section Appearance preferences.

A simple example of how this can be implemented in external source modules (“extSourceModule_customWidget.py”) is located in: “Help”->”External Module Examples”.

Custom Widget example