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What
is a Data
logger
HIP Data
logger
Memory
Energy
consumption
Interval
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Safety
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Information
Introduction
A data logger is an electronic device
which records the output of a sensor at a preset interval.back
HIP
Data logger
HIP
loggers have been designed primarily for measuring outdoor water levels
although they are by no means limited to this purpose . By simply changing
sensors the data logger could measure other parameters such as temperature
, humidity , salinity etc...There are many thousands of data loggers of
different designs and capabilities in the use in the field of water level
recording alone in the United States . As an example the US Geological
Survey (USGS) currently continuously records water levels in Texas
rivers and streams at over 900 locations . Still more are in use recording
subsurface (groundwater) levels .It is important to note that this is only
one agency in one state.
Many more are in use both by government
and private organizations monitoring industrial surface discharges and
groundwater levels , municipal sewage and landfill facilities , urban stormwater
and agricultural runnoff , irrigation waer supplies and usage , tidal flux
, flood prediction and controll , etc, etc ...
Although this might appear to be
a lot of recording almost all expertsin the field would concur that current
monitoring is inadequate for successful water resource management . This
is due to a larg number of reasons which include :
a.) increasing concern by the public
and government agencies of waterquality both as its used and reused by
consumers (whether by housholds or agriculture ) and as its dischaged eventually
into estuaries and sea . In the United States and much of Europe " big
pipe " pollution has almost been eliminated . Pollution sources now are
generally classified as non-point source pollution . " Non point source
" is a bit of a misnomer . It is actually a large number of small points
such as stormwater drainage from urban and industrial areas , agricultural
runoff , seepage of contaminated groundwater etc...
It is important to realize that
population and economic growth alone , will make non-point source pollution
more problematic over time . In order to identify these problems there
is no substitute for direct measurement.
b.)diminishing supplies of usable
water . In the US , particularyin the west , and in much of the world the
age of major water projects , particulary dams is over . The water and
suitable locations for impoundment simply don't exist . Further complicating
this is the fact that the capacity of existing impounded water is decreasing
as reservoirs slowly fill through siltation . Groundwater supplies are
simmilar in that the large aquifers have been discoverd and are being utilized
, many with diminshing returns . Simultaneous to this as our knowledge
of geographical hydrology increases jurisdictional/ownership disputes are
intensifying . One mans groundwater is another man's spring-creek-river
system . Water supply development and allocation is increasing shifting
from a system based on demand to a system based on need or in many cases
absolute necessity. UN Study:UN-Study
There is a common thread to both
the quality and quantity issues expressed above. There is an increasing
need for a micromanagement approach . HIP
data logging and waterlevel recorders are designed to meet this need.
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Memory
capacity.
HIP
data loggers can store 16,384 data points (e.g. water levels)
from a single sensor. This translates to over 113 days sampling at 10 minute
intervals, 625 days sampling hourly. Alternately, they can be configured
to have the capacity to log two channels (sensors) simultaneously storing
over 9,000 data points on each channel.
When the memory is filled the logger goes into "sleep mode" consuming almost
no power instead of continuing to log in a process known as overwriting,
characteristic of many other loggers. When a logger overwrites it continues
to log by putting new values in place of the initial ones taken. This is
seldom a desirable feature but should a customer desire loggers that overwrite,
an HIP
data logger can be so configured.
In addition the memory of an instrument remains intact and retrievable
with no power supply at all. Should an instrument's batteries run low or
its power be cut off accidentally for whatever reason- an oversight on
the part of the operator, defective batteries, physical damage to the instrument
etc., any data collected up to the point of failure can be retrieved.
low power consumption
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Energy
Consumption
Dependent on the sampling
schedule and the sensor(s) it is powering, a HIP
logger can run for months on a conventional
9v alkaline battery. Sensor power (5 volts DC) is supplied and precision
regulated by the logger itself.
sampling schedule
back
Interval
Standard HIP
loggers can log at any interval from 1-99 minutes. Should a customer desire
other intervals, loggers can be custom programmed. This could include relatively
sophisticated sampling schedules e.g. ones that change over time, schedules
that change in reaction to the data being logged etc..
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Accuracy
HIP data
loggers are designed to be as accurate as they have 12 bit Analog to Digital
(A/D) resolution . What this means is that a signal from a sensor , in
case of water level logging a pressure transducer , is broken into 4096
bits . A typical transducer will have a signal output span of from .5 to
4.5 volts . As an example a pressure transducer which measures from 0-5
PSI which corresponds to 0-11.5 feet of water (3.51 m) can be resolved
down to an acuracy of .0028 feet (.85 mm) This resolution is usually greater
than or equal to the rated accuracy of the transducers.
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Download
HIP
data loggers can be field programmed and downloaded with
almost any modern laptop computer with a standard RS232 comm port. Quite
frequently the communications software which comes installed on the laptop
is sufficient. Alternately widely used and easily available software such
as PROCOMM can be utilized. Many palmtop computers and sophisticated calculators
with communications capability available for under $500 can also be used.
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Safety
HIP data
loggers are designed with a simplicity in their design and program architecture
which makes any kind of a failure or disruption in their operation highly
unlikely once they are started correctly and running, which is a very simple
process The instrument lies in a sleep mode to reduce power consumption,
it activates itself (wakes up) at whatever the sample interval is, takes
a reading, and then returns to sleep mode. There is very little that can
go wrong in this simple a process. They are relatively immune to problems
which plague many of the more complex (and much more expensive) field instrumentation
commonly in use. Many of these other systems are larger, require solar
cells because of their higher power consumption, use radio or satellite
links instead of downloading and other complexities. This makes them very
susceptible to vandalism and theft, communications equipment failures and
resets (with consequent data losses) from lightning storms etc. as well
as operator error. The simplicity of HIP
loggers are such that the possibility of operator
error is substantially reduced at the same time requiring operators/technicians
with minimal expertise.
Operator error is one most common source of problems and data losses in
any type of field instrumentation . HIP
has responded to this problem by keeping the field programming
as simple as possible. It consists of a very simple menu . As a further
backup the instrument produces a small audible beep every time it takes
a reading , a pulse of light in the case of infrared downloading. After
setup or a download the operator merely has to note the time (something
he would be doing anyway) and wait for the duration of the sample interval
e.g., ten minutes. If he hears a beep at this time everything is set and
running. Similarly if their are concerns later, anybody can be sent back
to the instrument(s) and simply instructed to stand by waiting for the
beep to check that it is operating.
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Price
The overriding principle in
HIP data logging and water level gauging equipment design has been to keep
the instruments as simple and as inexpensive as possible. This enables
researchers and other clients e.g. agricultural consumers, to monitor water
and investigate problems that were previously cost prohibitive . It is
a tool for micro management of resources in the developed world. In the
developing countries it is a tool to enable them to look at problems such
as flood control and planning, water quality and supply, pollution assessment
etc. that have been until now been out of their reach and are frequently
of catastrophic proportion and consequence.
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