SensorNet for Windows

Acculab Products Group
614 Scenic Drive #104
Modesto CA 95350
(209) 522-8874 voice
(209) 522-8875 fax

email: 102257.150@compuserve.com 

http://delta.com/asl/acculab.htm


Welcome to teaching science in the 90's! SensorNet is the easiest way
to integrate computers and science instruction available. With the push
of a button and a couple of inexpensive probes, you can show physical 
phenomena that until recently would not only NOT be demonstrable, but 
difficult for students to visualize. 

SensorNet is designed to allow you, the teacher, the ability to easily
use high technology in the classroom setting without requiring that 
you become an expert in the tool itself. Unlike competing products,
SensorNet lets you maximize your classroom time by concentrating on the
experiment -- and not the apparatus.

This hands-on "demo" is a live version of SensorNet wiht only the 
communications module removed (you'd have to have the SensorNet 
interface box to run an experiment with, and this piece of hardware 
doesn't email real well. This software is as close as we could come
to giving you the "live" experience without the box. :-)

Installation: 

Create a directory and copy the contents of this ZIP file to it. Make
sure that you have a copy of VBRUN300.DLL either in your Windows\System
directory or the directory you have created.

To run SensorNet, run SNWIN.EXE.

Under Windows 3.1 you can make an Icon for this demo by dragging the 
name SNWIN.EXE from the FILE MANAGER and dropping it into PROGRAM
MANAGER. 

To start playing with SensorNet, choose either the OPEN FOLDER button
or FILE | OPEN from the main menu to open up a data file. This data 
comes from actual SensorNet probes which was recorded at one of the 
recent NSTA shows we attended.


About SensorNet:

SensorNet is a hardware/software combination designed to assist in 
teaching science to students from roughly 5th grade to Junior College
level. Essentially it is a data acquisition system. The entire system
includes a hardware interface box connected to the PC (or a Mac) via
a serial cable. The box is responsible for gathering data from various
probes and sensors that can be attached to it.

Probes and sensors include (but are not limited to)

ALS-200 Temperature Probe  -10 to +120 degrees C 
ALS-201 Fast Temp probe, air use only
ALS-202	Thermocouple, cold junction compensated
ALS-203 pH probe, microvolume, probe only
ALS-204	pH probe, microvolume, with amplifier
ALS-205 pH probe, standard, with amplifier
ALS-206	Relative light intensity probe
ALS-207 Force Transducer, +/- 15 Newtons
ALS-215	Force Transducer, +/- 60 Newtons
ALS-208	Magnetic Field Sensor
ALS-209	Experimenter's palette, leads, cables, electrical parts
ALS-210	Picket Fence (8 dark, 8 clear bands) 2.5" x 15.4"
ALS-211	Colorimeter (% light absorbtion)
ALS-212 Dissolved Oxygen Sensor with amplifier
ALS-213	Infrared Photogate, PASCO
ALS-216	Test Lead set for 0-5 VDC measurements
ALS-217	Temperature amplifier
ALS-218	Gain amplifier
ALS-220	Barometric pressure
ALS-221	Differential pressure
ALS-230	Pulse rate sensor
ALS-231	Grip strength recorder
ALP-238	Child size blood pressure cuff
ALM-300	Sonic Ranger (ultrasonic motion detector)
ALM-304	Dual Sonic (requires ALM-300)


Menu System Overview:
 
When confronted with various design options (i.e. how we wanted 
SensorNet to "look and feel") we chose the probe-centric method as 
being the most practical. The reasons were varied, ranging from the 
capabilities of the operating systems used to the type and frequency 
of lab experiments that schools were running. In a probe-centric 
design, the software essentially slaves itself to the type of probe 
or sensor that will be used to collect the data. In essence, it 
mimics having a series of standalone lab instruments at hand and 
therefore is much more understandable by student users since they 
can associate experiment to a particular measuring tool.  To get 
the most out of the SensorNet interface, you will need to understand 
this underlying theme and communicate the basic idea to your students. 
The basic operation of the SensorNet software follows this theme: 
choose a probe or sensor, set up the parameters you would like to 
collect data with, (i.e. how often, how many times, etc.) and then 
tell it to GO when you are ready to collect data.  
 
To accomodate the probe-centric viewpoint, the menu structure of 
SensorNet has been set up to make it as easy as possible to set up 
and take a measurement. Let's take a look at how the main 
(top level) menu has been laid out: 
 
FILE menu: this allows you to open, save and print data that you 
have collected. 

EDIT menu: this allows you to copy/paste certain portions of data 
into other applications, whether tabular or graphical. 

MEASUREMENT menu: this allows you to specify the probe or sensor 
being used. 

RUN menu: this allows you to start, stop, and otherwise specify 
the data collection process. 

WINDOW menu: this allows you to control gross behaviours of the 
various SensorNet windows. 

ANALYSIS menu: this allows you to manipulate collected data. 

HELP menu: this allows access to the online help system on 
Windows and DOS machines (Macintosh uses a balloon help system.) 
 
In actual use, here's the order of events that would normally be 
taken: 
 
1. MEASUREMENT is used to select a sensor. 
2. RUN | PARAMETERS is selected to set up the data collection 
   conditions. 
3. RUN | GO is selected to initiate the collection process. 
4. ANALYSIS is selected to allow various manipulations of the 
   data. 
5. EDIT is selected to put data into reporting tools 
   (i.e. spreadsheets or word processors) 
6. FILE is selected to save or print data. 
 
Sometimes you need to examine previously collected data: 
 
1. FILE menu is selected to open a data file. 
2. ANALYSIS menu is used to manipulate the data. 
3. FILE menu is used to save or print the manipulated 
   data. 
 
There are some differences between the PC (Windows and DOS) and 
Macintosh versions of SensorNet. Most of these are relatively minor 
and reflect differences in the operating systems. Some differences, 
however, are the result of improving the SensorNet system based on 
what the particular platform allows, as well as the expectations of 
the program users (i.e. what they are used to seeing) on these 
platforms.


Main Menu: Measurement 
 
The measurement menu allows you to select what type of sensor you 
will be using. Certain choices will be dimmed (grayed) if the 
particular interface model doesn't support that type of measurement. 
For instance, the model ALI-625 interface doesn't support measurements 
that use timing; it only supports those that are based on an 
analog-digital conversion.  
 
Experiment Setup -- this option brings up a dialog which allows you 
to select an experiment from a supplied list. Each experiment in the 
left list box will have an associated set of instructions concerning 
what sort of probes are needed and where to plug them into show up in 
the right hand list box. The dialog also allows you to print 
instructions or worksheets, and clicking the Setup SensorNet button 
will cause SensorNet to set itself up, just as if you had selected  
RUN | PARAMETERS and set up the timing and so on yourself. After 
selecting SetupSensorNet, the only thing you need to do is plug the 
probes in where they belong and choose RUN | GO. This list can be 
obtained separately from Acculab so that you can update your system 
as new experiements become available. Although not yet done, a utility 
is planned that will allow you to add experiments to this list yourself. 
If you wish to add experiments to the list before the utility is 
finished, please contact us for the technical information regarding 
the file formats used.  
 
 
User Defined -- this option allows you to create setups for 0-5 VDC
(Analog to Digital) sensors and probes that are not supplied by Acculab 
or may even be your own designs. After selecting User Defined, you may 
Add New Sensor to come to the dialog shown. In this dialog, you need to 
describe the sensor somewhat, such as what the low and high expected 
voltages are, what particular engineering units these will correspond 
to, what the graph shows for the vertical axis, and what the name on the 
menu of user defined sensors reads. This information is contained in the 
Sensor Specifics: group area. The rest of the choices are standard and 
described in some detail in the Main Menu: RUN section
 
When using user defined sensors, one thing that is important to know is 
that the sensor-specific information is saved as part of the data file 
format when a data file using this sensor is saved. This allows you to 
send a data file to another SensorNet user anywhere; even if they do not 
have this sensor they can still open the data file and examine the data. 
More importantly, if the receiving party wishes to re-create your sensor, 
their copy of SensorNet will have already added the new user-defined 
sensor to its menu.  
 
After having added a new sensor, this sensor will be added to your menu. 
This will appear as part of the submenu under User Defined. There is 
also more information available in the online help. 


Main Menu: Run

Go -- starts a measurement run based on the parameters that have 
been set up. 

Stop -- stops a measurement run. 

Clear Data -- erases data held in memory, and clears the graph and 
the data table. 

Parameters -- brings up the parameters dialog box, which is unique 
for each type of measurement. This dialog allows you to set the 
number of samples to be taken, how often to take them, and so on. 
Some will allow you to calibrate the particular sensor being used; 
these will sometimes use SET buttons. These are used by forcing a 
condition and then clicking the button to read the sensor at the 
condition in order to set a high and/or a low point. 


