Pico Technology

Here is your monthly Test and Measurement update.

1.  New: EnviroMon EL042 Alarm and Relay Unit

EnviroMon, our Data Logging network, has received a hardware and software upgrade to enable it to handle more complex alarm conditions.

EnviroMon automatically measures and records temperature, humidity and other parameters and warns you when readings go out of range. The system is both flexible and economical: you can start off just recording a single temperature and expand it to monitor up to 40 sensors per logger spread around a site.

When the new EL042 detects an alarm condition, it can activate its built-in sounder, send a message by activating an external telephone dialler, or trigger up to three user-supplied alarm devices connected to its opto-isolated outputs. The unit has a rechargeable backup battery allowing it to maintain its alarm outputs for several hours in the event of a power failure.

The EL042 enables a new, advanced feature called a “deviation alarm”. You can now set up the EnviroMon system to monitor a number of channels as a group. The EL042 can activate an alarm if any channel differs from the group average, or from any other channel in the group, or from the median of the group, by more than a specified amount. You can even define nested groups of sensors. This new feature makes the EL042 ideal for monitoring large installations such as heating systems and server farms.

• Find out more about the EnviroMon data logging system
• More information on the EL042

Sotware upgrade

Even if you don’t need the new EL042, you can still upgrade your EnviroMon software to the latest version, free of charge, to make use of some of the new features:

• “Rate alarms” – to notify you when a parameter changes by more than a specified amount in a specified time
• New file-handling commands – for saving configuration and data files in a single convenient archive file, and for loading and saving alternative configurations
• Improved graph panning – now you can specify the exact vertical and horizontal ranges on graph displays

• Download the latest EnviroMon software
• Read this important note on upgradfing to 5.20.0

2.  Learn About the PicoScope 9201
12 GHz PC Sampling Oscilloscope

Because the PicoScope 9201 is so different from our existing range of PC Oscilloscopes, many customers have asked us to explain exactly what a sampling oscilloscope is and what it can be used for. In response, we have put together a “Questions and Answers” page that explains the basics of sampling oscilloscopes. Here are the questions that we answer:

1. How is the PicoScope 9201 Sampling Oscilloscope different from a normal digital storage oscilloscope?
2. Is the PicoScope 9201 a digital signal analyser (DSA)?
3. What is the difference between real-time sampling rate and equivalent-time sampling rate?
4. Can I use the PicoScope 9201 in general test and measurement applications?
5. What is the difference between the Direct Trigger and HF Trigger inputs?
6. What is the histogram function for?
7. What do you get when you buy a PicoScope 9201?

• Read “Sampling Oscilloscope Questions and Answers”
• Read more about the new PicoScope 9000 Series and send for your free information pack

3.  PicoScope 6: Getting the Most Out of Your Software

PicoScope 6 is now supplied with all our PC Oscilloscopes. To keep your system up to date, we recommend that you download the regular free updates to PicoScope 6 that are available on our website. Here are a couple of lesser-known features, added recently, that you may have missed:

• Capture Size preference – PicoScope’s automatic measurements include statistics that show you the maximum, minimum, mean and standard deviation of each measurement. There is also a column in the statistics table headed “Capture Count”, which shows the number of captures that were accumulated to produce each row of statistics. You can specify the maximum number of measurements used by this process by modifying the “Capture Size” parameter. This is located under the “Tools | Preferences” menu command in the “General” tab. A larger “capture size” causes the statistics to change more slowly but makes them more precise.
• Slow Sampling Transition preference – Depending on the timebase that you select and the capabilities of your oscilloscope, PicoScope 6 chooses whether to operate in “fast” or “slow” sampling mode. Fast mode is used for the faster sampling rates, and redraws the whole scope view as often as possible to give a highly responsive display. For slower sampling rates, it is usually preferable to draw each trace progressively from left to right as the data comes in, rather than waiting for a complete trace. You can now specify the timebase at which you want the program to switch from one mode to the other. This parameter, called “Slow Sampling Transition”, is located under the “Tools | Preferences” menu command in the “Sampling” tab.

• Download PicoScope 6

4.  New: Separate Downloads for Drivers

To make it easier for you to find the Pico device drivers and Software Development Kits that you need, and to keep download file sizes reasonable, we are now supplying all drivers as separate files. As before, you can download everything free of charge from our website.

Just go to our “Software” page, select your hardware device in Step 1 and the software you need in Step 2, then click “Download”. The new drop-down menu layout clearly shows all the software options for each product and all the latest version numbers on a single web page.

Download the latest software for your Pico product

5.  New: Linux Drivers for PicoScope 5000 Series Scopes

If you are a programmer working in Linux, the new PicoScope 5000 Series Linux driver will allow you to control the PicoScope 5000 Series scopes using your own software. The driver is supplied as source code, and has been tested on Fedora 8, Ubuntu 8.04 and openSuse 10.3. It is accompanied by installation and usage instructions, and an example program in C.

The new driver supports all oscilloscope features except ETS mode. It has been thoroughly tested, but we cannot guarantee that the software will be stable under all conditions. We would like to hear from you if you experience any problems or have any suggestions for improvements.

Download the drivers free of charge
(In Step 1, select your PicoScope 5000 Series scope; in Step 2, select “Linux drivers”; then click “Download”.)

6.  Other Linux Driver Updates

In addition to the new 5000 Series drivers mentioned above, new versions of the USB TC-08 and ADC-16 Linux drivers are now online.

The drivers are released as source code, so you should be able to use them on almost any Linux system. We have tested them under Fedora 8.0, openSUSE 10.3 and Ubuntu 8.04.

The new ADC-16 driver includes a new feature that gives you the option to return values as millivolts, microvolts or raw ADC values.

To download your free updates, go to our Software page, select your hardware product, and then select “Linux driver”.

7.  Questions and Answers

Here is a selection of the questions that have cropped up recently on our support forum.

Q. I’ve got a ADC-16 and some K-type thermocouples. I’d like to use the thermocouples with the ADC-16, but I think I cannot because of the cold junction, the amplification of the signal and the scaling factor. Do I need a signal conditioner?

A. You are correct to say that you cannot connect thermocouples directly to the ADC-16. However, it is possible to adapt the ADC-16 to use a thermocouple. See the ADC-16 Terminal Board user guide (270 kB PDF)

Q. What is the *.mat file format in PicoScope 6?

A. There is a detailed description of the *.mat (Matlab 4) file format produced by PicoScope 6 in the PicoScope 6 User’s Guide, under the heading “Binary formats”. You can find the manual on your software installation disk, or download a free copy here (2.8 MB PDF).

8.  Training Courses

In response to customer demand, we are now offering regular training courses on data logging and EnviroMon for UK Pico users. The courses will be suitable for beginners and advanced users alike and can be tailored to individual requirements.

We shall begin by holding courses at the new Pico headquarters, but on-site courses will be available by request. To ensure that your enquiry gets dealt with promptly, please email courses@picotech.com to register your interest.

9.  Forthcoming Exhibitions

Full details of upcoming exhibitions and training dates can be found on the exhibitions page.

10.  Employment Opportunities

Due to our continuing growth, we have vacancies for the following positions:

• Development Engineer - Analogue Hardware
• Development Engineer - Hardware
• Development Engineer - Windows Desktop Application Software

Find more details of these positions and complete an online application form

We look forward to hearing from you if you want to be part of a growing company at the leading edge of test equipment design.

11.  Latest Software Releases

As soon as we release new software, it is made available for FREE download from our website. To check which version you are using, start the software (PicoScope, PicoLog or EnviroMon) and select HELP | ABOUT.

The current releases are:

• PicoScope 5: R5.20.1
• PicoScope 6: R6.0.15
• PicoLog: R5.20.1
• EnviroMon: R5.20.0

To download the latest software please visit the software downloads page

(Note: the above web page also contains a link to our ‘release notes’ page which describes recent changes and additions to the software.)

12.  About this Newsletter

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