Newbie with unusual application and lots of questions...
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 10:40 pm
I have an application where we will use an SUV to tow a heavy load and need to measure the velocity and the force needed to tow the load which will collected with a load cell with an analog output. The RaceCapture/Pro MK2 seems like it would do the job since it has the GPS telemetry, can calculate velocity and distance and accepts the analog output of the load cell.
During testing will star from a stop and slowly accelerate to 15 MPH and then slow down to a stop. We need to collect GPS location, velocity, distance travelled and analog output from the load cell whole the test in in progress and until data acquisition is stopped.
The software available seems to be an overkill for my simple test. Basically what I need is an application to do the following:
Have an option to configure the system, i.e. analog range, data directory, units, GPS setup, channels selected and others
For data acquisition prompts the user for:
- Location
- Test number
- Directory
Have a Start Test button than when pressed starts data acquisition of the 4 channels selected (GPS location, velocity, analog input (load cell), and distance travelled (maybe more in the future)
Display the selected channels are live on the screen (graph) while the test I being conducted and data acquisition is active
Have an Stop Test button that stop the data acquisition and dumps the data to a file (text, spreadsheet. CSV) with a name such as C:Directory\Location-TestNo.xls or C:Directory\Location-TestNo.txt to the directory specified in the configuration
Have the ability to graph the results in 3 or 4 pre-set formats at most, although if it can export the data as a CSV or spreadsheet format file. I can do this with another application.
My question is:
How easy/difficult would be to configure the available software to do what I need?
How easy/difficult would it be to write a custom application to do this?
How easy/difficult is to communicate with the system to do this?
Is the interface open source so anyone can write code for it?
Is there anyone that does this type of programming?
Any help. guidance. suggestions or advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
During testing will star from a stop and slowly accelerate to 15 MPH and then slow down to a stop. We need to collect GPS location, velocity, distance travelled and analog output from the load cell whole the test in in progress and until data acquisition is stopped.
The software available seems to be an overkill for my simple test. Basically what I need is an application to do the following:
Have an option to configure the system, i.e. analog range, data directory, units, GPS setup, channels selected and others
For data acquisition prompts the user for:
- Location
- Test number
- Directory
Have a Start Test button than when pressed starts data acquisition of the 4 channels selected (GPS location, velocity, analog input (load cell), and distance travelled (maybe more in the future)
Display the selected channels are live on the screen (graph) while the test I being conducted and data acquisition is active
Have an Stop Test button that stop the data acquisition and dumps the data to a file (text, spreadsheet. CSV) with a name such as C:Directory\Location-TestNo.xls or C:Directory\Location-TestNo.txt to the directory specified in the configuration
Have the ability to graph the results in 3 or 4 pre-set formats at most, although if it can export the data as a CSV or spreadsheet format file. I can do this with another application.
My question is:
How easy/difficult would be to configure the available software to do what I need?
How easy/difficult would it be to write a custom application to do this?
How easy/difficult is to communicate with the system to do this?
Is the interface open source so anyone can write code for it?
Is there anyone that does this type of programming?
Any help. guidance. suggestions or advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated.