Labview Drivers for Wireless Sensor Networks

[MiLKy83]

Hi Ravens

Attached is the actual program and the actual data collected before I edit to save in excel file. Please help.

[RavensFan]

Quick question.

Why do you have a Stop button as a hidden control behind your real "Stop 2" button?  The hidden button looks like it behaves as a start button.

[RavensFan]

Where did your bad .xls file come from?

The one you posted this time looks just fine.

[MiLKy83]

The hidden stop button comes with the 1st while loop. I just replaced it with constant. Before this I tried to delete it but there were error, so i just hide it first until I figure out I could replace it. I just started using Labview for a few weeks. Still learning.... Really need help from experts in this forum as I'm really on my own doing this project here. Both Crossbow and Labview are new to me. Before I add the 1st while loop, Labview only reads from my nodes for once. With the while loop, I have continuous reading. The second while loop is to have my data collected and viewed on the waveform chart continuously. Stop2 button will stop the whole system.  The first .xls file that I posted, I just change the date format and double click on every column. I found that the readings for Light, Intersema Temperature, Intersema Pressure, and the Axis-accelerations are not in the range as given in the manual of MTS400. I just want to check whether it is correct or not as I didn't change anything from the Corssbow driver provided in ni.com. And whether I need to change anything to make those data to be within the range?

[RavensFan]

I don't think I can help you anymore.  I'm not even sure what problem you are trying to solve.

1.  Now you mention that you don't believe the data coming from the Xbow functions.  I don't know them so I can't help there.  I would recommend reading the manuals on them, and try to read them with a much simpler architecture until you trust them.  That way the other code problems don't mess you up.

2.  I thought the latest problem you had was that all your data was essentially one massive string in a single Excel cell.  But the latest .xls file you posted looks fine.  I don't think you could have created the problem .xls file with your latest code, so I have no way of being able to debug it.  Plus I don't have the Xbow functions to run your code.

3.  The "extra" stop button is a new issue.  Since it is set for False and is "hidden", it will never be pressed, thus will always be false.  Your inner while loop (I won't say first or second because what I consider first or second I think is the opposite of what you are thinking) will only run once because the value false goes into a Continue while true stop condition.  Thus you should be able to delete that while loop and that hidden "stop" control without issue.  I don't know what error you would have had when you tried it.  Your code should be able to run continuously because you have the outer while loop acquiring data and writing it to file until your "Stop 2" button is pressed thus stopping the outer while loop.

[MiLKy83]

Thanks Ravens, for pointing out my mistake on the inner while loop.  I removed it and it works just fine.

The latest problem that I have is actually after checkin the MTS400 manual, I am confused with the data range that I collected for:

Intersema Pressure: -296mbar to 28mbar (in manual 300 to 110 mbar)

Intersema Temperature: -880C to 1003C (in manual  -10°C to 60°C)

Light: 16 Lux to 504 Lux (in manual the range stated 400 – 1000 nm)

X and Y Axis Accelerations: 0 to -9000 (in manual ±2 G (1 G = 9.81 m/s2))

Can anyone familiar with Crossbow MTS400 in Labview please help to answer my problem above?

[David_Pratt]

Hey Milky

Does the MiCaZ software perform any algorithms on the data coming in from the units? If so, this would explain why your data appears to be falling out of range.  Perhaps the data coming off the mote is is not properly scaled to read in the units you're expecting?

[MiLKy83]

Hi David, how do I know if the MicaZ software perform any algorithms on the data coming in or not? For your information, so far I just followed the instructions given by Crossbow to program my radio board with moteconfig and did nothing else on the Micaz. Well, what can I do to make the data coming off the mote to be properly scaled?

[David_Pratt]

Milky,

If there's a scale, MicaZ will be the one to ask.

[MiLKy83]

David,

I used MoteView to collect the data and it was within the range given in manual as attached test.txt. The data range that I collected with Labview is as attached in Data1.xls. I just emailed the Crossbow support engineer on this matter and he replied: "The difference may be the LabView application that is used for receiving the data and converting the data to engineering units." 

Does anyone know how to correct this out of range situation?
Please help.

Kim