Measurement Computing LogBook Series - Manual (Page 94)

6-6 GPS and Serial Device Data Collection 958396 LogBook User’s Manual
Setting up Serial Communication Parameters
To setup the serial communication parameters of either
or both RS-232 ports, open the Hardware
Configuration Window.
This window exposes the hardware configuration tree
used to configure DBK expansion cards and hardware
settings.
Selecting any of the 3 Serial ports at the bottom of
the tree exposes their settings on the right. The
bottom-most serial port is the LogBook
communication port used to connect the LogBook
to a PC or modem. The items labeled S1 and S2
are the 2 serial device input ports. On the
LogBook connector panel, the connectors for S1
and S2 are marked “Serial GPS” and
“Serial AUX”, respectively. The 1
st port is
labeled GPS because, if used, a GPS should only
be connected to this port. If a GPS is not being
used, any serial device can be connected to S1
and/or S2. The default configuration settings for
S1 and S2 are designed for standard GPS
receivers. If you’re using a GPS on S1, leave the
settings in their default states. For general serial devices, the baud rate, data bits, parity, and stop bits settings
should all be set to match the serial device. The RTS Mode setting regulates the RS-232 handshaking. The Input
Buffer Full setting enables hardware handshaking. The Always On setting disables handshaking.
Once the settings for S1 and S2 have been entered, click OK to close the window.
GPS/Serial Input Channel Configuration
To configure a serial input or GPS channel, click the
GPS/Serial Input tool in the toolbar. This action will
expose the channel grid used to set up the desired serial
input channels.
Each row of the grid
represents a serial input
channel. Up to 16 serial
input channels can be
defined. As channels are
needed, enable them in
the On/Off column, then
select the channel type
from the drop down list.
The “Units” and “User
Label” columns hold a
user-entered string that is
stored with the data for
data readability, but have
no effect on the acquisition.
The “Channel Type” and “Format String” columns define what will be read from the serial device and stored in
the associated LogBook channel. In the “Channel Type” column, both the serial port and data type are specified.
When an integer, character, or floating point input is selected, LogView will automatically insert the required
directive into the format string. The user can then add additional, optional formatting parameters, but the format
string must always end with the directive initially inserted by LogView or a directive of the same number type.