Datastick Systems, Inc. — News Release
MEDIA CONTACT:
Bradlee Sweigart, V.P. Faron Melrose Communications
Public Relations Counsel for Datastick Systems, Inc.
Phone: 408-615-5772
Email: bjs@faronmelrose.com
New Datastick Device Brings Data Acquisition Capability to 3Com's Palm Computing Platform for the First Time Ever
Addition of Sensor Units to Datastick Data Acquisition Peripheral Allows Palm III and Upgraded PalmPilot Professional Edition to Act as Handheld Data Loggers.
Can Measure, Record and Display Variations in Real Time for Data such as 3-D Magnetism, 3-D Acceleration, Temperature, Pressure
CAMPBELL, CA, DEC. 2, 1998 -- New Datastick technology that, for the first time ever, gives 3Com's Palm Computing Platform Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) the capability of acting as a handheld data acquisition system was previewed today at the PDA Expo in San Francisco by Datastick Systems.
The Datastick Data Acquisition System consists of a hardware unit and software. It allows the measurement, recording and display of such data as 3D magnetism, 3D acceleration, temperature, pressure and many other analog sensor applications and is currently compatible with the Palm III PDA as well as the PalmPilot Professional Edition with upgrade card.
The hardware snaps onto the modem connector on the PDA to provide a multi-channel port for field measurement and logging concurrently, in real time, from up to 6 analog sensing units.
The Datastick Connection software loads onto the PDA to make the device ideal for a wide range of applications including environmental, industrial, safety, educational, laboratory, and research and development.
The software provides a feature found for the first time on any PDA instrument: it allows users to compensate for a sensor package's nonlinear sensor response curve by custom-editing the sensor-response conversion functions and thus viewing real-world, linear readings.
"Many data acquisition applications in the field can be done using the Palm Computing Platform with the Datastick device instead of costly software on laptops or proprietary data-logging instruments. This will bring a new level of portability and ease of use to the instrumentation market," said Steve Sabram, president of Datastick Systems. "And the unit is ideal for home, hobby and student use as well."
The hardware provides six channels for analog input, as well as a ground line and an external trigger line that allows the addition of a device to start and stop the recording process.
The software provides three viewing modes: numeric display; real-time histograph with custom-formattable patterns; and real-time graph with custom-formattable lines and symbols. A quick-display legend that explains the graph in detail can be selectively removed from the display to maximize the viewing area of the graphic.
The software permits user-adjustable sampling between 250 milliseconds and 12 hours. Readings are recorded in the database, which can be exported to a personal computer for later analysis in spreadsheets and statistical packages.
Demonstrations of the Datastick data acquisition system will continue through the remainder of the week at the PDA Expo, Booth 31
