User Manual for AML Oceanographic’s Micro SV & P Sensor
5
The sound velocity sensor is a short pathlength, Time of Flight, proprietary design which
offers fast response times and extremely low thermal hysteresis. The signal conditioning
electronics feature thermal compensation, ratio metric A/D conversion to provide accurate
and stable operation over the operating range. The sound velocity sensor uses a dedicated
RISC microprocessor to control the sensor excitation and communicate with the data logger
electronics. The sound velocity sensor ground is capacitively coupled to the water to reduce
noise.
The pressure sensor is a semiconductor strain gauge protected by a stainless steel
diaphragm. Various pressure ranges from 2 to 1000 Bar are available. The pressure sensor
is fully temperature compensated over the range of -2 to 32
°
C. The pressure sensor uses a
dedicated RISC microprocessor to control the sensor excitation and communicate with the
data logger electronics.
The data logger and power control electronics use a RISC microprocessor running at 19.6
MHz to control the sampling and power program as well as to communicate with the
sensors and communications interface board.
The communications interface board is normally an RS-232C board. Optional
communication boards include RS-485 and TTL. Through the communications board, the
instrument will on power up, automatically detect baud rates from 2400 to 38400 baud. The
baud rate is automatically determined when the sensor receives an <
ENTER
> or <
RET
>.
The data output may be configured to display either unprocessed integers, or computed
engineering values. The Micro SVP Sensor has the option of sampling on command or
monitoring continuously with programmable sampling rates. The latter is not available with
the binary protocol. The RS-485 binary protocol option allows the instruments to be
individually addressed permitting multiple instruments to be daisy-chained together.
1.2
THE USER
This manual has been written with the following assumptions:
• The user has had some exposure to MS Windows compatible computers, and is
moderately computer literate with a working knowledge of computer operation and
terminology.
• The user is familiar with the operation and function of standard communications packages.
While it is possible to operate the Micro SVP Sensor without these qualifications, some
computer experience will greatly assist the user to pass through the learning curve more
rapidly.
