WSDA
®
-Base-104
®
USB Base Station
User Manual
System Operation Overview
10
3.
System Operation Overview
The gateway is the interface between LORD MicroStrain
®
sensor nodes and the data acquisition
computer. The gateway co-ordinates the configuration and sampling of the nodes and can handle
many nodes simultaneously. Communication between the nodes and gateway is wireless and
uses the LORD MicroStrain
®
LXRS
®
data communications protocol. LXRS
®
nodes, and many
legacy nodes, will communicate with any LXRS
®
gateway.
LORD MicroStrain
®
has two software programs available for the Wireless Sensor Network: the
Node Commander
®
Software Suite and SensorCloud™. Users can also write their own programs
by utilizing the LORD MicroStrain
®
Wireless Sensor Networks Data Communications Protocol.
The
Node Commander
®
Software Suite
is included with all data gateways and is also
available on the LORD MicroStrain
®
website for download. It includes the following
programs:
l
Node Commander
®
is used for configuring nodes and acquiring, viewing, and
saving data.
l
Live Connect
™
is a TCP/IP-to-serial conversion tool that translates the
communications between Node Commander
®
and an Ethernet gateway. This
program is only used with the WSDA
®
-1500 - LXRS
®
or other Ethernet gateways.
l
WSDA
®
Data Downloader
is used to download acquired data from the flash
memory card embedded in an applicable gateway to a host computer. This program
is only used with the WSDA
®
-1500 - LXRS
®
or other Ethernet gateways.
SensorCloud™
is an optional data collection, visualization, analysis, and remote
management tool. It is based on cloud computing technology and is accessed directly from a
web connection.
Automatic, real time data collection is available through Ethernet
gateways, such as the WSDA
®
-1500 - LXRS
®
and any already collected data can be easily
uploaded for visualization and analysis. Because it is web-based, SensorCloud™ requires
no installation. For more information
see Data Processing on page 22
This operational overview describes system hardware and software setup, including gateway and
node communication, and an overview of the Node Commander
®
software menus required to
configure a sensor connected to the node and begin data acquisition. A brief overview of porting
data to SensorCloud™ is also included. This section is intended as a quick start guide and is not a
complete demonstration of all system and software capabilities.