NEW VERSION
There is a new version of this product available. The product on this page has been discontinued and the datasheet and manual are provided for informational purposes.
Node Commander® is a fully featured, easy to use software which operates MicroStrain's LXRS™ and legacy wireless nodes and base stations. The software provides for configuration of the individual wireless nodes, configuration of the base stations, operation of Synchronized Sampling (both Continuous and Burst modes), Armed Datalogging, Datalogging, Streaming and Low Duty Cycle data acquisition sessions, real time display of data, and writing to file. The software also provides intuitive 'wizards' that allows the user to set-up any sensor attached to the wireless nodes including strain gauges, displacement sensors, load cells, torque transducers, pressure sensors, accelerometers, geophones, temperature sensors, inclinometers and more.
The software can discover any wireless nodes within range, set the nodes and base stations to operate on separate frequencies, acquire data from multiple nodes and multiple base stations all at the same time, manage the nodes' batteries including sleep, wake and cycle power, and upgrade the nodes' firmware.
The Live Connect software, included in the Node Commander installation, makes a WSDA-1000 act as a standard base station within the Node Commander software. WSDA-1000 users can remotely access and manipulate their wireless node settings, change sample rates, adjust sample modes, and start the nodes sampling.
Node Commander® produces data files which are easily imported into any data analysis program. All data files are fully internationalized with regional date-time stamping, and language specific data separators and numeric decimators. All data is saved in the particular sensor's engineering units.
Each wireless starter kit comes with Node Commander® software on CD for installation on Microsoft Windows® XP Pro, Vista, and 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. **The Node Commander Installer now includes an option for the Live Connect installer for WSDA-1000 users.
Datasheet ManualSoftware Name | Node Commander® |
Operating Systems | Microsoft Windows® XP Pro, Vista and 7 32/64-bit |
For Use With | Current products: SG-Link® -mXRS™ Wireless Strain Node G-Link® -mXRS™ Wireless Accelerometer Node DVRT-Link™ -mXRS™ Wireless Displacement Node SG-Link® -OEM-S Wireless Strain Node V-Link® Wireless Voltage Node EH-Link™ Energy Harvesting Wireless Node HS-Link™ 100KHz High Speed Wireless Node TC-Link® 6 Channel Wireless Thermocouple Node TC-Link® 1 Channel Wireless Thermocouple Node TC-Link® OEM Channel Wireless Thermocouple Node WSDA® -Base Base Station Legacy products: |
The IEPE-Link™ -LXRS® accepts inputs from most IEPE sensors using the industry standard 10-32 mini-coaxial connector and 2.3 mA constant current excitation.
The WSDA-RGD (with internal GX3 inertial sensor) is configured to produce the following messages on startup.
GPS Data (1 Hz):
AHRS Data (100 Hz):
From this output the WSDA logs:
GPS (1 Hz):
AHRS (100 Hz):
The WSDA-RGD does not log any data until it gets a valid time, if it is set to get time from GPS only it will not log any output from the GX3 until the UTC timestamp from the GX3 is valid, even though the GX3 is producing valid AHRS data.
This data is not user configurable and is not available as a live stream through LiveConnect.
All LORD MicroStrain wireless sensor nodes, wireless base stations, and wireless sensor data aggregators are shipped from the factory with their radio frequency set to channel 15 (2.425 GHz).
This channel setting was established during 2012.
Previously all wireless products were set to channel 25 (2.475 GHz).
If you are mixing new nodes and base stations with older nodes and base stations, please be cognizant of these different channel settings.
The Node Discovery function of Node Commander will help you sort out which nodes are on what channels; Node Discovery is channel independent and allows the base station to communicate with any node, no matter what channel it is on
Sampling methods such as synchronized sampling, low duty cycle, network broadcast, etc. require that all nodes are on the same frequency so you will want to insure that you have adjusted the channels settings of the nodes to suit.
In FINITE sampling, the user sets a total number of samples to be taken which equates to a time period. Because the sampling rate per second is known, the user can adjust the number of samples to be taken to determine how long the sampling period will be.
In CONTINUOUS sampling, the user does not set the total number of samples and therefore does not set the time of the sampling period. By selecting CONTINUOUS sampling, the user is instructing the system to sample data until the user manually stops the sampling (via software), the power is cycled, the on-board datalogging memory is full, the battery dies, the power fails, etc.