Field data logger design

The data logger described in this report filled a need in the Agricultural Engineering Department University of Illinois for a portable device capable of multichannel data recording in remote locations. The logger records through eight channels of analog data in a digital format on magnetic cassette tape, suitable for playback into a digital computer. This report describes the specifications of design, the overall structure of the system logic, and the detailed theory of operation of one implementation of the system logic. The objective of this project was to design and build a data logger which would collect field data in remote locations, and store the data in a format suitable for later transfer to a digital computer system. The major criteria for the design were to build the logger so that it can be operated while being carried by the operator, accept multichannel data from a variety of sensors, and record the data in a format suitable for playback into a computer system.