PC-Based PCM Telemetry Data Reduction System Software

The Solar Energy Research Institute's (SERI) Wind Research Program is using pulse code modulation (PCM) telemetry systems to study horizontal-axis wind turbines. SERI has developed a low-cost PC-based PCM data-acquisition system to facilitate quick PCM data analysis in the field. The SERI PC-PCM system consists of AT-compatible hardware boards for decoding and combining PCM data streams and DOS software for control and management of data acquisition. Up to four boards can be installed in a single PC, providing the capability to combine data from four PCM streams direct to disk or memory. This paper describes the SERI Quick-Look Data Management Program, which is a comprehensive software package used to organize, acquire, process, and display information from PCM data streams. The software was designed for use in conjunction with SERI's PC-PCM hardware described in a related paper. Features of the Quick-Look program are highlighted, including those which make it useful in an experiment test environment to quickly examine and verify incoming data. Also discussed are problems and techniques associated with PC-based PCM data acquisition, processing, and real-time display. 7 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.