Optimizing and mapping the ice routes on the North Pole requires a mission critical and rugged data logger. Once located on an ice breaking ship, the system acquires and logs the accelerometer and sensor data without any interruption for months and months. Facing a tight development schedule, WiTEST engineers developed this extremely rugged and reliable data logger on NI CompactRIO platform using LabVIEW FPGA and LabVIEW Real Time.
WiTEST team programmed the data acquisition and watchdog functionality in a LabVIEW module that is then used to program the CompactRIO backplane field programmable gate array. This embedded circuitry then runs independently immune from any immune of any kind of operating system failure with high reliability.
Data is streamed to CompactRIO embedded control and logged by LabVIEW Real Time (VxWorks) to multiple locations including a rugged USB storage device connected to cRIO. LabVIEW Real Time also provides a real time interface to a windows application for live monitoring, data extraction and system setup capabilities.
Binary data is extracted through FTP and converted to other formats for post logging analysis. The windows software, developed in LabVIEW, also provides extensive data browsing capabilities.
The solution provides a mission critical data logging system that is being used for extended periods of unattended data logging spanning over several months for each data acquisition run.