Continuos Acquisition

The Continuos Acquisition feature allows you to stream to data disk for a variable period of time - or it may be used as a multi-channel free running scope.

• How it works
• Getting started
• Settings
• Acquisition
• The file format

How it works

The Continuos Acquisition module brings continuos data acquisition to Mr. Kick. Acquisition is not restricted by the SweepLength parameter: This may be used as a four channel free running scope, or you can stream data to disk as long as there is still space on your harddrive.

This does not comply with the way Mr. Kick controls external equipment and handles data. As a result -

• Event timing and analog output are disabled during continuos acquisition
• A file can only contain one 'sweep' (which may be of any length)
• The file format is not compatible with Mr. Kick - elaboration follows.

Mr. Kick cannot read the file directly - it has to be cut into sweeps first. A tool to cut streamed data into sweeps and save them to a 'Mr. Kick File' is available, and may be applied immediately after acquisition or later.

Getting started

Follow these steps to use Continuos Acquisition:

1. Adjust settings via the usual Settings menu
2. Choose Continuos Acquisition from the Action menu
3. When ready, Start Save
4. Choose whether to cut into sweeps
5. When finished Stop acquisition

Each step is discussed further below.

Settings

Relevant settings are controlled via the usual settings menu. Far from all settings in Mr. Kick are relevant to continuos data acquisition. Here is a list of the relevant ones:

• Acquisition
• SweepLength: Controls the 'sweep length' displayed during acquisition. It does not limit acquisition in any way.
• SampleRate: All channels will be sampled at this rate. No downsampling is applied during continuos acquisition.
• Analog Input
• On/Sampled: Specify which channels to sample.
• Label: Labels each channel for easy reference.
• Gain or Sensitivity of the transducer connected to the input channel.
• A/D Range: Defines the voltage range of the input signal.

The following settings are not relevant during continuos acquisition, but may affect the way continuos data are cut into sweeps:

• Acquisition, except above mentioned
• Analog Input, except above mentioned
• Classification
• Trigger

The following settings are not relevant during continuos acquisition nor during cutting into sweeps:

• Event Timing
• Analog Output

When you've adjusted settings to suit you purpose, start acquisition

Acquisition

To start acquisition choose Continuos Acquisition from the Action menu. The panel (window) illustrated right will show up and data acquisition will start immediately.

On the left you find four graph indicators. There will always be four even if only one or many channel(s) are on/sampled.
The upper graph is larger than the others by default, and it will scale with the size of the window.
You can display the signal from any sampled channel in any of the graphs - use the channel selector just above the right end of each graph.
The acquired signals are not scaled according to gain or sensitivity settings. The display will show the voltage measured at the input of the MIO board.

The graphs will update as often as possible - ideally at an interval as defined by SweepLength. In practice this display sweep length is limited to the range 200 ms to 2.5 s.
If the program cannot keep up with data acquisition, display updates are sacrificed first. The Display Skip'd LED in the upper right corner will indicate if this is the case.

Data acquisition will start as soon as the Continuos Acquisition module is initiated. But data will not be saved to disk unless you press the Start Save button. Until that happens it will work as a multi-channel free running oscilloscope.

When Start Save has been pressed the Save LED will light and the File Size indicator will display how much space the saved data takes up on your harddrive. Data will temporarily be stored in the actual data directory (which can be changed via File - New).

You can choose whether to cut the saved data into sweeps after acquisition. By default the Cut Into Sweeps control is set to Yes. This will bring up the Cont. Stream to Sweep Cutter module immediately after you've stopped acquisition and filed the data. This function is available from the Action menu as well: Cut Cont. into Sweeps.

Stop acquisition via the STOP button. If data has been saved you will get the opportunity to choose a file name and location - pressing Cancel allows you to delete the acquired data.