A wireless instrumentation control system based on low-cost single board computer gateways

Enériz Orta, D. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Medrano, N. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Calvo, B. (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: Nowadays, most of the automatized measurement processes are carried out by VISA (Virtual Instrument Software Architecture) compatible instruments, that execute the instructions provided by a host computer connected through wired standard buses, as USB (Universal Serial Bus), GPIB (General-Purpose Instrumentation Bus), PXI (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) or Ethernet. To overcome the intrinsic limitations associated to these wired systems, this work presents an instrumentation control system based on the IEEE 802.11 wireless communications standard. Intended for instruments having a USB control port, this port is connected to a gateway based on a compact Raspberry Single Board Computer (SBC) and thus the instrument can be connected to the host computer via Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), easily allowing the deployment of an ad-hoc instruments communication network in the working area or its connection to a previously deployed general purpose WiFi network. Developed under Python, the operation commands, wireless link protocol, and USB connection allow two modes of operation to provide system flexibility: a live mode, where commands are sent individually from the host computer to the selected instrument; and a standalone mode, where a full measurement process can be entirely downloaded in the gateway to be autonomously executed on the instrumentation. The system performance in both operation modes, distance of operation, time latencies, and operating lifetime in battery operation have been characterized.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3104903

Año: 2021

Publicado en: IEEE Access 9 (2021), 115632-115642
ISSN: 2169-3536

Factor impacto JCR: 3.476 (2021)

Categ. JCR: COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS rank: 79 / 164 = 0.482 (2021) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: TELECOMMUNICATIONS rank: 43 / 93 = 0.462 (2021) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC rank: 105 / 277 = 0.379 (2021) - Q2 - T2

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 6.7 - Engineering (Q1) - Computer Science (Q1) - Materials Science (Q1)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.927 - Computer Science (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Engineering (miscellaneous) (Q1)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCIU/PID2019-106570RB-I00-AEI-10.13039-501100011033

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Electrónica (Dpto. Ingeniería Electrón.Com.)