Digital-Analog conversion 2

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Simbamangu

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Oct 23, 2007, 9:28:40 AM10/23/07

to African Wildlife Survey

An update on my question from June:

After researching a number of analog converters, we got a USB-503
reader from Measurement Computing (http://www.measurementcomputing.com/
pdfs/USB-503.pdf) which takes up to 32,000 voltage readings at 1 sec -
30 sec intervals.

The unit is really simple - looks like a USB memory stick, with a
socket with two wires that attach to the voltage output. To read it,
you just put the USB plug in to the computer and download the readings
using the driver software.

We used the voltage output from a radar altimeter (often available
through a regular audio-type socket in the front panel) and calibrated
the USB reader, then set it to take readings every 10 seconds during
flight.

The output is a graph and text file showing the time and calibrated
reading - in our case, time and height above ground for the
calibration of strip width, which we coordinate with wildlife
sightings along transects.