PicoLog

Modern living has led to an increased dependence of humans on electrical devices of various types. From cooking appliances to desktop PCs, homes are literally loaded with circuitry. The next logical step is simply having hardware pieces with software interfaces that can record and analyze various surrounding physical parameters. PicoLog is one such attempt that integrates with multiple types of devices to record parameters such as voltage, temperature, humidity, sounds, light and even the pH.

It should be noted that the program does not yield any results on its own, as an external probe is required to feed data into the tool. There are multiple types of equipment that can be hooked up with this application and users are well-advised to check the manual for a complete listing.

The program in itself is highly intuitive and efficiency geared, as it is built on several modules, each dealing with a separate area of data recording and analysis. Specifically, the modular setup is built on five major components: a recorder – the most important module, a player, two tools handling graphs generation, and a spreadsheet.

The recorder is self-explanatory and not much configuration work is required; however, users can configure the method involved (continuous or not), as well as the restart delays. The player module can be employed to rerun past recordings.

For detailed views on the registered recordings, users can employ the “PLW Spreadsheet” (PLW is the proprietary format used to save projects). Finally, the “XY Graph”, and “Graph” utilities are best employed to generate real-time charts of the recordings. These items can be exported to BMP and JPG images.

To sum up, PicoLog is a valuable tool for anyone in possession of the necessary apparatus to send data to the processing modules.