Importing HSM Datalog Files

Importing HSM Datalog FilesBy George GrimesStarting with V175, dataPOWER can import HSM datalog files into a worksheet. Because the datalog file contains embedded form feed characters, this is a two step process and does have some limitations when compared to support for other testers. The process and limitations are documented below.

1) The process

In order to strip the form feed characters out of the datalog file, a pre-processor has been written. This is a command line program which must be run on a PC. The program can be found in C:\PDF when it is first distributed, but it may be moved to a more convenient place for use. This program requires support version 3.5 of the Microsoft .NET library. If it will not run for you, you may install the library from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=enIf the program is run without any arguments, it will display this message:

usage: HsmPreFilter Inputfile.txt and this dialog: Simply press the Close button to dismiss the error dialog box. The message is telling you that the program needs an input file, which is the HSM datalog file to be converted. It will create an output file with the same name except that the extension will be changed to .dat. This is the file that you will actually import into the worksheet.

After this, you merely import a file with the ASCII reader in the normal fashion and select the HSM format file (HSM_ascii.fmt)

The dialog just before execution will like similar to this:

Be sure that Create Limits into Sheet is not selected.

2) The limitations

a. Since there are no parameter names in HSM programs, we have none to assign in the worksheet. All we have to work with are test numbers so those are the basis for the names. For test number 1, both the test name and parameter name become Param_001.b. The HSM is auto-ranging, so if a reading fluctuates around a boundary, this can cause a problem. For example, if most of the units for test 57 measure just above 1mA but a few units are around 950 uA, then there will be a few outliers in the worksheet at 950 mA. I may be able to add a scaling routine to the pre-processor in the future but I cannot make any promises at this time (May, 2008).c. There are no limits in the HSM datalog so they cannot be imported from the datalog file either. The plan is to have the limits parsed from the HSM program (probably by a Perl script) and put into the format documented by the file C:\PDF\HSM_LimitsExample.xls so that they can then be imported into a dataPOWER limits sheet and subsequently imported into the worksheet with the datalog data. Someone else was going to write this script and if I can get a copy, I will share it.3) The futureIf you use this and find any problem, please let me know. Ill fix it (if I can) and share the updates with everyone else. If you improve it, send the improvements to me and Ill share those as well.