Data Analysis
The SpikeWatcher PA family of hardware devices store all of their data in Microsoft Access databases. Each installed unit has its own database. SPIKE is a graphing and reporting tool that retrieves the SpikeWatcher PA data for any specified time period and displays them in the format most useful for analysis. The graphs depend on the type of unit that created the data
All of the data that are collected for a particular unit are available in the same database and can be selected for graphing. Each graph is created in a separate window within the SPIKE graphing program. You can select any of the available data that were enabled when the unit was installed. You can select the timeframe for each graph.
In this example, the pressure sensor on channel 1 is selected for graphing. You can select the maximum and minimum values of the graph, or you can let SPIKE set the limits automatically. When a spike is detected, it is automatically summarized. You can zoom in on any part of the graph.
The details of the spike are shown. These include the maximum and minimum values that were measured along with their times of occurrance. The duration of the spike in milliseconds is shown. In this case, the background measurements were recorded at 30 second intervals.
Zooming in on the spike itself shows the shape of the graph of the high-speed measurements. The height of the box is the range of the measurements and the width of the box is the duration. In this case, the spike was sampled at 10 millisecond intervals.
SPIKE can display one or two channels simultaneously, depending on the channels that were enabled in the unit.
You can automatically generate a report from the graph over any time period. The report will contain the statistics of all of the sensor readings, as well as a list of any limits that have been exceeded. A histogram is also generated that shows the distribution of the transients (spikes).
If you would like to perform your own analysis, the data from the database can be exported in comma-seperated-variable (.csv) form. These files can be read by spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel.
