Cal-Bay Systems PC-Based XY Plotter

CAL-BAY SYSTEMS PC-BASED

XY PLOTTER

Revision 4.0.0

Help Documentation The following documentation is designed to provide assistance in the operation and

installation of the Cal-Bay Systems PC-Based XY Plotter Software

Cal-Bay Systems© PC Based XY Plotter User Guide Rev 4.0.0 Page 1 of 30

Contents Quick Start Guide .................................................................................................................................... 3

Installation & Licensing the Software ..................................................................................................... 5

Installation .......................................................................................................................................... 5

Licensing .............................................................................................................................................. 8

Selecting a Test Specification ................................................................................................................ 10

Managing the Test Specifications ......................................................................................................... 11

Creating a New Test Specification .................................................................................................... 11

Editing the Current Test Specification .............................................................................................. 12

Test Specification Manager ............................................................................................................... 12

Test Settings .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Test Name ......................................................................................................................................... 13

Sub Title ............................................................................................................................................ 13

Test Load Instructions ....................................................................................................................... 13

Enabled Channels .............................................................................................................................. 13

Channel Information ......................................................................................................................... 13

Name ............................................................................................................................................. 13

Scale .............................................................................................................................................. 13

Minimum/Maximum ..................................................................................................................... 14

Units .............................................................................................................................................. 14

Offset............................................................................................................................................. 14

Colour ............................................................................................................................................ 14

Channel Selector ........................................................................................................................... 14

Limits ................................................................................................................................................. 14

Limit Overlay On/Off ......................................................................................................................... 14

Pass/Fail Indication On/Off ............................................................................................................... 15

Auto Save .......................................................................................................................................... 15

Manual Testing Mode ........................................................................................................................... 15

Controls Panel Explained ...................................................................................................................... 16

Test Details Panel Explained ................................................................................................................. 16

Saving the Trace .................................................................................................................................... 17

Loading the Trace .................................................................................................................................. 17

Exporting the Trace ............................................................................................................................... 18

PDF Report ........................................................................................................................................ 18


Graph Image ...................................................................................................................................... 19

Panel Image ....................................................................................................................................... 19

Clearing the Trace ................................................................................................................................. 19

Resetting the Axis ................................................................................................................................. 20

Clearing the Test Details ....................................................................................................................... 20

Printing .................................................................................................................................................. 20

Selecting Printer ................................................................................................................................ 20

Graph Zoom Functions .......................................................................................................................... 21

Editing the Sampling Rate ..................................................................................................................... 21

Instant Nulling ....................................................................................................................................... 21

Cursor Calculations ............................................................................................................................... 22

Mean ................................................................................................................................................. 22

Peak to Peak ...................................................................................................................................... 22

Slew Rate ........................................................................................................................................... 23

Changing the Software Options ............................................................................................................ 24

User Information Defaults ................................................................................................................ 25

Operator ........................................................................................................................................ 25

Default Test ................................................................................................................................... 25

Import Logo ................................................................................................................................... 25

Test Detail Defaults ....................................................................................................................... 26

Data Acquisition Settings .................................................................................................................. 26

Report Options .................................................................................................................................. 27

Report Title ................................................................................................................................... 27

User Specified Information ........................................................................................................... 28

Chart Setup ....................................................................................................................................... 28

Filter Settings .................................................................................................................................... 29

About Window ...................................................................................................................................... 30


Quick Start Guide The XY Plotter software is a fully functional fixed 2 axis graph plotting utility designed to work with

National Instruments USB cDAQ Data Acquisition boards. (cDAQ-USB-9215 BNC Recommended)

1) Double Click on the Cal-Bay Systems Plotter Suite icon on the desktop to launch

the plotting suite central launcher.

2) Once loaded the plotter suite will display the currently installed plotting

applications available on the computer.

3) Double Click on the XY Plotter entry to launch the PC Based XY Plotter Software.

4) Once started the software will display an XY graph with 2 clickable buttons as shown.

Clicking these buttons will expand the Controls pane and the Details pane. Clicking these

same buttons again will close the respective panes.

5) The software starts using a default test setup

which can be changed by clicking on the drop

down menu in the Details pane.

6) To start plotting (Pen Down) using the test

specification chosen Single Click the Pen Control

button (above the graph).

7) Click this same button again to perform a Pen Up operation and stop the software plotting.


8) To stop the pen’s arm from showing the current position overlaid on the graph you can press

the device Power button.

9) To save the trace select “File » Save Trace” in the toolbar to save the data as a text (.csv)

file. This file can be opened in programs such as Microsoft Excel™ or notepad.

10) To print the current trace first select the desired printer by selecting “File » Select Printer”

11) Once a printer is selected you can click “File » Print” to print out a full report or an image of

the device.

12) Select “Tools » Clear Graph” in order to clear the current trace if you desire to do so.

WARNING – all existing unsaved test data will be removed.

13) If you require to change the graph’s view by zooming in/out on the plot you can do so by

using the buttons shown (found bottom right of the XY graph).

Move cursor Zoom Functions Move Plot

Select “File » Exit” to exit the software.


Installation & Licensing the Software

Installation

Once you have received your copy of the XY Plotter software you need to run the included setup.exe

by double clicking the icon. You may need to confirm the Administrator Access dialogue box by

pressing Yes when prompted in Windows 7 and 8.

Once the setup has loaded you will be presented with the following screen:

Please select a destination directory to install the XY Plotter and the required National Instruments

software. It is recommended to leave these as default on your system. To proceed press the Next

button. The following screen will show the End User License Agreement for the XY Plotter which you

must accept in order to continue the installation.



Finally you will be presented with a screen showing the added/changed files that will be performed

by the installer. Click Next to start the installation.

In order to complete the installation you will need to confirm the above shown window by pressing

Next.

NOTE: You may be prompted to restart your computer, if so you MUST do so before running the XY

Plotter software.


Licensing When the XY Plotter is first launched it will default to launching in evaluation mode. This mode can

be used to evaluate the software before purchase, however after 2 days this evaluation will end and

the software will not be able to load. In order to license the software for unlimited use you must

active it through the Cal-Bay Systems Plotter Suite.

Open the Cal-Bay Systems Plotter Suite by double clicking the icon on your desktop. Once loaded

you should see the following screen.

Right-Click the XY-Plotter software launcher and select Activate.


The following screen will appear which will show the serial number for the software for the

computer which it is installed upon.

Each computer will have a unique activation code shown which limits the license to a single

machine. In order to complete the registration you can do any of the following:

Contact Cal-Bay by phone to request the activation code required to license your software

Contact Cal-Bay through the online activation form at www.xyplotter.net quoting your displayed

serial number.

In return you will receive the activation code you can fill into the box upon which pressing Confirm

will activate your software for unlimited use. Cal-Bay will also send you a license file by email which

you can keep for your records and will be provided with instructions as to its use.

http://www.xyplotter.net/


Selecting a Test Specification You can select a test specification that includes limits, offsets and enabled channels by Single-

Clicking the test selector control found on the Test Details Pane as shown below

Once selected the current plot will be reset and the new test specification will be loaded. From here

you can continue to press the Pen Control button to start plotting according to the selected settings.


Managing the Test Specifications You can manage, create and edit tests that are used by the XY Plotter software to customise the

tests to fit your needs. There are several ways you can do this as detailed below.

Creating a New Test Specification

By clicking “Tools » Create New Test” you can create a new test for the XY Plotter software. Clicking

this will present you with a test creation dialogue box as shown.

It is important that the Test Name is unique as this will define the name available in the test

selection box in the Test Details Pane. For further information on this dialogue box and how to set

up limits, channels and off-sets please read the Test Settings section of this help document.


Editing the Current Test Specification You can edit the currently selected test by clicking “Tools » Edit Current Test”. This will bring up the

password prompt as shown to make sure the operator is aware that they are editing an already

defined test.

The default password after installation of the software is “calbay” without quotation marks. This

password can be changed by editing the editing the Software Options as detailed in this help

manual.

Test Specification Manager

The Test Specification Manager provides an easier to comprehend overview of all the tests set up in

the XY Plotter software and provides an interface to add, edit and remove tests from the software.

You can access the Test Specification Manager by clicking “Tools » Manage Tests”. Again you will be

required to insert the software password in order to gain access to this feature.


Test Settings This section of the help documentation describes the detailed use of the Test Specification Dialogue

window that allows for creation and editing of the Test Specifications in the XY Plotter software.

Test Name

The Test Name is a unique identifier for the XY Plotter software to allow the user to select the

created test in the Test Selection control in the Test Details Pane. No 2 tests can have the same Test

Name so you must provide a unique name.

Sub Title

The Sub Title is a field which you can provide a small amount of further details about the test which

will be displayed under the title (Test Name) located above the XY graph.

Test Load Instructions The Test Load Instructions box allows you to provide further instructions to the operator when they

select the test for use. If left blank, when the test is selected nothing will happen. If populated with

information, when the test is selected a small dialogue box will appear upon selection of the test to

provide the operator with instructions. An example of these instructions are below.

Enabled Channels

The Enabled Channels checkboxes allow the test creator to define how many channels will be

displayed on the graph simultaneously. The limit for the number of channels available are 3 Y

channels. This will provide an effective XYYY plotter. Where you have 3 plots of X vs Y1, X vs Y2 and X

vs Y3. The default when creating new tests is to have only Y1 selected for a single X vs Y plot.

Channel Information The channel information provides access to scaling, range and off-sets for each channel as described

below.

Name

The channel name will define the name displayed on the XY graph axis. This can be any name you

choose but note that the units for the channel will be described in its own box.

Scale

The scale field allows you to define how the raw voltage from the data acquisition hardware should

be scaled to fit the units of operation you would like to be plotted. For example if you want to

convert Voltage to Distance you can insert a value such as 0.5 if for every 1 Volt you are moving a

distance of 0.5 Meters.


Minimum/Maximum

The minimum and maximum fields will define the range of the acquisition in the units of the scaled

data. So if you are using voltage as your units you will need to define the range of volts that you will

be able to acquire, if using a different unit you must calculate the respective range of the custom

unit to define the range of the test. Once this field is inserted and the test specifications are

confirmed the XY graph will scale the axis to show the full range defined here.

Units

The Units field will allow you to provide a custom set of Units which will display after the channel

name in brackets on the relevant XY Graph axis.

Offset

The Offset field provides you with the ability to set an offset that can be positive or negative for the

channel you are editing. Please note that the offset takes into account the scaling of the channel so

you must insert the offset in relation to your units used.

Colour

The colour box can be used to specify the channel colour that should be used to plot on the XY

Graph. Only the Y channels will have this box since all plots are X vs Y so only 3 colours can be

chosen at once. It is worth noting that the limits set in the Test Specification will be red so the

recommendation is to use a different colour for clarity.

Channel Selector

The channel selector is used for the Y channels in order to define different specifications per

channel. This will allow access to all the above settings for Y1, Y2 and Y3.

Limits

The limits tables are used to define the test limits which alow the software to report a pass or fail

when the plot exceeds the limits specified. In order to set up the limits you will need to understand

how to define them. This is done by providing the trend of the limit lines in the form of coordinates.

An example is shown below:

X Y

-9 -10

10 9

This set of limits will draw a line from the point (-9,-10) to (10,9). You can define further points along

the line if you wish to use a more complex set of limits which will not be linear.

It is important to note that you must specify 2 points that will be at the boundary of your test range.

So if your range is from -10 to positive 10 you must have starting and end points to the limit line that

hit the boundary of the XY Graph.

Limit Overlay On/Off

The limit overlay checkbox allows you to select whether the limits show by default on the graph.

With the checkbox set to On the limits will show when the test is selected.


Pass/Fail Indication On/Off The pass/fail indication check box defines whether there will be a visible Pass/Fail indication above

the XY Graph as shown.

Auto Save

The auto save check box can be checked which will enable you to browse for a folder in the field

next to it. Once selected with a folder, every time the XY Plotter software plots a line the trace is

saved to file in that location with a name in the format of

[testname-year-month-day-hour-minute-second.csv]

for example: demo limit test 2014-05-14-12-32-33.csv

This feature is very useful if you plan to perform many consecutive plots.

Manual Testing Mode If you prefer to manually set up a test instead of pre-defining the test using the Test Specification

Dialogue box you can do so by clicking the Manual Test button found next to the Test Selector box

on the Test Details Panel.

By turning on the manual test mode the Selected Test box will grey out to show that you are using

manual controls to define the test.

Once in manual mode you will need to set up the controls found in the Controls Panel as shown.

Similar to the Test Specification Dialogue box you have access to setting the plot scales, minimum

and maximum range, units, colours and offsets. By default the manual mode will have no channels

selected so you must define which Y channels are used during plotting by selecting them using the


provided checkboxes in the Y-Channel controls. If you want to return these controls to their defaults

you can press the “R” button which will return the values to the ones shown above.

Please note that every time you make a change to the manual controls the plot will reset to

represent these settings. Hence if you have the Pen Control button in Pen Down mode it will delete

the trace to provide a fresh trace. It is recommended to set up the manual controls before creating

the plot.

Controls Panel Explained Using the Controls Panel you can show/hide limits and cursors and use the manual test controls to

define a test for plotting. By default the manual controls for defining the test will be greyed out. In

order to use these manual controls you will need to activate manual control as described in the

Manual Control section of this documentation.

Test Details Panel Explained The Test Details Panel provides you with the ability to add

extra information to the plot which will be saved with the

trace when you decide to save it as a .csv file, panel image or

a PDF report. By default the Test Details Panel will only show 3

text boxes for Operator, Part Number and Serial Number. The

Panel is capable to show up to 6 fields but to enable this you

will need to change the options in the Software Options as

described in the relevant section of this documentation.

You can change the logo at the top of the Test Details Panel.

This logo will also be displayed on the generated PDF reports.

If you wish to change this logo you can do so by editing the

Software Settings as described in the relevant section.

Finally you are also given a comments box which you can fill in

to provide further comments to the outcome of your trace.

This can be of any length and will be included in the saved

trace and PDF report. The start and finish time of the trace are

displayed above the comments box and will be automatically

populated when you use the Pen Control button.


Saving the Trace You can save the currently plotted trace by clicking “File » Save Trace” which will save the trace as a

.csv (comma separated variable) text file. This type of text file is compatible with excel and a variety

of other programs which allows for further data analysis.

Test Name Demo Limits Pass Operator Larry

Part Number 134455-01 Serial Number 49879741

Model GlobaLar Operator

Status Administrator Batch Number 8

Comments: Actuator test passed limits specified in test

Start Time 11:46:48 Start Date 23/05/2014 Finish Time 11:47:31 Finish Date 23/05/2014

Lower Limits X1

Lower Limits Y1

Upper Limits X1

Upper Limits Y1

-8.3 -10 -10 -8.3

10 8.3 8.3 10

XYYY Data X-Channel Y-Channel 1

9.099168 8.835889 9.006638 8.509651 8.709239 8.181918 8.374426 7.950744 7.989593 7.450309 7.621302 7.053483

Loading the Trace You can load a previously saved trace by clicking “File » Load Trace” which will load a .csv file

containing the plot, user specified information on the Test Details Panel and all the limits. This will

allow you to then generate a report in PDF format or allow you to print the trace as described in the

relevant section of this documentation.


Exporting the Trace It is possible to export the trace shown in a variety of formats to suit your needs.

PDF Report To generate a PDF report of the trace you can click “File » Export As… » PDF Report” which will

generate a report as shown.

The report generated will provide information inserted in the Test Details Pane and the user

specified information that defaults on the report from the Software Options page.


Graph Image If you prefer to simply generate an image of the XY graph which you can print at a later date you can

simply click “File » Export As… » Graph Image” which will generate a simple image similar to the

page you would get from a traditional XY plotter.

Panel Image

The panel image will be similar to the Graph Image however includes the currently visible controls

and details. You can expand the relevant panes you wish to include in the Panel Image before

clicking “File » Export As… » Panel Image”. An example is shown below.

Clearing the Trace If you wish to clear the XY Graph and start a new trace using the same test specification selected you

can click “Edit » Clear Trace” which will clear the current plot but not the inserted details on the Test

Details Panel.


Resetting the Axis If you have been zooming in on the trace or moving the trace using the navigation tools described in

this documentation but wish to reset the XY graph scales back to the test defaults you can click “Edit

» Reset Axis”. The displayed range will be the original axis that are set up when you select the

desired test.

Clearing the Test Details If you wish to clear the test details inserted into the Test Details Panel you can click “Edit » Clear

Test Details” which will clear all details including the default operator. Alternatively you can

manually delete the information from the desired boxes.

Printing The XY Plotter software allows you to print a panel image or report similar to the generated PDF

report. When you select “File » Print” you will be prompted to choose Panel Image or Report.

Selecting the desired printout will contact the selected printer and produce a print of the data.

Selecting Printer

You can select the desired printer which you wish to use by clicking “File » Select Printer” which will

provide you with the following prompt.

By selecting your desired printer and hitting the Select button, the next time you print the panel

image or report the chosen printer will be used.


Graph Zoom Functions You can access the cursor zoom functions by using the control below the XY graph on the right. Note

that you can reset the axis as per the description in this documentation to reset the zoom on the

plot.

Move cursor Zoom Functions Move Plot

Editing the Sampling Rate You can edit the sampling rate of the XY Plotter which changes the underlying frequency of data

points acquired. The range for the sampling rate can be between 0 and 100,000. It is important to

note that the higher the sampling rate the quicker the computer memory will be filled. Also when

saving the trace with a high sampling rate the file size will be much larger. If you desire to use the XY

Plotter for an extended period of time plotting a single trace you should select a low sampling rate.

It is also important to note that the sampling rate is not the only variable that defines the speed of

plotting. In the Software Options page you can select a smoothing factor that will directly divide the

sampling rate by 0-10 providing an average of the data acquired. The overall plotting rate will be

sampling rate divided by smoothing factor.

The chosen sampling rate and equated plotting rate will be shown above the XY graph as shown in

the image below.

Instant Nulling It is possible to perform instant mechanical nulling upon your device which will allow you to

automatically calibrate your system. In order to use this you will need to move the physically

measured device to a position that results in the plot being at the most bottom left of the XY graph.

Once you have the physical equipment in this position you can click instant nulling to set the off-sets

and range automatically.


Cursor Calculations It is possible to perform some simple cursor calculations using the XY plotter and the cursor functions. In order to use them you must first show the cursors by clicking the Show Cursors button found on the Controls Panel. When the cursors are visible you can move them to the desired position and select the calculation you wish to perform. The available calculations are detailed below.

Mean

The mean calculation will calculate the mean X and Y value between the cursors to allow for pin

pointing an average location of a plot. You can select this by clicking “Tools » Cursor Calculate

Mean”.

Peak to Peak

The peak to peak calculation can provide both the X and Y range between the 2 cursors to provide

you with an understanding of the range of the plot. You can select this by clicking “Tools » Cursor

Calculate PK/PK”


Slew Rate You can calculate the slew rate between the 2 cursors (rise/run) by selecting “Tools Cursor Calculate

Slew Rate”.


Changing the Software Options There are a number ofenvironment options which allow you to set defaults and main program

variables for your tests. These settings will persist between use of the program. In order to access

these settings you will need to click “Tools » Options” at which point you will be prompted for the

software password (default = calbay). Once the options page loads you will see a screen as follows:

By selecting the relevant category on the left you can change the various options detailed in the

following section of this documentation.


User Information Defaults The user information defaults category provides you with options to change the details that are

displayed on the Test Details Panel. The following describes each option.

Operator

The operator box allows you to select the default operator which will be displayed in the Test Details

Panel. If left blank you will need to insert this manually for each time the program is loaded or when

the test details are cleared.

Default Test

The default test inserted here will automatically load every time the program starts. If a test is

selected that does not exist the XY Plotter software will default to the first test in the list.

Import Logo

In order to provide you own company logo in the Test Details Panel you can click the Import Logo

button. This will prompt you for a .jpg or .png file which it will import into the application. The

picture will be scaled accordingly to fit both the Logo box in the Test Details Panel and for the report.


Test Detail Defaults

The test detail boxes allow you to provide the names for the Test Details which the user can

populate during plotting. By default this will show the Serial Number Part Number, however these

can be anything you desire. By populating the blank boxes next to the name you can have the

program insert this information by default. This can be useful if the information is the same for each

plot. Finally the Visible checkbox can switch these test detail controls on/off to limit the number of

boxes shown in the Test Details Panel.

Data Acquisition Settings

The data acquisition settings are available for you to modify the underlying information that controls

the data acquisition hardware. It is not recommended to change any of these settings unless you are

familiar with the control of National Instruments hardware. If you desire to change any of these

settings and are unsure of how to do so please contact Cal-Bay.


Report Options The report options allow the user to define the PDF and printed report title and user specified

information shown at the top of every report.

Report Title

The report title field will populate the report title as shown below.


User Specified Information

The user specified information fields are used to provide static information that is used for all

reports and is shown below.

Chart Setup The chart setup options allow you to change the scale overlay of the XY graph. If you desire to have a

more “graph paper” style plot with further lines on the graph you can make the minor grid lines

visible. You can also select the desired grid line colours here for each axis.


Filter Settings The filter settings page provides access to the smoothing variable which directly affects the plotting

rate of the XY graph. The higher the smoothing factor the more stable the plot will become. It is

recommended to have a high smoothing factor and to use the sampling rate to compensate for the

lowered plotting rate.


About Window The software about window can be accessed by clicking “Help » About”. This screen will provide

information on the version of the software you are running which is useful if you need to contact

Cal-Bay for support purposes.

Documents

Cal-Bay Systems PC-Based XY Plotter