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Main Screen

The main screen provides a realtime display of forces and torques, and a menu for accessing the other features of the ATI DAQ F/T .NET Demo.

Log Data Point button

This button stores an instaneous measurement by appending a line to a text file whic you select the first time you press the Log Data button. Each line is comma-delimited and contains 7 or 8 columns: time stamp, followed by either 6 axes of force/torque or 6 voltages, followed by the thermistor voltage (the thermistor voltage is only included if the display type is gauge voltage and software temperature compensation is enabled). The checkbox labeled "Log units with data" controls whether the F/T and voltage columns have their units of measure included in the readings. Force and torque units are configurable on the F/T Sensor Options window, but gauges, including the thermistor, are always measured in volts. If you elect to record the units with the measurements, you may have trouble performing calculations in spreadhseet programs such as Excel unless you first remove the unit indications.

Choose Output File button

Use this button to choose or change the file that data is recorded to when you hit the Log Data Point button.

Bias button

Use this button to zero out the force/torque readings, establishing a baseline measurement.

Data Type

This option block allows you to select between displaying raw gauge voltages or forces and torques. Gauge voltages are often useful for troubleshooting your system.

3D Cube

This area of the screen displays a 3D visualization of forces (red) and torques (blue) in real-time.

Last Error Message

When the demo is in an error state, a red error message will appear in this area. Right-clicking this area will allow you to copy the entire error message to the clipboard, which is useful if you need to send the error message to ATI Industrial Automation for assistance in troubleshooting.

History Duration

When the history view is present, the History Duration text field allows user customization of the duration of sensor data values to display on the history graph. The duration is entered in seconds and valid numbers range from 2 to 120.

Reset Graph

Use this button to reset all data on the history graph.

Menu Items

File > Load Calibration...	Loads a calibration file.
Options > F/T Sensor Options...	Opens the F/T sensor options screen to configure output units, tool transforms, and other settings of the F/T system.
Options > DAQ Device Options...	Opens the DAQ Device Options screen to configure the hardware options for your F/T system, including NI-DAQmx device name and channel settings, the scan rate, and the averaging filter level.
Options > Presentation Options...	Opens the Presentation Options screen to configure optional text and images on the Presentation Screen.
Tools > Data Collection...	Opens the Data Collection screen, where you can collect data to a file continously at high speed.
Tools > Calibration Info...	Shows the Calibration Info screen where you can find information about your sensor, including the working calibration matrix, which is necessary if you wish to write custom software using your F/T system.
Tools > Diagnostics...	This screen is intended for troubleshooting purposes. If you need to call ATI for technical support, they may direct you on using this screen. This screen is not documented in this help file.
View > General	This check-box item enables real-time display of live sensor data using a bar graph. The bar graph displays the current sensor data.
View > History	This check-box item enables real-time display of live sensor data using a line chart. The line chart displays the history of recent sensor data
View > Presentation...	Checking this box will pop up a new window with a simplified display of sensor data, suitable for projection or presentations.
View > Auto Scale History	Checking this box will cause the history chart to automatically scale its y-axis to the magnitude of sensor data. When unchecked, the chart will default to using the maximum calibrated values to scale the y-axis.
Help > Show Help...	Shows this help file.
Help > About ATIDAQFT .NET Demo...	Displays the installed versions of the demo program and the ATICombinedDAQFT .NET Class Library.