In recent years there has been an increased demand for remote monitoring of various geological and environmental measurements, particularly in the mining and engineering fields. These measurements are often collected at remote, sometimes inaccessible, locations and need to be transferred to a computer where the data can be analysed. Clever Devices and Designs (CDD), a Pretoria-based company, has developed the RS232-link-over-GPRS (RLOG) virtual RS232 cable based on GSM/GPRS communications.
Using RLOG, any remote device can now download data realtime to the office PC
“By attaching one RLOG unit to the RS232 port on the monitoring device and another to the RS232 port on the data gathering computer, you set up a virtual RS232 connection that can transfer data via the GSM/GPRS network over thousands of kilometres,” says Cilliers Du Preez, applications engineer at CDD.
“The simple plug-and-play operation enables two-way communication between the devices as if there was a permanent cable linked between them. A physical RS232 cable has a maximum specified length of 30 m, but with RLOG, you can literally run a ‘virtual cable’ around the world.”
RLOG is based on Wavecom GSM/GPRS wireless modem technology. It works for any device with an RS232 port in an area where there is GSM/GPRS coverage, and forms a permanent link that is connected 24 hours per day. There are no modem initialisation strings – you simply plug it in and the connection is established automatically by the RLOG unit. Baud rates from 300 to 115 k are supported.
The SIM card can be provided by any of the cellular service providers in South Africa, so that the customer can select the service provider with the best coverage in the particular area that the monitoring device will be deployed in.
“One of our clients, Cambrian, is a company that performs seismic monitoring during blasting at various mines around the country. Our customer had to travel to each mine to set up the seismic monitoring devices, and then re-visit each site periodically to download the readings,” says Cilliers.
“With RLOG, there is now no need to travel to each of the sites after the initial installation, as data can be downloaded, in realtime, from each of the sites. This enables the analysis of the information to be done far more frequently and report generation is faster.”
The uses of RLOG are widespread. Devices such as weather stations, temperature loggers and condition monitoring equipment, personal computers, alarm systems, telephone exchanges and vending machines are all examples of devices with RS232 ports that could communicate via the RLOG virtual cable.
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