Additional Applications for RS-232 Serial PCMCIA Cards

Application: AgInfoLink Animal Management Systems
Quatech Products Used: DSP-100 and QSP-100 RS-232 PCMCIA Cards

AgInfoLink, a leader in animal management systems, enables ranchers and feedlotters to better manage their operations by providing an electronic system to track beef from ranch to refrigerator case. Using technologies such as computerized ear tags, DNA tracking, bar codes, and computer networks, data is collected and stored into an animal data and tracking information system. This information is shared by everyone along the supply chain--ranchers, feedlot operators, packing plants, processors, distributors, supermarkets, and restaurants--to better manager product quality, profitability and especially food safety.

With so many different inputs, a standard laptop has insufficient ports to handle the job. So, AgInfoLink uses Quatech DSP-100 and QSP-100 (two and four port RS232 serial PCMCIA cards) to increase serial capability to laptops that are used for data collection. For instance, as a head of cattle is weighed, the DSP-100 collects the serial string output from the RS232 weigh scale. Once the initial weight is stored, it can be used to calculate parameters such as Average Daily Gain, which in turn is used to forecast weeks to slaughter.

Quatech multi-port RS232 PCMCIA devices are also used to collect data from other serial devices such as thermometers, ultrasound scanners, and bar code scanners. For example, an electronic bar code identification tag is attached to a calf's ear before it comes to the sale barn. Each tag has the calf's identity bar coded on it, that code is scanned by a bar-code reader attached to a laptop with a DSP-100, and the tracking software then creates a database entry for that calf. Whatever is done to the calf over its life is recorded in the database along with the pasture and feedlot performance records. When the animal is slaughtered, carcass data can also be entered. This streamlined system of data recording, analysis, transfer and reporting on individual calves, provides performance information from conception to consumption to assist in reaching food quality targets, and also provides complete traceback capabilities for food safety guarantees.

Application: Real-Time Court Reporting Systems
Quatech Product Used: DSP-100 RS232 PCMCIA Card

The diagram (left) depicts a typical court reporting system which will permit real-time display of testimony on multiple remote monitors located throughout a courtroom. The system depends on a dual RS232 serial con-connection, one port for the shorthand machine and the other to connect to the monitoring network. As most laptops have only one serial port, (which may be occupied by a mouse), Quatech's DSP-100 two port RS232 serial card is an ideal choice for implementing this system.

Application: Serial Port Expansion for OS/2-based laptops
Quatech Product Used: RS-232 serial PCMCIA cards.

Quatech's DSP-100 was purchased for use in a new IBM ThinkPad A-30P laptop. This model is one of the first to come with no serial port installed. Our customer requires serial ports for data download from a serial port on a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, and for a serial port on a Digital Camera. The key factor of the selection of Quatech's DSP-100 for this system was its OS/2 driver support because most of this customer's applications run under OS/2 or it's successor, eComStation (eCS) now marketed by Serenity Systems.

Application: The Pittsburgh Pebbles PDA Project
Quatech Product Used: QSP-100 RS232 serial PCMCIA card

Pebbles software is currently investigating new uses for one or more PDAs when connected to a PC. They have developed a number of applications including interactive slide show presentation, a remote scribble and command applications that allow multiple PDAs to function as cursor and keyboards on a single PC (each PDA gets their own cursor), a clipboard application that permits cut and past between PDAs, and a scroll application permitting the PDAs to scroll on the PC, a shortcut application that can use PDAs to speed up common PC tasks, among others. (All these programs are available for download from the company's website.)

Pebbles software tested several different system configurations, and chose Quatech's QSP-100 for use in their laptop-based serial configurations. They use two QSP-100 cards to create eight additional RS232 serial ports with which to connect eight PDAs to the laptop. As Quatech's QSP-100's serial ports are self-configured as standard COM ports, the PebblesPC program that manages the system can access by Port number them as they would a native serial port.

See the Pebbles Software website for a detailed description of their PebblesPC application and the many ingenious systems they are developing.

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~pebbles/overview/software.html

Application: Radiation Mapping
Quatech Product Used: DSP-100 two port RS232 serial PCMCIA card

Mapping radiation contamination after accidents or at waste disposal sites demands complete accuracy and the ability to pinpoint contaminated areas. There are commercially available systems with which to do this, however, they are typically large costly units. To solve the problems of both cost and portability, one Quatech customer has developed a radiation mapping system around a palmtop computer.

The system (shown left) is comprised of an HP200LX palmtop (PDA) equipped with both a built-in serial port and a PCMCIA slot. A Global Positioning System (GPs) receiver is connected to the built-in RS232 port. Quatech's DSP-100 dual serial port card provides two additional RS232 ports via the PCMCIA slot.

Each of those port is connected to a Geiger counter, which triggers and interrupt on the palmtop every time a radiation event is detected. Gamma radiation dose rate and location are collected for processing with a Geographical Information System (GIS).

The system is being used for mapping background terrestrial radiation. It is sufficiently sensitive to accurately measure the environmental levels of radiation. Because of the small size of the PDA itself, and the equipment connected to it, they system can be mounted on a backpack enabling walking surveys for detailed mapping of possibly contaminated areas. It can also be mounted on a jeep to survey larger areas.