People often come across the concept of telemetry. What it is? The meaning of the term, the role in human life and methods of exploitation, existing classifications, historical facts and much more, we will consider in this article.
Familiarization with the concept
The word "telemetry" came to us from the Greek language and consists of two parts, where one half of the word is translated as "far", and the second - as "measure". The term most often refers to devices and mechanisms that transmit information wirelessly, among which can be used: infrared or radio system, mass media, optical fiber, etc. So what is telemetry? In fact, this is a way of obtaining information about the value of the measured parameter, for example, an indicator of temperature, pressure, voltage, etc.
Information collection, as a rule, is used by telemetric sensors capable of working with specialized communication modules built into the system. In addition to sensors, communication devices with an observable object to which a standard sensor is connected can be used. Television and video surveillance industries can use the term “telemetry” to mean remote control.
Data transmission can be done using wireless and wired networks, from radio or Wi-Fi to phones, xDSL, etc.
Telemetry - what is it and what is its essence? First of all, its essence lies in the measurement of a quantity previously transformed, for example, into voltage, while additional conversion to a signal occurs, then transmitted via a connected channel. As a result of this, the transmission of not the measured value itself, but the signal equivalent to it occurs.
Historical facts
The first data transmission using wires occurred in the nineteenth century. One of the first lines for sending data was a network created in 1845 linking the Winter Palace of the Russian emperor and army headquarters. In 1874, engineers from France installed a system that determined the weather and depth of snow on Mont Blanc, which, using measurement sensors and a cable system, transmitted all recorded information to Paris. Edison in 1912 created a telemetry system designed to monitor the load connected to the mains. The Panama Canal was built using telemetry systems that were operated to monitor the lock system and water level.
The wireless form of telemetry began to be used in radiosondes, which were developed independently and simultaneously by R. Bureau and P. Molchanov. Molchanov’s device measured temperature and pressure, turned it into a result decrypted using the Morse code.
During the Second World War, the German Fau-2 rocket used a primitive information transmission system based on multiple radio signals called the Messina. This device helped to receive and transmit information about missile parameters, but it was very unreliable. A little later, pulse-position modulation replaced the Messina system in the USA and the USSR.
After 1940, telemetry transmission was uniformly used in Soviet systems using both pulse-position modulation and band-pulse modulation. American developers used the same methods of transmitting information, but later they were replaced by pulse-code modulation. Later Soviet interplanetary spacecraft were equipped with a redundant radio system that sent data using pulse-positional and pulse-code modulations.
Current classification
Telemetry is distinguished by choice and call, the value of the current or integral nature:
- On call - measurement with the help of commands sent from the control point to a point that can be controlled and causes a connection at the controlled point of the transmitting device. In the control room, in turn, the corresponding receiving devices are connected. This form of telemetry allows a person to observe, using one communication channel, alternately for different measured objects. Also, a similar method of measuring and transmitting data is characterized by an automatic ability to perform a cyclic survey of the object under study.
- By choice - it assumes the presence of a telemetry path connected to the device at the control point, where the corresponding data reception with the help of special devices.
- Measurement by current parameters - a form of obtaining information, which contains the value of the measured parameters at a specific point in time. The data is captured using a survey conducted by a telemechanical device.
- Measurement by integral value - involves the adoption of information indicating the integral value of the investigated value, integrated over a specific parameter.
Household operation
Telemetry modules have found their application in a wide variety of spheres of human activity, ranging from domestic exploitation to rocket science and military craft.
The nodes of the main communication line and agriculture can not do without telemetry devices. Obtaining and collecting a quality crop depends on a clear tracking of data indicating the state of the soil and weather. Weather stations, thanks to such devices, play an important role in preventive measures in relation to diseases and proportional irrigation.
Telemetry devices are also used in water supply, sanitation and vending. The first two applications can measure water quality and measure flow rate. It is also possible to record water that lies underground, detect leaks in the pipeline, etc. Telemetry systems, which are built into vending machines, have spread in the vending. For example, the M2M modem is installed in almost every such machine. Based on the data received from such modular systems, the company is able to reduce machine downtime, optimize visit schedules, engage in control of vendors, create purchase and sales plans.
Gas industry
Telemetry of gas is a rather important area of operation of these mechanisms. This is due to the fact that the programs used on computers are very different from those that are used in the daily course of time. The process of receiving data, in the case of gas measurement, is repeated many times or continuously, which creates the need for the availability of hardware capable of performing the primary analysis of information to display it on the screen, and such mechanisms should be clearly coordinated with each other.
Gas metering using a telemetry system is intended for commercial metering for the collection and processing of information from devices located at the lower level, and their transfer to levels higher.
Medicine and telemetry
Telemetry blocks are widely used in medical practice, for example, when monitoring patients who have a risk of pathology in the activity of the heart muscle. Another example is the use of special devices that allow you to monitor the body's response to the effects of certain drugs.
Intelligence and medicine were closely connected thanks to telemetry. Radiometric devices having small dimensions were created, which allowed them to be introduced into the body of an intelligence officer. This allows you to monitor the state of the body of the subject.
Military industry
Telemetry has found widespread use in the defense and space industries. Agencies such as Roscosmos, NASA and ESA are heavily dependent on telemetry systems, which is necessary for the development of rockets. During the tests, the satellite or aircraft unit may be destroyed due to the presence of certain errors in the device, data about which should be obtained by engineers to analyze and improve the parameters of the object.
Monitoring the rocket launch process allows you to obtain information about external conditions, energy supply, antenna alignment rate and signal propagation intervals.
Other areas of activity
Telemetry is highly sought after in retail. Data obtained with the help of such equipment from vending machines can be exploited in order to form a complex system that facilitates the process. For example, a driver, aware of the message about the fullness of the machine, will know where and at what points he needs to get, and which to pass.
Sales representatives use RFID and use them to record and prevent theft of goods. The predominant number of RFID tags are read passively thanks to a reader, but there are active forms that transmit information periodically to the station.
Complex automation
In the considered devices, there is a concept of a telemetry controller, which is a variety of automated modules containing the structure of analog and digital inputs and outputs of data necessary for building an information-controlled system. Such controllers are able to perform work, being in the composition of industrial control systems and in combination with computers. This allows you to create a universal technical tool designed to collect and transmit information in a short time with a view to its use.
Among the main tasks of the controllers are the following:
- measurement and regulation of the entire spectrum of signals connected to the network;
- definition of failure and accident;
- creating a controlled impact;
- maintaining archive parameters;
- interchange of information with servers located at the upper levels;
- data interchange with an external type interface device;
- providing automation.
Information transfer methods and their processing
Telemetry - what is it? We figured out this issue, and now we will consider the main methods of data transfer and their processing.
The collection and transmission of information in telemetry systems can be carried out using serial and network protocols. Facilitation of installation, providing a large number of functions and integration with other systems are provided thanks to the activities of computers. This leads to the ability to scatter servers, microprocessor-type systems, which are based on the interweaving of various protocols, outside the physical limit of the system itself. Disabling telemetry in modern society will cause irreparable damage to the whole world, because its value can hardly be overestimated today.