Innovate Motorsports LogWorks 3 - Manual (Page 18)

LogWorks3_Manual_1.01.doc - 18 -
Commands for individual devices are sent ‘upstream’. A device (incl. a computer or an XD-1) can
send commands to the devices upstream of itself, but not downstream. Commands can include
start-stop recording, calibration/configuration commands and so on. Only the device directly
upstream of the command originator of course will receive the command. This device then
decides, depending on the command, whether to execute the command and whether to pass it
on. An example of a case where the command is executed but not passed on is the start-stop
record command. The first upstream device capable of logging internally will execute the
command, but not pass it on.
As said before, the first device is special because it is the synchronization source for the entire
chain. By plugging its IN-port with the supplied terminator connector, a device can detect that
requirement when it powers up. The terminator connector just connects the transmit and receive
line of the IN-port together. Each device sends a special command out on it’s IN port when it
powers up. This command is ignored and not passed on by any device if received on it’s OUT
port. If the sending device immediately receives that command on its IN-port again, because the
terminator is plugged in, it assumes it is the first and special device in the chain. The LM-1,
having only one serial port, is ALWAYS a special device and MUST be connected to the
beginning of the chain.
2.5 LogWorks Channels
A channel is the data from a single sensor, like AFR or RPM. Channels are the basic data items
that LogWorks processes. Therefore their understanding is crucial to the use of LogWorks.
LogWorks 3 uses two basic channel types.
1. Value channels
2. Bit channels
2.5.1 Value channels
Value channels have a range and a unit. For example RPM from 0 to 10230 RPM, Mixture data
from 7.35 to 22.4 AFR, Throttle position from 0 to 100 %.
In the first case the unit is RPM, range 0..10230.
In the second case the unit is AFR, range is 7.35 to 22.4
In the third case the unit is %, range is 0..100.
In either case a MTS device reads the measurement and translates the result into a raw data
number. In most cases the raw data measured is a Voltage in the range 0 Volt to 5 Volt that is
sent to LogWorks. The Channel Configuration database of LogWorks then tells LogWorks how to
translate the raw data into the appropriate units and range. For convenience, and because it is
the most common case, the raw data is always treated as if it were digitized from a sensor with a
0 to 5Volt output.
See chapter 4 for details about channel configuration.
Value channels can be created a few different ways:
a. Directly measured with an MTS device.
b. Created by a “virtual” device plug-in that connects to LogWorks.
c. Created mathematically from other channels either with the LogWorks math engine or by
a program plug-in.