Data station

Red Lion has released a tool for connectivity and data management. The Data Station Plus is a multiple protocol converter, a system data logger and a web interface for industrial applications.

With two RS232 and one RS422/485 communications ports, as well as a 10 Base-T/100 Base-Tx ethernet port, the data station can connect to various devices simultaneously. With downloadable communications drivers, the data station can communicate to virtually any serial or ethernet device and transfer that data to and from any other connected device. Integrating devices with mismatched protocols can be done with the click of a mouse.

The data logging facility allows variables to be collected and stored along with a time and date stamp for later review of the process. Files are stored on CompactFlash in a common CSV file format, allowing readily-available programs such as Microsoft Excel to access them.

The 'Virtual HMI' facility provides a means to view and control a process from any networked PC, using a standard web browser, while the port sharing facility allows serially connected devices to be reprogrammed remotely. Alarm notifications can be sent via email or SMS text messages.

The Data Station Plus is programmed using Crimson 2.0 software which is available from the website www.redlion.net