Demonstration of the Use of a LAN to Collect and Analyze Data from Continuous Air Monitors

Abstract

A scheme for the collection of data from widely spaced air monitors was developed. In this scheme, data from air monitors are collected locally by microcomputers and communicated to a central computer on a Local Area Network (LAN) for further display and processing. This article describes a demonstration utilizing this data collection scheme. In the demonstration, air monitors were attached to two remote microcomputers using data acquisition modules that were attached to RS-485 subnetworks. The remote microcomputers were attached to a central microcomputer by a simple computer network. In this way, the central computer was able to acquire and display data from the continuous air monitors. Reports using the data from the continuous air monitors were also developed on the central system. The hardware used, software developed, and the types of outputs available from the system are described. The three steps employed in the development of the software were: 1) development of functional specifications to describe what tasks the software will perform, 2) development of an external design to describe how the system will interact with the user, and 3) the internal design—the actual coding of the software. The use of plantwide computer networks to obtain and analyze data from continuous air monitors will allow databases to be developed on a plantwide basis so that the data can be utilized more completely by the industrial hygienist.