PRODUCTS EDITOR'S CHOICE HIGH-PERFORMANCE OTDR FOR USE ON RFTS
Yokogawa’s new AQ7277B is a high-performance optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) module for use with remote fibre-test systems (RFTS). An RFTS is a test system designed to improve
the efficiency of operation and maintenance management of optical fibre lines installed at a fibre-optic cable termination station by constantly monitoring individual fibres in the cable using the OTDR technology for continuous measurements. The system indicates the failure location on an electronic map and notifies the maintenance staff by means of e-mail or telephone. The ability to perform automatic testing of multiple fibres at once saves installation labour time and costs, and reduces the overall work period required. The hardware of the AQ7277B OTDR module is based on the AQ7280 OTDR and has a short dead zone
(0.6m typical) and high dynamic range (up to 50dB). Its size is reduced by 60% compared to its predecessor, which improves its integration into the RFTS. There are two models in the AQ7277B family, both equipped with an Ethernet (10BASE-T/100BASE-TX)
interface as standard. The AQ7277B-B01 takes measurements at 1650nm - a wavelength which does not affect the communication wavelengths of 1310/1490/1550nm. It is equipped with a built-in cutoff filter to isolate it from wavelengths lower than 1650nm so it can perform accurate measurements on ‘live’ lines. This model is also optimised for testing passive optical networks (PON), and can measure through the high-port-count splitters used in modern PON systems. With its 50dB dynamic range, the AQ7277B-B02 is designed for monitoring long-distance optical fibres
greater than 200km in real-life environmental conditions. It operates at a wavelength of 1550nm. Yokogawa
www.yokogawa.com TESTING TO KEEP VESSELS SHIPSHAPE
Parker Kittiwake’s new HPC Water Test Kit can test the overall microbiological cleanliness of a vessel’s system, quickly alerting seafarers to potential safety risks and prompting action before further contamination occurs. With a single sample, mariners can detect the presence of harmful bacteria and confirm the efficiency of a vessel’s water disinfection system, without the need for specific training. The test kit enables Heterotrophic Plate Counts
(HPC) to be conducted easily and safely onboard, providing the crew with an indication of the overall microbiological cleanliness of a vessel’s system. The test reveals the number of bacterial colony forming units (CFU) present in the volume of sample tested, which provide an overall indication of the microbiological cleanliness of water systems. With this simple, proactive and preventive measure, the good sanitary conditions that are crucial to
the health and welfare of passengers and crew can be safeguarded. Under the Maritime Labour Convention 2006,
every ship is required to have a Water Safety Plan (WSP) as well as onboard testing. Signatories must also facilitate inspections by Port Health Authorities (PHA) of any visiting commercial ship over 500 g.t., and PHAs may detain vessels if testing finds that water is not of an acceptable quality. Commenting on the new test kit, Larry Rumbol,
condition monitoring market development manager (Marine) at Parker Kittiwake, said: “The Parker Kittiwake HPC Water Test Kit provides an easy-to- use and effective tool for the routine monitoring of potable and recreational water quality, as well as delivering an operational indicator of the effectiveness of water disinfection, and its trends.”
Parker Kittiwake
www.kittiwake.com
WIRELESS NODE KITS FOR THE IOT
Tapping into the growing market for wireless sensor nodes for the Internet of Things (IoT), Silicon Labs has introduced a complete sensor-to-cloud development kit that provides all the hardware and software developers need to create battery-powered sensor nodes. Silicon Labs’ kit includes six onboard sensors, a Wireless Gecko SoC for multiprotocol cloud connectivity, 8MB of external flash for over-the-air updates and a built in SEGGER J-Link to simplify programming and debugging. The Thunderboard Sense ships
with ready-to-use cloud-connected IoT mobile apps, making it easy to collect and view real-time sensor data for cloud-based analytics and business intelligence. The company says developers do not need RF design expertise to develop sensor node applications with the kit. The Thunderboard Sense
simplifies IoT design by providing the sensing, processing and a choice of connectivity technologies needed to connect battery-powered sensor nodes to the cloud. Onboard sensors measure data, such as motion, light and environmental conditions, and then transmit this data wirelessly to the cloud. An intuitive Android or iOS mobile app displays the data on the developer’s mobile device for data aggregation and cloud analytics.
Silicon Labs
www.silabs.com
THERMAL IMAGING HELPS HORSES GET RACE READY
Micro-Epsilon’s thermal imaging cameras have been incorporated into a system that can detect damage to muscles and ligaments in a horse’s leg. The system, known as Tendon Manager and developed by Byerley Technologies, measures the cool-down rate of the horse’s muscles. If the legs take a long time to cool down after a training session, this may indicate strain or damage to muscles and ligaments. The machine acts as an early warning system for trainers. If a potential problem with a horse arises, the training regime for that horse can be modified accordingly. Steve Hudd, managing director of Byerley
Technologies, explains more: “The very best horse trainers can normally detect a minor difference in leg temperatures of around 3°C to
6 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2017 | INSTRUMENTATION
5°C. Tendon Manager is much more precise than this. The thermoIMAGER TIM160 infrared camera, which is integrated into our Tendon
Manager system, has a high sensitivity and is able to detect temperature differences of 0.2°C. The TIM160 also provides us with the high resolution we require – 19,000 pixels at 100 frames per second.” Powered and operated via a USB 2.0
interface, the thermoIMAGER TIM160 is an inline radiometric thermal imaging camera that provides temperature images and profiles of a target area. This plug-and-play unit is supplied with a full software package, called TIM Connect, that enables the user to configure all device parameters, as well as enabling the real time capture and storage of images or video of an event for slow motion play back or snapshots at a later date.
Micro-Epsilon
www.micro-epsilon.co.uk
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