Usage¶
Mounting¶
Mount PicoQuake to the object you want to measure as rigidly as possible. You can use the included releasable zip tie and zip tie adapter.
For more demanding applications, it's recommended to design a custom 3D printed mount.
Using double sided tape is fine, but it might dampen higher frequency vibrations.
Axes orientation
Orientation of the axes is marked on the device. Make note of it so you can later interpret the data correctly.
Small objects
Measuring vibrations of small objects, that are not much larger than the PicoQuake itself, can be challenging. The vibrations of the object will be dampened by the device itself.
Connection¶
Connect PicoQuake to your computer's USB port. Multiple devices can be connected at the same time.
When connected and receiving power, the green LED will light up. The orange LED will light up when data is being acquired.
Short ID
Each PicoQuake has a 4 character ID that is used to identify it. It's printed on the label. All commands that require device identification use this ID.
Commands¶
PicoQuake is controlled using the command line interface (CLI).
For detailed information on all the available commands run picoquake --help or browse the CLI reference.
It's also possible to interface the device using the Python API. For more information, see the Python API reference.
List connected devices¶
List all connected PicoQuake devices with their Short ID and serial port.
picoquake list
Live display¶
Display live data from a PicoQuake device. Useful for quick checks and debugging.
picoquake display <short_id>
Data acquisition¶
Acquire data from a PicoQuake device. The data is saved to a CSV file.
picoquake acquire <short_id> <output_file> [options]
For the description of the CSV file, see Acquisition CSV File.
Examples¶
Acquire data for 10 seconds at 100 Hz sample rate. Filter set to 42 Hz. Save it to data.csv.
picoquake acquire c6e3 data.csv -s 10 -r 100 -f 42
Acquire data for 2 seconds at 4000 Hz sample rate. Filter set to 1000 Hz.
Accelerometer range set to +-16 g, gyro range set to +-2000 dps. Save it to data.csv.
picoquake acquire c6e3 data.csv -s 2 -r 4000 -f 1000 -ar 16 -gr 2000
Warning
Specified sampling rate, filter frequency, accelerometer range, and gyro range are not guaranteed. The actual values may differ due to hardware limitations and are rounded to the nearest supported value. The actual values are printed in the console output.
Start prompt
After pressing enter, you will be prompted to start the acquisition. This is done to be able to better control the start time. To skip the prompt, add the -a flag.
Overwrite prompt
If the CSV file already exists, you will be prompted to overwrite it. To skip the prompt, add the -y flag.
Trigger¶
Trigger data acquisition based on a threshold value.
picoquake trigger <short_id> <output_file> [options]
Examples¶
Trigger data acquisition when the RMS value of the acceleration in the X-axis exceeds 1 g. Save it to data.csv. Record for 1 second before and 5 seconds after the trigger.
picoquake trigger c6e3 data.csv -r 1000 -f 303 --rms_threshold 1.0 --axis x --pre_seconds 1 --post_seconds 5
Run¶
Run acquisition from a TOML configuration file. Supports advanced options like trigger and continuous acquisition.
picoquake run <config_file>
Example configuration file config.toml:
[device]
short_id = "C6E3" # short id of the device
[config]
sample_rate = 1000 # sample rate in Hz. Range 12.5 - 4000 Hz. Closest available selected.
filter = 100 # filter frequency in Hz. Range 42 - 3979 Hz. Closest available selected.
acc_range = 16 # acceleration range in g. Range 2 - 16 g. Closest available selected.
gyro_range = 1000 # gyro range in dps. Range 15.625 - 2000 dps. Closest available selected.
[acquire]
# define duration in seconds or number of samples
seconds = 3
# n_samples = 10000
[output]
path = "pq_acq.csv" # output file path or directory if use_timestamp is true
confirm_overwrite = true # require confirmation before overwriting
sequential = true # add sequence number to filename
use_timestamp = false # use timestamp as filename