Sensor/Control Data Acquisition

Note: This is the same msg I posted in comp.sys.mac.apps as
- Sorry to anyone who sees
it twice...

I'm looking for hardware and software to connect to sensors and control
real world devices in the home.

The application is home control. I would like:
- Temperature sensors... Measure temperature of air in room, radiant
heat floor, surface of a water pipe, etc.
- other sensors... Switches/contacts like a home security system
- I'm measuring things that change over seconds or minutes (door
opening, light on, temperature of floor), not micro-seconds.
- data capture
- graphic presentation of data in time-series
- logic rules, events, data transformation (e.g. to calibrate a
temperature sensor), math functions, rules, logging
- control real world devices from the logic rules (e.g., simulate a
thermostat control input to the heating system, control normal 110v AC
household devices; perhaps send IR signals to HiFi??)
- send email notifications, run scripts, maybe a web interface
- a dedicated Mac for this application (I have old ADB, old ethernet,
and modern airport/USB macs that I could use; could be OS 9 but prefer
OS X)
- I can connect the sensors with wiring, ethernet, or could use the
household AC wiring (temperature sensors report by X10??). How about
802.11 Airport to connect things?

So... Is anyone connecting a Mac to sensors and controling things? I
would hate to have to use a Windoz box to do this!

-- Sally

P.S. Here's a brief summary of what I've found so far:
- http://www.smarthome.com -- Indigo Mac OS X application for X10
control. PowerLinc USB connects the Mac to the X10 signaling. Can
Indigo/PowerLinc read temperature sensors? There is mention of TempLinc
which seems to jury-rig temperature sensor into an X10 system by taking
over an entire "house" of X10 codes. Can I run six of these in a home?
- http://www.pasco.com -- All the sensors you can imagine, USB
interfaces, for teaching science. Data capture and graphics software.
Could the Pasco devices be used for my sensors, and Indigo for control?
- http://www.resconsys.com/products/stats/x10.htm -- an X10
thermostat... Works as a conventional thermostat, but can be directed
by X10 commands. Can my mac learn the temperature from this device?
- http://www.measure.com/products-compsys.html -- the ADC-1 is a $900
serial hardware device which has analog inputs and relay outputs;
EnviroMac software for data capture, logic, and control of the relay
outputs. The last update seems to have been 1999; this is OS 9
software. Looks expensive.
- http://www.appdig.com -- Oscelot X10 controller, serial interface,
add SECU16/SECU16I for analog inputs. No mention of Mac software... or
are the interfaces to X10 controllers standard?

--
Sally Shears (a.k.a. "Molly")
sshears DeleteThis @theWorld.com -or- Sally DeleteThis @Shears.org
http://theWorld.com/~sshears

Here is one hardware supplier that I haven't tried but looked good and
it is in Canada. <http://www.ontrak.net/>.

As for software, I use LabView which could do all you ask but might be
overkill. The Student Edition is a book/CD combo and comes with a Mac
version.
<http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130325503/701-4580734-9265905>

My stuff is all via a Mac in a lab and uses GPIB and serial interfaces
mostly.

Erik.


In article ,
Sally Shears <sshears.RemoveThis@theWorld.com> wrote:

 > Note: This is the same msg I posted in comp.sys.mac.apps as

 > it twice...
 >
 > I'm looking for hardware and software to connect to sensors and control
 > real world devices in the home.
 >
 > The application is home control. I would like:
 > - Temperature sensors... Measure temperature of air in room, radiant
 > heat floor, surface of a water pipe, etc.
 > - other sensors... Switches/contacts like a home security system
 > - I'm measuring things that change over seconds or minutes (door
 > opening, light on, temperature of floor), not micro-seconds.
 > - data capture
 > - graphic presentation of data in time-series
 > - logic rules, events, data transformation (e.g. to calibrate a
 > temperature sensor), math functions, rules, logging
 > - control real world devices from the logic rules (e.g., simulate a
 > thermostat control input to the heating system, control normal 110v AC
 > household devices; perhaps send IR signals to HiFi??)
 > - send email notifications, run scripts, maybe a web interface
 > - a dedicated Mac for this application (I have old ADB, old ethernet,
 > and modern airport/USB macs that I could use; could be OS 9 but prefer
 > OS X)
 > - I can connect the sensors with wiring, ethernet, or could use the
 > household AC wiring (temperature sensors report by X10??). How about
 > 802.11 Airport to connect things?
 >
 > So... Is anyone connecting a Mac to sensors and controling things? I
 > would hate to have to use a Windoz box to do this!
 >
 > -- Sally