X-Y Plot Interface
Instead of plotting data against time, the XY Plot
Interface plots three sets of analog channel pairs
(Figure 17). You can view interesting displays of data
in this plotting scenario. For example, the signals that
created the image shown here are all sine waves; yet,
two pairs produce circles and one pair produces a
line. There are lots of other interesting combinations
you can generate with your data.
Dual Plot Interface
The Dual Plot Interface (Figure 18) uses two
separate plot areas for plotting analog and digital
data, and each plot area is independently
controlled. The Dual Plot Interface is an example of
how you can modify MakerPlot for your particular
application. You don’t have to stick with just one
plot or set of menu buttons — you can have a
separate plot area for each data point.
Interactive Interface
Finally, the Interactive Interface (Figure 19) is
dedicated exclusively for customized, bi-directional
applications that you develop for your micro. You
can think of this interface as a “front panel” for
your micro with switches and LEDs, along with a
slider and dual joystick control. We’ll get more
into bi-directional control later.
Conclusion
This has been mainly a review of the off-the-shelf MakerPlot Interfaces, and it’s meant
to give you a brief insight into what’s available
to you for your plotting activity. To get a more
complete look at how all the Interfaces
perform, be sure to visit the Interfaces Videos
menu link on the MakerPlot website as
mentioned earlier.
In the next article, we’ll get into how to
connect your PC to MakerPlot, and then go on to
show how to plot analog and digital data using the
Interfaces you just read about. You’ll also learn how
MakerPlot can automatically scale raw A2D values
to appropriate voltage levels without any coding on
the micro side. This is a great feature since scaling
raw A2D values does involve some degree of
firmware math processing to convert from pure
binary values to voltage levels.
We’ll show you how your micro can output
messages to MakerPlot so that you can detect
when internal events happen. That’s all for now so
just remember: Got data? MakerPlot it! NV
Figure 16. Digital Monitoring Interface.
Figure 17. X-Y Plot Interface.
Figure 18. Dual Plot Interface.
Figure 19. Interactive Interface.
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