Datastick Systems, Inc. has announced the first customer shipment of its VSA-1225 Vibration Spectrum Analyzer for the Windows Mobile / Pocket PC platform.

The VSA-1225 joins Datastick's line of PDA-based VSAs in enabling companies to use vibration analysis in machine condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, and routine troubleshooting. The VSA-1225 consists of Datastick hardware and software, plus a Hewlett-Packard iPAQ hx2400 Series handheld computer. Datastick leverages PDA technology to reduce development costs and passes the savings on to its customers, many of whom are getting into predictive maintenance for the first time.

"Datastick smashes the two big barriers that, in the past, have prevented many companies from enjoying the proven benefits of vibration analysis to reduce unscheduled downtime," says Michael Scandling, Datastick's vice president of marketing. "One barrier is initial purchase price and cost of ownership. Our equipment costs one-half to one-fifth as much as competing equipment and we don't burden our customers with mandatory annual fees. The other big barrier with older equipment is training time and lack of in-house vibration expertise. You can learn to operate our equipment in an hour or two, and, unlike others, we encourage our customers to use outside consultants when they don't have in-house vibration experts. One last barrier came from the IT departments of some companies, who have insisted on a Windows Mobile platform. The VSA-1225 tears down that barrier too."

The VSA-1225 hardware module attaches to an HP iPAQ hx2400-series Pocket PC. (It will also work with an hx2700-series Pocket PC.) The iPAQ supplies the computing power, while SD (Secure Digital) memory cards -- up to 2 GB each -- provide virtually unlimited storage.

The Datastick VSA hardware module supplies the sensor power, Datastick electronics, and interface. A standard BNC connector and a low-noise input accommodates almost any ICP-type piezoelectric accelerometer or ICP-type velocity sensor. A built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery with optimized power management allows the VSA-1225 to operate and power ICP sensors for an eight-hour shift.

For the Pocket PC, the Datastick Spectrum software suite includes Datastick Spectrum and Datastick Review software. Datastick Spectrum software shows and records vibration FFT spectra in acceleration, velocity, and displacement displays, and a vibration decibel display. In addition, Datastick Spectrum provides time-domain acceleration waveforms, and records and displays overall vibration with color-coded ISO (or custom) alert levels. Using Datastick Review, the customer can compare previous reads with the current read in Datastick Spectrum.

Vibration data are transferred to the PC by taking the data directly from the SD card. The system includes the new version 1.85 of Datastick Reporting System (DRS)software for the PC, a special Microsoft Excel-based application on the PC. Reports are created with just a mouse click, and since DRS is based on Excel, users can share data freely across a network or by email, or publish reports to the web.