Telemetry

Telemetry refers to the scientific process of automatically measuring and transmitting data from a remote location using radio waves, cellular devices, or other methods of transmission. Telemetric data is often transmitted using wireless methods such as radio or ultrasonic waves but also can be transmitted using telephone or computer networks or electrical currents. The data is then sent to other equipment to determine the results of whatever data has been measured. The word telemetry comes from the Greek words tele, which means "remote," and metron, which means "measure."

Telemetry is used in a variety of fields, including the military, agriculture, and weather forecasting or meteorology. Military branches such as the US Air Force use telemetry for assignments that utilize satellites to maintain homeland security through spying or surveying enemies or important strategic sites. Telemetry is also used by farmers to monitor their fields and determine when it is time to irrigate. Meteorologists use telemetry to transmit remote weather data by using weather balloons, ocean buoys, and other types of automatic weather stations to report meteorological conditions. Telemetry is most commonly known for its use in the health care industry to track heart, brain, and nervous system activity.

Background

The origins of telemetry can be followed back to the 1800s and the steam-operated mechanisms that were used during the Industrial Revolution. Gauges that monitored the amount of steam and air pressure within a particular piece of equipment, and hydraulic, or water-powered, equipment that helped control the pressure within steam engines are considered the earliest examples of telemetry. These mechanisms could only transmit data across a short distance, usually only on the outside of the equipment or a few feet away from the equipment, but they still were remote enough to be considered the earliest method of telemetry. Scientists and inventors continued to develop pressure gauges, hydraulic gauges and valves, and pneumatic valves throughout the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, thus making these types of equipment better able to measure data from farther and farther away. These types of gauges and valves were used on steam locomotives, on steam ships, and in factories.

Other methods, such as electrical and radio waves, would soon be used for telemetry. In 1912, a power company in Chicago used telephone wires to send data from one power plant to a main office. In the 1930s, sensors were developed that could use electrical impulses to measure data. Also around this time, the radiosonde was invented. The radiosonde and other types of radio monitoring allowed users to measure data such as weather patterns from much more remote locations. Radiosonde could reach altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). During World War II (1939–1945), radio monitoring and control advanced a great deal, as did electronic telemetry. At first, data about environmental factors such as temperature and pressure were sent using alternating current (AC) technology. As electronic telemetry continued to develop, however, direct current (DC) technology was used to transmit data.

When the computer was invented in the 1960s, computer and digital technology started being used for telemetry. As computers were made smaller in the 1970s and 1980s, their ability to digitally transmit data to more remote locations increased. The invention of memory chips and the speeding up of digital processes have allowed the telemetry field to develop and become more cost effective.

The basic process of telemetry involves a sensor or sensors, a transmission stream, and a method for displaying data. Sensors at the point of the data that is being measured—for example, in the case of meteorology, the temperature of a particular location—collect the data from that point, and then change that data into electrical or digital impulses. These impulses are then transmitted to a receiver at another location. The receiver then translates the impulses back into data, and this data is shown on a display for someone to read and interpret.

Overview

In the twenty-first century, the use of telemetric technology spans from the automobile industry to robotic technology. One recent example of relatively inexpensive telemetric technology that is used by the average person is the fitness tracker. Fitness trackers and similar devices use telemetric technology to turn signs of movement, which are detected when the wearer has the device attached to his or her body, into digital measurements. As a result, this type of device can count how many steps someone has taken for a certain period, how far he or she has traveled, how many calories he or she has burned, and how well he or she is sleeping. Radionavigation systems such as the US government-owned global positioning system (GPS) use transmissions from satellites to map out directions. Virtually any type of system generating data that must be measured remotely uses telemetric technology.

The presence of telemetric devices in commonly used objects is called the "Internet of Things." This term refers to the rapid invention of devices that can measure, analyze, and correct data. The Internet of Things includes devices such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines and automated robotic devices used in factories. These devices are able to connect through the Internet, therefore allowing the devices to send and transmit data. The data often is then stored for later use.

Telemetric devices can measure many megabytes of data on a daily basis. The increased volume of data generated by telemetric systems has created an issue when it comes time to manage that data. The process of measuring and using data is called data integration. Experts have found themselves trying to figure out the best methods for measuring telemetric data without losing any of that information. This is especially true for industries such as health care, in which telemetric data is collected to measure vital statistics such as blood pressure, oxygen intake, and heart rate within fractions of seconds. Telemetric devices must be able to identify the source of the data, how the data will be sent, and where the data will be stored in a secure manner. Additionally, as more industries use telemetry to measure data remotely, the need for telemetric devices to store and measure large volumes of data will become greater and greater. Because so many industries use telemetry, international standards have been created for each industry to follow to ensure that the telemetric devices being built follow a certain set of specifications. The Telemetering Standards Coordination Committee (TSCC), a nonprofit organization that is sponsored by the International Foundation for Telemetering, is the organization that reviews specifications for equipment developed in the telemetry field.

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