Feature Request: Serial Logging Timestamps

[DennisMelamed]

Subject of the issue

Is it possible to add an option to timestamp entries to the serial logfile? I am recording data coming from a separate microcontroller over serial, but would like the this data to be timestamped to align to the IMU data being collected by the OLA.

Your workbench

• Are you using a microSD card? If so, what size? How is it formatted (FAT, FAT32, or exFat)?
  FAT32, 32GB card
• At what frequency are you logging? For example, 10Hz, 1Hz, once every 5 seconds, etc.
  IMU logging at ~100 Hz, serial data coming in ~ 1 Hz
• What version of firmware are you using? This is shown at boot, for example: "Artemis OpenLog v1.10"
  V1.8
• How is OpenLog Artemis wired to your sensor(s)?
  Onboard IMU, serial line from peripheral microcontroller UART TX pin to OLA RX pin
• How is everything being powered?
  OLA powered from usb-c, peripheral microcontroller via 3.3V pin on OLA
• Are there any additional details that may help us help you?
  N/a

Steps to reproduce

Wire other device to provide serial data to OLA RX pin once per second. Viewing serial log file, there is no timestamp for each reading.

Expected behavior

Each line of serialLog****.TXT should have a timestamp attached to it that allows when the serial data was received to be aligned to when the IMU is sampled

Actual behavior

Serial log file contains no timestamps.

[PaulZC]

Hi Dennis (@DennisMelamed ),
This would be quite a big change to the code. The code would need some kind of 'idle timer' which sets the delay before a new timestamp is generated. And the feature would need to be switchable, as some (most?) users will expect the log file to only contain the serial data.
I will leave this issue open - I think you might be the second person to ask for this feature - but I won't have time to implement it soon. If you have time to modify the code yourself, please go ahead and send us a Pull Request.
Best wishes
Paul

[ryanneve]

@DennisMelamed & @PaulZC,
Would it be safe to assume that incoming serial data has line breaks, and you could just parse incomingBuffer and insert a RTC timestamp whenever a line break is seen? This would probably work best with serial data which is being generated slowly. Many of the serial output instruments I've worked with won't go faster than 2 Hz.

[DennisMelamed]

@ryanneve & @PaulZC ,
I was thinking along similar lines, perhaps with a configurable "start of measurement" token. I'll try and put together a PR, I have some experimental code that seems to work for this.

[PaulZC]

I do like the "start/end of measurement" token idea. I'll have a go at including this and make it default to the NewLine character. I'll work on this over the next few days, building on your PR Dennis, and will include it in release 1.9 (due out next week).
Thanks!
Paul

[PaulZC]

Thanks again @DennisMelamed for this suggestion and Pull Request.
I've implemented your PR here. I had to change it a bit: I added the settings to the settings file; added the timestamp token; and changed the way the timestamp is read back out of serialTimestamp. But it is still essentially your code that is doing the work.
I'll leave this issue open until version 1.9 goes live.

[DennisMelamed]

Glad it was helpful! Having the string just get smaller instead of a boolean flag makes much more sense. Thanks for all of your work on this project!

[PaulZC]

The v1.9 BETA binary now includes the changes too. I'd be grateful if you can give it a try and let me know if you find any gremlins!
Very best wishes,
Paul

[PaulZC]

Resolved in Version 1.9. Closing...