Environmental Services Ltd. automate remote data collection

Environmental Services Ltd. provides environmental engineering, data collection, liability determination, impacts/habitats analysis, and project management for a wide variety of private and public clients. Specializing in Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions, Environmental Services has provided services in Alaska, Canada, Washington State, and Russia to clients such as Arco, Exxon, Holland America Line, Dresser Industries, W.L. Grainger, and the U.S. Department of Interior. A closely held, wholly Alaskan-owned corporation, , Environmental Services employs approximately 20 people and has been in business for 20 years.

Pentop computer captures and manipulates environmental characterization field studies

Their data collection system is based on the Grid Exec 2270 pentop computer and was designed to automate the capture and manipulation of environmental characterization field studies in remote environments. An RS232 bar code wand is used with the WinWedge Standard from TAL Technologies, Inc. (800-722-6004, www.taltech.com) to append bar-coded sample containers (soils, water, waste materials, etc.)or other field data items (video cassettes, film canisters, sketches, and forms) to an on-line database in the pentop.

The entry is an ObjectVision front-end for a Paradox/Windows database, all running under pen Windows. For example, the sample entry screen will be activated, the sample collection data (i.e. depth, location, type of material, expected analysis, etc.) input, and the bar code information, on the pre-labeled sample container, appended to the data record by WinWedge.

Before learning of WinWedge, Environmental Services had to perform all its data collection by hand. Since they needed to put the data from the bar code scanner into a pentop computer, WinWedge was the only solution. The data from the RS232 wand is sent to their application program (ObjectVision) by DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange), a powerful feature of Windows supported by WinWedge. WinWedge was the only product available to provide a smooth DDE link between the RS232 wand and ObjectVision.

WinWedge has performed extremely well for Environmental Services. They are extremely happy with its performance in the field. They also found the selectable configuration file feature very useful in creating and saving configurations for different types of serial devices and different bar code wands.

Mark Perry from Environmental services adds, "I would very strongly recommend WinWedge for similar types of applications. Your product is helping us perform a very difficult job in environmental baseline data collection in Arkhangelsk, Russia. I also appreciate the very helpful technical support I received from TAL."

Benefits

• Real time data collection to a pentop computer in remote locations
• Ability to transmit data directly to ObjectVision
• Ability to save configurations for different types of instruments

TAL Technologies, Inc.
2101 Brandywine Street,
Suite 102,
Philadelphia, PA 19130, USA
Tel: 800-722-6004
Tel: 215-496-0222
Fax: 215-496-0322