Sigma's monitoring function works in conjunction with a data logger and enables signal display, threshold judgment, and saving acquired data. There are two ways to use the monitoring function. Each one requires a license to use.
Senspider is a multi-channel data logger that can work directly with Sigma to display raw waveforms, FFTs, spectrograms in real time, perform threshold judgement, and save data.
This function loads the text file continuously output by any data logger and displays the raw waveform, threshold judgment result, and saves the data. For details, please refer to File Monitoring.
In order to use the Senspider module, you need to install additional components. Please follow the steps below to install the additional components.
on the tool bar and select "Version")
Sigma 1.18.0 and above are not compatible with Senspider with previous firmware version. If you use Senspider with previous firmware version , please download Sigma 1.17.3 from here★.
Click the Monitor button 
on the toolbar to open the monitoring window.
When the button is pressed to ON, monitoring starts and the waveform is displayed in real time. To stop, press the button again. When the Senspider is set to use hardware trigger, turning the button ON will make the monitoring window wait for the trigger.
By monitoring with the Save button on, the record will be saved in Sigma. Note that monitoring is not started just by pressing the Save button.
One of the following status is displayed for each connected Senspider. Not connected, Connected, Monitoring, Waiting trigger, and Saving.
For more information about the file monitoring function, please refer to File Monitoring.
Configure the basic settings for monitoring and alerts.
The most recent 1 second signal of each channel is displayed. The one selected by button 14 among raw waveform, FFT, and spectrogram is displayed. If button 7 is pressed, the trend of the main feature is displayed.
Switches the thumbnail view to the trend display of the main features. For the conditions under which the trend is displayed, see Trend View.
When turned on, each channel is selected in order at regular intervals and displayed in the Main chart view.
The signal for the most recent 1 second of the channel selected in the thumbnail view is displayed.
When the Trend button (button 14) is pressed, the trend of the main feature of the channel selected in the thumbnail view is displayed. For the conditions under which the trend is displayed, see Trend View.
Resets the view range of the Main chart view and Trend view. If the channel has a view range setting, the range is reset to the set value. Otherwise, the range is automatically determined based on the content.
Switches the mode of zooming by the mouse. For details, see Changing the view range.
When turned on, the trend of the main feature of the currently selected channel is displayed in the Trend view. For the conditions under which the trend is displayed, see Trend view.
Displays threshold judgment results and alerts for each channel. For details, see Threshold and judgment result.
Shows the record saving status for each Senspider.
Set the view range of the chart for the currently selected channel or all channels.
Set a text for identification to the record to be saved.
Shows the alert logs based on threshold judgements and alert settings.
Each time pressing the START button 
, monitoring is toggled ON and OFF.
When it is turned ON, Senspider data acquisition starts and real-time signal is displayed in the main chart view.
When monitoring is performed with the SAVE button 
ON,
the acquired data is saved as records in Sigma.
When the START button is turned on, the monitoring window will be waiting for the trigger.
When the Senspider starts logging in this state, it will enter the monitoring state and real-time signals will be displayed in the signal view.
If the START button is not pressed, no data will be sent to Sigma even if logging is started by Senspider.
By turning on both the START and SAVE buttons, when the Senspider starts logging, the real-time signal will be displayed in the signal view and the data will be saved.
To configure the basic settings,
press the SETTING button 
and select "Basic settings" to open the Monitoring settings list window.
Create, edit, or delete a monitoring settings.
Displays the list of monitoring settings that have been created. (Up to 20 settings)
Click the Add or Edit button to open the Monitoring settings edit window.
Check "Senspider" if using Senspider or "File" if using file monitoring. Both of them can be used together. Checking "File Monitoring" will enable you to select the File Monitoring tab and configure related settings. See File monitoring for details.
Data saving will be automatically stopped when the number of times saved reaches the specified number.
When saving data, the data is always saved in Sigma in binary format, but you can optionally export the feature values, judgment results, raw waveforms, and FFT as a CSV format text file. For details, please refer to Text export.
Set the name and port of the Senspider to be connected.
Each item can be changed directly by clicking in the table.
To add a Senspider to the table, click the Add button
.
To remove a Senspider from the table, click the Remove button
.
Up to 5 Senspiders can be added in the lisrt, but the actual number of Senspiders that can be processed depends on the specs of the PC.
Recording settings for the Senspider selected in the Senspider table.
If you want to save the data continuously, set the sampling time and saving interval to the same value.
When using Senspider's triggers, the save interval cannot be specified and will always be set to continuous recording.
Settings related to connection with Senspider. Normally, you don't need to change these settings. Please refer to the Senspider manual for details.
The list of channels associated with the Senspider selected in the Senspider setting table is displayed. By double-clicking any line, the setting window of each channel will be opened.
Select any row (channel) in the channel setting table, and click the Edit button 
to open the channel settings window.
If you select multiple channels and click the button, you can edit multiple channels at once.
The use or disuse of a channel can be changed directly with a checkbox in the table.
will be displayed.
If the raw waveform is not saved, only the calculated features will be saved in the record.
The settings to convert the numerical value of the input data from Senspider to physical quantity in Sigma. You can select from the following two methods.
You can configure the settings by simply selecting the sensor type and the minimum information required. This method is usually recommended. The sensor types are as follows
By selecting the sensitivity of the vibration accelerometer mV/(m/s2) and the gain setting of Senspider, the appropriate conversion factor will be set.
The appropriate conversion factor will be set without specific setting.
By setting the physical quantity and the sensitivity of the sensor, the appropriate conversion factor will be set. The following two methods are available for specifying the sensitivity. When there is an offset in the output current/voltage, such as in the case of a sensor with 4-20mA output, use "Specify by corresponding numerical range"
Set the values of 'a' and 'b' in Y = aX + b, where X is the value of the raw data in Senspider, and Y is the physical quantity in Sigma. To set them correctly, you need to understand the interface card used in Senspider, sensor sensitivity, 16bit integer range, gain, etc. Normally, there is no need to set it in this way.
A feature used for displaying numerical values in thumbnail view, signal view, and for threshold judgment. In addition to the preset features, user-defined features registered as record property can also be selected.
A folder in Sigma where records are saved.
Among the threshold settings applied to the save folder, those whose target physical quantity/feature matches the physical quantity/main feature of this channel will be applied. Click the "Set" button to assign a threshold setting to the currently selected save folder. For more information about threshold settings, please refer to Threshold.
During monitoring, the signal view shows the latest 1 second of data for the selected channel, refreshed constantly. Note that the view shows the data of the latest 1 second regardless of the sampling duration.
Operations such as scaling and panning are the same as normal signal view operations. See Signal view operations for details.
When the Trend button is turned on, the trend of the main feature of the channel is displayed below the signal view.
The trend is drawn using the feature values of the records stored in Sigma. Therefore, a trend will not be displayed if no data is saved. Among the records stored in the save folder of the channel, those that satisfy all of the following conditions are used for the trend.
You can apply a threshold to the features calculated during monitoring and display the result. Threshold is set for each folder in Sigma. (see Threshold for more details). If a valid threshold setting is assigned to the save folder of the channel, the result will be displayed in Thumbnail View, Signal View, and Status Summary of Property View, and the threshold setting will be reflected in the background color of Trend View.
Example of Judgment Result
The results shown in the thumbnail view and the main chart view with colored circles (1 and 2 in the figure) are real-time results based on the last one second of data. On the other hand, the judgment results shown in the Status Summary (3 in the figure) are the results for each "threshold judgment timing" specified in the "Alert Settings". Alerts are fired based on the judgment results shown in the Status Summary. For details on the alert function, please refer to Alert.
Based on the result of threshold judgment,
alerts can be fired by e-mail or alarm sound.
To set up alerts, press the SETTING button on the monitoring screen and select "Alert Settings".
The alert setting is the global setting that is used in all monitoring settings.
Select the threshold judgment timing from real time (every 1 second) or each data save. If you select "each data save", the threshold judgement will be determined by calculating the feature value using the data for the sampling duration at each save interval specified in the monitoring settings. In this case, please note that no judgment will be made if the record is not saved (SAVE button is not pressed).
The judgment results for each threshold judgment timing will be displayed in the status summary, and the alerts will be fired based on the results.
The judgment results displayed as colored circles in the thumbnail view and the main chart view are always real-time (last 1 second) judgment results, and will not be used to trigger an alert.
An alert is fired when the threshold judgment results are 'Unacceptable' for a specified number of times in a row for a channel.
An alert will be fired according to the method checked. It is also possible to use both alert sounds and e-mails. With each test button, you can sound a test alert or send a test e-mail. To send a test email, enter the email address in the notification address field beforehand.
When a continuous 'Unacceptable' results are detected on any channel, an alert is fired, and the upper part of the status summary blinks in red. If the alert sound is used, the alert sound will continue to sound. If email notification is used, an email will be sent when the alert is fired. To cancel the alert status, press the reset button.
At the same time as saving the records in Sigma at the save interval specified in the monitoring settings, various text files can be exported. To configure the text export settings, click the Text Export Settings button.
The three types of text files are as follows, and each text file contains data for all channels in use.
The folder name for each Senspider is "ssp0" for the first unit, "ssp1" for the second unit, and so on.
Subfolder names and file names for each text file type are shown below. The file name consists of the date and time of measurement and a string indicating the text file type (stat, raw, fft).
| Subfolder name | File name（ex.） | |
| Main features and Judgment results | stat | 2019_09_09_16_45_30_stat.csv |
| Raw waveform data | raw | 2019_09_09_16_45_30_raw.csv |
| Frequency spectrum data | fft | 2019_09_09_16_45_30_fft.csv |
For each type of text, you can specify the conditions for export. The following four conditions can be selected.
In the case of condition 2 or 3, the text file will be exported when one of the channels to which the threshold is assigned meets the condition.
To specify the view range by numerical value, enter values in the view range settings in the property view and press the SET button. If the "Common to all channels" checkbox is checked , the view range will be applied to all channels.
When a record is saved with a string entered in the tag form in the property view, the entered string will be stored as the tag for that record.
The log of fired alert is displayed.
"Sigma De Py" is a function that converts the feature and threshold definitions defined in Sigma into Python code that can be executed in Senspider. To use this function, you need to install MACNICA Inc.'s "Sigma De Py application", which can be downloaded from the following URL. https://macnicahq.app.box.com/s/0g4nwp5y67k9buyrn4i5yiyf9p9jm3k8
Please refer to the Senspider manual for the necessary settings on the Senspider side. After deployment, the connection between Sigma and Senspider is not required.
To create or edit settings of Sigma De Py, click the Setting button on the monitoring screen and select "Sigma De Py setting".
Adds a Sigma De Py setting. There are two ways to add a setting.
A setting will be created with the general default values entered.
A setting will be created with the values from the specified monitoring setting. Once created, the original monitoring setting and the created Sigma De Py setting are independent and do not affect each other in any way.
Edits the selected setting. You can also open the edit window by double-clicking on any item in the settings list.
In the Sigma De Py settings list window, click the Add or Edit button to open the Sigma De Py Setting Edit window.
If the checkbox is checked (default), when the computation load in Senspider is judged to be high during deployment, a confirmation dialog will be displayed asking whether to execute the deployment or not. The computation load depends on the number of channels used, the number of features, and the definition of features.
Deployment settings for multiple Senspiders can be defined within one Sigma De Py setting.
All of the following items must be the same as the values set in Senspider.
Shows the settings of each channel of the Senspider selected in the Senspider List Table.
Only the checked channels will be used.
The checkboxes can be changed directly by clicking them.
To edit the settings of each channel, double-click on the row of the channel,
or click the Edit button with the channel row(s) selected.
If you click the Edit button with multiple channels selected, you will be in batch editing mode for multiple channels.
Settings to convert the raw values acquired by Senspider to physical quantities. As this is the same as the one in Monitoring Settings, please refer to Channel Settings of Monitoring Settings for details.
Specifies the overall judgment method to be used when multiple feature values and thresholds are set. It is possible to select whether to use the most normal or the most abnormal of the judgment results for each feature value.
Multiple combinations of feature values and thresholds to be calculated by this channel can be defined.
You can add settings by clicking the Add Settings button,
and then select the feature values and thresholds by clicking each item in the table.
You can select not only preset features, but also user-defined features. (The same goes for thresholds)
Thresholds are defined for a specific combination of physical quantity and feature, so the selectable thresholds are limited to those that match the combination of physical quantity set in the channel and the target feature.
File monitoring is a function that allows Sigma to continuously load, display, and save the text files output by any data logger or other device.
To use file monitoring, a license that supports the file monitoring module is required. If you have a license for the file monitoring module, you can use the file monitoring function by the following operations.
Click Info button and select "Activate Module".
Depending on the license information on the server, the file monitoring module will be enabled. (If you are using a USB dongle, this action is not required.)
Click the Monitor button on the tool bar to open the monitoring window.
Since the monitoring window is common to the Senspider module, please refer to Basic Opearation for details on the window functions.
To perform file monitoring, you must first create a monitoring setting for file monitoring.
To create a setting, press the SETTING button to open the Monitoring Setting List window, and then press the Add New Setting button .
to open the Add File Monitoring Channel Window.
Text files newly output to the folder specified here will be loaded into Sigma. If you want to target all folders below the specified folder, turn on the "Monitor all folders below the specified folder" checkbox.
Among the files output to the folder to monitor, only the files that contain the specified string in the file name will be loaded. If left blank, all files newly output to the folder will be loaded.
Specify how to load text files. You can choose from "General Text Format (Simple)" or custom load settings you defined. The sampling rate, physical quantities and conversion factors for each channel are determined by the load settings specified here. For more information on text load setting and how to create custom load settings, see General Text Data Loading.
If you select "General Text Format (Simple)", you will need to specify the physical quantity and sampling rate here. If you select "Custom settings", the physical quantity and sampling rate in the settings will be used.
If you have selected "General Text Format (Simple)" or "Custom Setting with 'All Channels' ON", you need to specify here how many channels you want to load. If you select "Custom settings with 'Individual channels' ON", the number of channels will be determined automatically from the settings.
Press OK to add file monitoring channels for the number of channels to be loaded.
As with the Senspider channel, each file monitoring channel can be individually specified for
"Main Feature", "Save Folder", "Drawing Color", etc.
To edit these items, double-click on any file monitoring channel, or click the Edit button with any file monitoring channel selected to open the channel setting window.
Unlike the Senspider channel settings, the physical quantities and conversion factors are determined by the text load settings,
and cannot be changed here. If you want to change these items, delete the added file monitoring channel with the Delete button
, add the file monitoring channel again, and select the appropriate load setting.
If you want to add a different folder to monitor, or apply different load setting to the same folder depending on the file name,
click the Add File Monitoring Channel button again to add file monitoring channels.
You cannot add a file monitoring channel that has the same combination of folder to monitor and a file name filter as an already registered channels.
The following figure shows an example of adding file monitoring channels three times, and the relationship between each channel and the file to be loaded.
To start file monitoring, turn on the File Monitoring Start button.
File monitoring is stopped when the Start File Monitoring button is set to OFF.