AnaLink

If Store is not checked, no new data will be stored in the RunData database.
If Store is checked and graphs are drawing, this data is being appended to the end of the current RunData database.
It seems possible to leave Store on and go to playback to review old data without losing any data from the current recording... this function is not guaranteed, it's best to leave the program at the collect screen while storing data.

While collecting run data, the top of the collect screen periodically updates to show the current time, day of week, date, month, and battery remaining, expressed as 1/100ths of a volt over the battery warning limit. Basically, if this last number reads 40 or more, you're in good shape batterywise. I use NiMH rechargables, once they start reading 20 or less, it's time to stop recording for a moment and swap in a new set of batteries. This performance may vary for Alkaline or other battery types.

Map Capture

To collect the current "map", start with the key off. Set up the Pilot and AnaLink and check Get Map. When you turn the key on, the map will be captured and Get Map will uncheck itself when done. A bar graph shows progress of the map capture. Too many errors, or prematurely unchecking Get Map will cause the map capture to be aborted. Always check your maps for reasonability, I have never had a problem with corrupt maps coming in, but if it does happen, it should be fairly obvious.

AnaLink Realtime Numeric Display

Instrument Panel

Starting in version 1.3, the View Instruments /I screen functions just like the View Capture /C screen, except instead of drawing graphs, large numbers display the most recent data received. This can be used as a digital instrument panel while recording, or simply connected. As with View Capture /C, unchecking Connect will freeze the display, and halt any recording.

Which text appears, and the order in which it appears in the View Instruments screen is controlled by the Edit Text /E function. The first four items in the View Text lineup appear top to bottom on the left side of the screen, and the next four appear top to bottom on the right. It is recommended to keep items with four digits (like RPM) on the left to avoid confusion.

Disclaimer: Use common sense! Just because the display is easily readable while driving does not mean that you can ignore the road, traffic, etc. any more than you can while using the Link keypad, a cellphone, or a Big Mac while driving. If you're going to use this as an instrument display, mount it like an instrument high on the dashboard, or even on the A-pillar. The FAA has determined that John Denver (the reasonably famous singer) crashed his experimental plane due to poor ergonomic design. He couldn't see the fuel gauge without a mirror and couldn't easily switch to auxillary fuel tanks without a pair of pliers. So, he didn't fill the primary tanks before taking off, didn't check the fuel gauge in flight, ran out of gas, and couldn't switch to the auxillary tank before he crashed. He's dead. Don't let this happen to you. Tasteless dead singer joke from the same month: What did the tree say to Sonny Bono? I got you, babe. Use common sense.

Notes

While recording data, the four "Application Buttons" They look like a clock/calendar, telephone, checklist and memopad are also monitored by AnaLink. Pressing a button causes the corresponding note to appear in the playback graph and text. You won't see anything during recording.

Playing back data

There are two playback screens: View Graphs /G and View Text /T.

View Graphs shows the same graphs that were on the View Capture screen, with some extra info. The line at the top of the screen now shows the time when the data was recorded, and the last number is no longer battery voltage, but "line number" of the first data on this graph which makes it possible to pinpoint where you are in the record. Each screen shows 160 lines of data. The two arrows at the top allow "fine scrolling" through the data, and the "up/down" buttons on the bottom of the Pilot make bigger jumps.
Tapping on the graph area will draw a vertical bar at the point tapped, and draw a line of text at the bottom of the screen giving the numbers for the point tapped. This text line is in the same format as the View Text lines.
Dotted vertical bars appear on the graphs between recording sessions.
Edit Graphs /R allows configuration of the graphs.

View Text shows the same data that the Link computer outputs, or you can configure it with Edit Text /E to show different representations of the same data. As with View Graphs, the arrows at the top do small steps through the data, while the "Hard Buttons" on the bottom of the Pilot do bigger steps. The line at the top still shows when the data was recorded, and the caption line (telling what is in each column) appears at the top of each recording session. Notes always appear to the right of the text line that was received when the button was pushed, if there's space.

The meaning of the text columns is as follows:
RPM MAP TPS OXY INJ ADV DEG BAT WG% KNK TEMP are all as reported by the Link ECU. The following "derrived" values are added:

ZON - Translate RPM and MAP to a zone number
FZ - Fine zone, 55 indicates right in the middle, 15 means near the next lower row, 59 means near the next higher column... Also, 55 means five five (5 each on RPM and MAP, not fifty five.) does this need more explanation?
CFM - Calculated as shown in Corky's book, using 85% for default volumetric efficiency (Ev) and 1600cc for default displacement. Basically, this is RPM * MAP * displ * Ev * K where K makes the answer come out in CFM.
DT - Delta time between lines (in 10ms "ticks") helps to identify when lines were lost or skipped.
G - Gear, used to compute MPH, MPG and LP1. If you want these analyses to work, you probably should collect data in the Instruments screen with G visible on screen. You "change gears" with the up down "hard" buttons on the Pilot (unfortunately, the ECU has no idea what gear you're in).
MPH - Miles per hour, depends on RPM, Gear, Gear ratio, Diff ratio, and tire revolutions per mile tire rpm info available from the Dunlop website. These are entered on the Edit Constants /K screen. If you want kilometers per hour, divide your tire size by 1.6 (label will still be MPH, sorry.) Shows MPH x 10.
GPH - Gallons per hour, depends on INJ and Injector Flow rate (entered on the Edit Constants /K screen.) Resolution isn't so great since at cruise I generally operate around 10%, so each step is about a 10% jump, but it gives a general idea. Shows GPH x 100.
MPG - Miles per gallon, MPH/GPH - with all the limitations and conditions noted above. Shows MPG x 10.
LP1 - Liters per 100km - you have to adjust your tire size to get MPH reading in kms, but no adjustment is necessary on the fuel side. Shows L/100 x 10.
ACC - Acceleration, in Gs (like you get from a G-Tech.) This is the first of the "differential" parameters that look at how much your RPM is changing from one sample to the next. Older Link ECU software (pre March 2000) will likely have a somewhat "lumpy" output - the new Link chips fix a minor problem in RPM sampling that turns into a major problem when looking closely like these analyses do. As with other speed dependant parameters, you must have the proper gear selected.
NTQ - Net Torque, remember to set the Total Weight of the vehicle appropriately in the Edit Constants /K screen. This is the Net Torque experienced by the vehicle as acceleration - all aero, driveline, and other drag is subtracted out of this number.
NHP - Net Horsepower - computed from Net Torque.
DTQ - Drag Torque - computed fron Drag HP.
DHP - Drag Horsepower - a rough approximation for a Miata, assuming 115hp is required to drive 115MPH, and extrapolating as a square-law curve from there up and down.
CTQ - Corrected Torque - computed from CHP, this number hopes to resemble the actual torque output from the crank of the engine.
CHP - Corrected Horsepower - which is NHP + DHP. Of course, this, and all derrived numbers are dependant on ALL the inputs being correct, which they NEVER will be, but sometimes you might get a reasonable approximation of the actual HP output from your engine.

Analyzing data

As of version 1.1, analysis is a bit rough. You choose a zone, press draw and graphs of O2 readings in the selected zone appear, slowly. The center graph is for a "focused" subsection (FZ=55) of the zone itself. The graphs immediately left and right of it move the focus up and down the MAP range, and the groups left and right of the central group do the same thing up and down the RPM ranges.

The graphs themselves have a dark square on the median value, with a wide grey bar covering the interquartile range (50% of the data falls in this range), and thin lines extending to max/min observed values. If no graph appears, no data was recorded in that particular zone.

Expect changes and enhancements here.

Viewing and Editing Maps

The Edit Maps /M function allows review and editing of maps collected from the Link computer at key on. This is only concerned with Fuel and Advance maps, the 32 setting values (shown above) will be dealt with elsewhere.

The Edit Maps screen may be a little confusing at first. You are looking at two maps at one time. The black on white (grey on teal?) characters are the edit map, white on black are the reference map and a header line at top. Each edit map entry corresponds to the reference map entry immediately below it.

Tapping on an edit map entry causes it to be selected, vertical bars appear on either side of the currently selected entry, in both edit and reference maps. The currently selected entry is also identified at the top of the screen (e.g. Fuel 235). You may change the value of the currently selected entry in the edit map by tapping the space immediately above or below the number to raise or lower the value. The reference map values will not change.

At the bottom of the screen are two times with a number/letter code following and up/down arrows to their right. The top line identifies the edit map, the bottom line the reference map. The time is the time the map was captured or created as a copy. The number is the map record number starting at 0. Newly captured or copied maps are assigned the next larger number. When maps are deleted, all maps after the deleted one have their number decremented. Basically, don't depend on the number, it's gonna change, but the time won't.

Two letters P and E may appear behind the number. P indicates the map is "protected" and may not be edited. The Prt button toggles the P on the currently selected reference map. Maps are set with P on when captured and with P off when copied, but this may be easily changed with the Prt button. E indicates that the map was edited at some time after it was created. Once a map gets an E stamp, it cannot be removed, though a new copy may be made which will have identical values with a new time stamp and no E.

The Del button deletes the currently selected edit map. The Cpy button creates a copy of the currently selected reference map. Typ changes the type of map being viewed, low RPM ranges Fuel, high RPM ranges Fuel, low RPM ranges Advance and high RPM ranges Advance.

Those arrows on the right allow selection of the current edit and reference maps. Note that you cannot select the same map for both edit and reference, and that P maps will not show up in the Edit line. If there are no available maps to edit, a copy of the current reference map will automatically be created.

In all likelyhood, all you need to do is capture one map, then go to Edit Maps and edit the automatically generated copy and not mess with any buttons or arrows other than Typ, and Del when you're done.

The sample maps AnaLink_MapData.PDB will allow you to play with the Edit Maps screen if you haven't purchased the software.

Configuring collection, playback and analysis

The Edit menu options are concerned with configuration. Edit Graphs /R allows selection of which graphs are plotted, and how they are drawn. This affects both collection and playback graphs. The Edit Graphs /R screen also has a rather important "defaults" button, this button not only resets all graphs to their default settings, but also all other program parameters (ECU type, constants, text output, notes, etc.) This may sound a bit far-reaching, but it can be useful when upgrading to a new version that has lots of new variables that need setting, just remember to tap with caution.

By the way, the (i) button in the upper right brings up an info screen to remind you what the letters stand for.

Edit Text /E allows configuration of the text line output, what the notes display as, and what type of data AnaLink looks for when connecting to the Link computer.

Under Edit Text, the four words on the upper left are the Notes labels, tap 'em and change 'em to get different labels. This will change the labels for all data played back since the labels are stored in the database as 1,2,3 and 4 to save space. You have to press OK for these changes to take effect. Pressing OK or Cancel will take you out of the Edit Text screen into the View Text screen.

At the bottom of the Edit Text screen is a "header line" showing how text is currently configured. The four arrows at the lower right (sorry lefties, Pilots are a real pain that way, aren't they?) allow configuring the text line. Left and right moves the "selector" which shows up as an underline under the current choice. Up and down changes the current selection, with one of the possible selections being end of list. If you see most of all of your text line dissappear, don't panic, you've selected end of list, just select again and the rest of the line will reappear. It is possible to make a text line too long to see on the screen, you can always insert an end of list choice anywhere to cut the line off at that point. Also, it is a good idea to leave a little space on the right, since notes always appear just to the right of the text line.

Link ECU type 1.6/1.8 Turbo/NA

You can select multiple ECU types, 1.6 decodes lines that contain:

RPM MAP TPS OXY INJ ADV DEG BAT

1.8 decodes lines that contain:

RPM MAP WG% OXY INJ% TEMP KNK ADV

1.6/1.8 decodes lines that contain:

RPM MAP WG% OXY INJ% ADV TEMP KNK

Version 1.7 and later of AnaLink rename the above ECU types as T-1, T-2 and T-3, respectively, and it adds a T-4, which decodes lines that contain:

e RPM d MAP L OXY *W/E t INJ *I/T s KNK ADV

only the numeric portions are stored and graphed, all the special characters are ignored.
AnaLink actually ignores the text lines, only looking at lines with numbers in them, and comparing those numbers to expected ranges for the values. It works out that if you have 1.8 selected and you're hooked up to a 1.6 computer, View Capture won't draw any graphs, or won't draw them very consistantly, when you Connect, likewise hooking up to a 1.8 computer with 1.6 selected will draw no graphs (and store no data).
It seems that the 1.6/1.8 data format only went to a few customers around April of '99, and that the newest 1.6/1.8 ECUs have returned to the 1.8 data format. Main thing is to match the lines above with what actually comes from your ECU.

Turbo vs. NA changes how the Zone numbers are computed. Turbo assumes 40 MAP units per row, while NA uses 20.

The sample data AnaLink_RunData.PDB is recorded on my 1.6, so if you play it back in 1.8 mode you'll get some slightly wierd results as the following values are substituted: WG%=TPS, TEMP=DEG, KNK=BAT.

Edit Constants

This screen contains a variety of vehicle constants, used to compute things like speed, MPG, etc. The numbers down the left side are gear ratios, starting with the differential and then through the gears in the transmission. No decimal is needed, put in the actual ratio number times 1000. If you don't have a 6th gear, do whatever you like with this slot.

The values down the right side are fairly self explanatory, displacement is in cc, Injector flow rate is cc/min, tire size is revolutions per mile, and weight is in pounds.

Deleting Run Data

Of course, if you delete AnaLink with the Pilot Memory manager program, all the Run data and Map data goes out with it, and you can reinstall the .prc file (and reenter your owner code and preferences) and you'll have a "clean" AnaLink with no data. There's also a better way.

Under Edit Records /D, you can delete Run Data records one at a time, or wholesale. The line of text identifies the currently selected Run Data record by the time it was recorded. Each recording session gets its own record and each record runs up to 720 lines (a bit over 3 minutes), if a recording session runs over 720 lines, a new record is automatically opened and the session continues seamlessly. And, yes, record numbers are supposed to start with 0 and end 1 less than the total number. Thanks, Beau.

Once you delete a record off the Palm Pilot, it is gone. There is currently no fancy PC conduit for AnaLink data.

Saving Data

There is, however, automatic backing up of both the Run Data and Map Data. Every time you hotsync, the current AnaLink data files are backed up in your \pilot\yourname\Backup directory. From there, you can rename the files and/or move them to other directories. These files may be re-installed on the pilot later to review old data, shared across the Internet like the sample files, or whatever.

alc.exe is a DOS command line program that translates AnaLink .PDB files to ASCII format .TXT files so you can import the data into spreadsheets, E-mail it to friends who have no PalmPilot, or whatever. Since this is a DOS program, it works with the short filenames. AnaLink_Translator.exe is the Win95 version - it supports long filenames. Both programs are relatively self-explanatory (if you aren't familiar with DOS, use the Win95 program), just open any AnaLink .PDB file, Map or Run data, and then save the output in your desired .TXT file.

Planned upgrades

I wrote AnaLink for my own use, but I recognize that there are other people who will find it useful too. My current plans include:

read binary mode data
two way communication - obviously waiting for new ECU software from Link
edit system settings, like the edit maps, but for the first 32 zones
real-time bar graphs with peak hold in the instrument screen
interpolated boundary crossing timing analysis... Huh? Basically getting the most out of the available data to produce accurate 30-50MPH acceleration times and the like.
add filters for data analysis, to ignore "transitional" data
speed up median analysis computations
fix the "bug" where NA data incorrectly interprets 20kpa as the row 1-2 boundry (it really is 33), waiting for "hard data" from Link on this one - I have gotten conflicting information about where the NA zone boundaries really are
option for permanent column labels in the View Text screen
editible names for the stored maps

I'm also open for suggestions.

Version History

1.0 October 3, 1998 - basic data collection, graphing and text playback
1.1 October 4, 1998 - add support for 1.8 ECU
1.2 October 12, 1998 - add map capture and edit and Turbo/NA support
1.3 January 16, 1999 - add real-time digital instrument panel
1.4 February 19, 1999 - add support for 1.6/1.8 ECU
1.5 June 2, 1999 - security upgrade, no new functions
1.6 June 1999 - addition of Speed, MPG, GPH and other parameters, and labels on the Instruments
1.7 April 27, 2000 - addition of ACC...CHP analysis parameters, and T-4 datastream

This manual is obviously a work in progress, if you have any questions or suggestions, please send them to: topcat@mangocats.com.