January 26, 2013

A revised version of the SDI-12 Specification is ready. The version number is still 1.3 because clarifications only were made to the specification.

The clarifications are:

  1. 1) Page 1, Section 1.0. Added “see section 3.0 for details” to the third bullet.

  2. 2) Page 1, Section 1.0. Deleted the fourth bullet, “Up to 200 feet of cable between a sensor and data recorder.”

  3. 3) Page 11, Table 9. Made a correction. Changed “a valid range of 0 to 9" to “a valid range of 1 to 9" in row 3, column 2.

  4. 4) Page 14, Table 10. Deleted this text, “(a data recorder must be able to read and store at least 20 parameters from a sensor, nn = 20)”

  5. 5) Page 14, Section 4.4.7. Deleted this text, “The maximum number of data values a sensor can return for nn is 20. A data recorder is also required to store 20 values. Future versions of SDI-12 may increase this to a maximum of up to 99 values.”

  6. 6) Page 14, Section 4.4.7. Added this text, “The data recorder should document the number of data values it can store in response to a C command.”

  7. 7) Page 14, Section 4.4.7. Changed the last paragraph from:

    See the send data command, aD0!, aD1! . . . Ad9! for examples of this command. Because the start concurrent measurement command is closely related to the send data command, examples for both commands are in sections 4.4.8.3 and 4.4.8.4.

    To:

    “See the send data command, aD0!, aD1! . . . aD9!, section 4.4.8, for the data response requirements. Because the start concurrent measurement command is closely related to the send data command, examples for both commands are in sections 4.4.8.3 and 4.4.8.4.”

  8. 8) Page 14, Section 4.4.8. Change the paragraph heading from “aD0! ... aD9!” to “aD0!, ...aD1 ... aD9!.”

November 19, 2012

Minutes taken at the November 13 and 14 SDI-12 Support Group meetings are now available:

October 30, 2012

Click here for the agendas for the technical committee meeting (November 12) and the general meeting of the SDI-12 Support Group (November 13).

October 26, 2012

Here is a list of the technical issues which will be discussed at the upcoming meeting of the Technical Committee. This meeting will held on November 12. This meeting will be held in Jacksonville, Florida, in conjunction with the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) conference, at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.

A formal agenda for the Technical Committee meeting (November 12) and the general meeting (November 13), will be posted here during the week of October 28).

Clarifications of existing specification

  1. The current specification requires support of aC! command with something other than zero parameters, but no such explicit requirement for the aM! command. Does explicit support of aM! need to be specified?
  2. Clarification of section 1.0. Should the line mentioning 200 feet be removed? Or reworded in some way? Section 1.0 is seen before 3.0 leaving the impression that SDI-12 only works up to 200 feet.
  3. Add an appendix or other text to provide installation guidance to users about an acceptable SDI-12 cable length for their systems.

Enhancements to the specification

  1. Remove the 20 limit for nn for the maximum number of parameters that can be returned from the C series of commands.
  2. If the limit of 20 is removed from the sensor response, do any changes need to be made to the data recorder requirements?
    1. Left the same
    2. Increased
    3. Explicit data recorder requirement eliminated.
  3. Adding a means to return parameter labels/codes and/or units.
  4. Adding a means to support sensor contained documentation of commands.

October 2, 2012

We will hold our annual meetings this year on November 12th and 13th. These meetings will be held in Jacksonville, Florida, in conjunction with the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) conference, at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.

The technical committee will meet on Monday, November 12.

The business meeting of the SDI-12 Support Group will be held on Tuesday, November 13.

All interested parties are welcome to attend.

Agendas for each meeting will be posted here soon.

You can learn more about the AWRA conference and the meeting venue at: www.awra.org

May 4, 2012

I have the sad and heartbreaking duty of telling you that Paul-Émile Bergeron, a long time member of the SDI-12 Support Group's technical committee and supporter of SDI-12, died suddenly on April 28. Mr. Bergeron has been an active member of the Support Group since the early days of SDI-12 in the mid 90s. He commented vigorously on each and every proposed change to SDI-12 over the years. We could always count on Paul-Émile to express a never ending stream of ideas to improve SDI-12. We enjoyed his presence at our annual meetings.

The SDI-12 Support Group will make a contribution to Camp Cherith to honor our friend.

Michael Jablonski
Chairman, SDI-12 Support Group

His obituary follows:

BERGERON, Paul-Émile
Employee of Environment Canada

Suddenly in Terrace, British Columbia on Saturday April 28th, 2012 at the age of 53. Dear son of the late Marie-Anne Beaudoin and the late Léo-Paul Bergeron. Beloved soulmate of Micheline Fleming. Loving brother of Marcel (Alice Lemay), Françoise (René Boudreau), Nicole (Michel Dupras), Marie-Antonia (Denis Rhéaume), Jacinthe (Marcel Bédard), Christian (Joanne Charest), René (Lyne Rousseau), Rosane (Richard Labrecque), Claude, Jean-Louis (Ghislaine Allaire), Sylvain (Christine Gilbert), Johanne (André Doyon), Isabelle (Lionel Blais) and Serge (Solange Joncas). Fondly remembered by his goddaughter Audrey Bergeron, godson René-Paul Bergeron and his nieces and nephews. Pre-deceased his brother Léon.

Friends are invited to visit at the St.Laurent Chapel of Hulse, Playfair & McGarry 1200 Ogilvie Road (at Aviation Parkway) on Sunday May 6th, 2012 from 1 pm until the Liturgy of the Word in the Chapel at 3 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held in Saint-Flavien, Quebec. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation 40 Ruskin Street, Room H2408 Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4W7 or to the Camp Cherith, 286 River Farm Lane, RR#4 Lanark, Ontario K0G 1K0 or on line www.cherith.ca would be appreciated by the family.

Februrary 24, 2012

A complete refresh of the SDI-12 Support Group's web page has been completed and released.

January 9, 2012

Each year the SDI-12 Support Group holds its annual meetings in conjunction with the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) conference. This year the conference will be in Jacksonville, Florida on November 12-15, 2012. Meeting agendas will be posted at least 30 days in advance of the meetings. All are welcome to attend.

January 3, 2012

A revised version of the SDI-12 Specification is ready. The version number is still 1.3 because clarifications only were made to the specification.

The most significant revision is a correction on the SDI-12 Sensor Flow Control diagram in appendix B. It was changed so that the logic for the concurrent command matches the text in the body of the specification.

The clarifications are:

  1. Page 5, Section 4.0. Reference to page 14 changed to reference to section 4.4.7

  2. Page 12, Section 4.4.5.1. Deleted the sentence, “It must also empty its buffer so that no data are returned in response to a D command.” This sentence was deleted because the sentence after it specifically states what information is to be returned to the sensor in response to subsequent D commands.

  3. Page 14, Section 4.4.7.1. Deleted the sentence, “It must also empty its buffer so that no data are returned in response to a D command.” This sentence was deleted because the sentence after it specifically states what information is to be returned to the sensor in response to subsequent D commands.

  4. Page 16, Section 4.4.8.3. Reference to section 4.4 changed to section 4.4.8.

  5. Page 16, Section 4.4.8.3. Circular reference to section 4.4.8.3 changed to section 4.4.8.4.

  6. Page 23, Section 4.4.13. Corrected typographical error. Deleted the letter s from “extendeds.”

  7. Formatted all paragraph headings in bold.

  8. Changed Appendix B, Suggested SDI-12 Flow Control for SDI-12 Data Recorded so that the logic for the concurrent command matches the text in the body of the document.

December 21, 2011

For several years the SDI-12 Support Group has made a yearly donation to the American Water Resources' (AWRA) Richard A. Herbert Memorial Education Fund. The SDI-12 Support Group has donated $700.00 to this scholarship fund. Our most recent donation of $100.00 was made on December 21, 2011.