As described, ibaPDA can be configured in a way that it cyclically sends watchdog messages to one or more computers in the network. Besides the information that ibaPDA is "still alive", in that it is capable of sending this message, a range of other information is contained in the telegram indicating the current status of ibaPDA.

Time stamp

Date and time in ms resolution

PC name

Name of the ibaPDA computer in the network

File name (in data storage 1, 2, … n)

Name of the current data file of the relevant data storage on the hard disk.

Status data store 1, 2, … n

Status of measuring and data recording; possible values:

  • Idle: no measurement (after start of ibaPDA or driver restart)

  • WaitForTrigger: Measurement is running, waiting for start trigger, pre-trigger phase

  • Recording: Data recording is running

  • PostTrigger: Stop trigger has arrived, post-trigger phase

MB free memory for data storage 1, 2, … n

Free memory space on the hard disk

The telegram extends for each further data storage by the last three items.

The entries of information mentioned above are separated by commas inside the message. The end of the telegram is marked by the NUL character (\0). The entries are in ASCII characters. If only one data storage is used, the last entry field is the one with free memory for data storage 1. The message length varies depending on the length of the entries, e.g. path and file names.

If no data storage is enabled, the telegram consists of: Time stamp,PC name,PDA6,,Idle,-1

The telegram ends with the NUL character ('\0').

An example of a possible telegram structure can be found in ASCII watchdog telegram structure.