Getting started with the MSP

The Hardware

An MSP consists of an iMote2, an MSB, a miniSD card, and optionally, a GPS unit, WiFi dongle, or LSB. If your MSP is not pre-assembled, you'll need to follow these directions to assemble your MSP.

The iMote2

The iMote2 should be preloaded with Linux, configured to automatically load the MSP software off of the SD card. If this is not the case, you'll need to grab the latest system images and flash them onto the iMote2. Unfortunately, with Intel's sale of the PXA line to Marvell, the tools used to reflash the iMote2 are difficult to obtain.

Collecting Data

Your first data collection

Collecting data with the MSP is easy:

1. Plug in the MSP to the charger until the amber charging LED is no longer solid.
2. Copy the latest SD card image to your miniSD card.
3. Insert the miniSD card into the unit.
4. Press the power button on the MSP. You may need to use a pen or similar object to press the button.
5. Wait for the logger to start. When it starts, the LEDs on the MSB will all turn on, and then go back to just green.
6. Collect data.
7. Press the power button down for at least five seconds. The MSP will shut down after another 5-10 seconds.
8. Remove the miniSD card and move (not copy) the files in the msp-data directory to your computer.

If you have Matlab, you can import the data into it:

1. Use uwarToMatlab to extract the data from the UWAR files in the msp-data directory.
2. Import the resulting .mat files into Matlab.

Otherwise, you can use uwar_cat to generate a text dump of the sensor readings.

Customizing the data collection

If you need to collect data at different sampling rates, simply edit the msb.ini file in the msp directory on the miniSD card. More information on how to edit the msb.ini file is available here.