SonTek/YSI Argonaut-XR Technical Manual - HydroScientific West

Two types of data files can be exported.
• System configuration data (.ctl)
• Sample data (.dat)
SonTek/YSI
System Configuration Data
• System configuration data contains all hardware and user configuration data required to
define system-operating parameters.
• Configuration information is stored in a file using the same name as the data file but with a
.CTL extension.
• Configuration information is presented in a self-explanatory, ASCII-text format using the
units system specified in the export data dialog box.
Sample Data
• Sample data represents all data stored with each sample.
• Sample data are stored in a file using the same name as the data file but with a .DAT
extension.
• Sample data is extracted using the units system specified in the export data dialog box.
• The output ASCII file stores one line for each sample in the file. The file is in ASCII-text
format with tab-delimited columns. This format can be easily loaded by most analysis
programs (spreadsheets, MatLab, etc.).
• The number and contents of the columns in the output file depends on the setting of the
Data Format parameter (LONG or SHORT) during data collection. See Section 3.4 and the
Argonaut Operation Manual for more details about data format parameters.
• The real-time software always uses the LONG data format.
• The contents and units of each column of the .DAT file for both formats (LONG or SHORT)
are shown in the table below.
• See the Argonaut Principles of Operation for a description of different data types.
Argonaut Software Manual (March 1, 2001) 33