Dodotronic Wisecorder User Manual

Audio and ultrasonic multichannel recorder

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DODOTRONIC

ELECTRONIC DEVICES

wisecorder

Audio and ultrasonic Multichannel Recorder

USER GUIDE

1.0

Wisecorder's Top Side

Wisecorder's Bottom Side

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Summary of Contents for Dodotronic Wisecorder

Page 1 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES wisecorder Audio and ultrasonic Multichannel Recorder USER GUIDE Wisecorder’s Top Side Wisecorder’s Bottom Side...
Page 2 Manual Setup How to Program the Wisecorder Example of use-case Recording Profile Parameters Trigger Parameters Timer Parameters App’s Advanced Features Device Name, Battery Type, Wisecorder Logs USB Logs & Commands List of Available Commands Configuration Files LEDs Firmware Upgrade Technical Specifications...
Page 3 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES...
Page 4 You can program the Wisecorder to target and detect a certain type of animal as just described in the previous example, or you can use it to record the soundscape of a certain environment.
Page 5 Another great example of what Wisecorder excels at, is beam-forming. Thanks to its 4 channels capability, Wisecorder is the perfect tool to be able to determine the coordinates of simultaneous sound sources inside the recording.
Page 6 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Glossary Description Sampling frequency The rate or frequency at which an analog signal is analyzed to determine acoustic delicacies. A higher Sampling Frequency (sampling rate) [Hz/ Khz] results in less difference in forward/backward sounds. Also, the Sampling Frequency determines which is the maximum recordable Frequency, which can be obtained by dividing the Sampling Frequency by 2.
Page 7 (such as audio compression) according to certain rules. Firmware Software installed on the Wisecorder board that enables the microphone recording according to the rules of the Firmware itself. Mono A recording in which there is only one channel, so based on a single microphone.
Page 8: Usb Connection
Power ON Button The Power ON button turns on the Wisecorder. Before turning it on, it is mandatory to insert an SD Card and to supply it with charged batteries. ✋...
Page 9: Stop Button
Once the App is opened, connect your smartphone to the Wisecorder via a USB cable. Only now you can turn on the Wisecorder via the Power ON button.
Page 10: Reset Button
The Reset button is a kill-all switch which immediately cuts off all the power from the Wisecorder. ⚠ WARNING: Do not ever press the Reset Button without first press- ing the Stop Button. Abruptly cutting off the power from the Wisecorder can lead to memory corruption in the SD Card.
Page 11: Quick Setup
Quick Setup The Wisecorder allows, through its “Wisecorder Controller” App downloadable from www.dodotronic.com, to load the recording configuration via a USB con- nection directly from your Android smartphone. The App features a variety of Quick Setup configurations, which can be found under the “File”...
Page 12 Wisecorder [2]. Then follow these steps: • Make sure the Wisecorder is supplied with batteries before setting it up. • In the Settings Tab, select the type and number of batteries that are be- ing supplied to the Wisecorder.
Page 13 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES 1: Quick Setup Conﬁguration List 2: Successful Loading of Conﬁguration...
Page 14 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES 3: Example of Editing the Conﬁguration 7: Send Conﬁg Button...
Page 15: Configuration Diagram
Start Time and a Stop Time, therefore each Timer describes a time of the day during which the Wisecorder will be recording (e.g. from 6 am, 06:00, until 5:30 pm, 17:30). The Timers’ Start Time has to be a time of day that happens prior to the Stop Time.
Page 16 [Trigger Parameters]. A Trigger adds some rules to when the Wisecorder should record. It has a dB threshold value called “Start Recording dB” which tells the Wisecorder which is the minimum intensity the signal has to reach before starting recording.
Page 17: Manual Setup
Custom Configuration and send it to the Wisecorder. How To Program the Wisecorder The Wisecorder allows to program up to 8 Timers, either in “Repeat” or “Scheduling” mode (the mode is the same for all Timers). These Timers all must be configured specifying a “Recording Profile”...
Page 18 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Every day since the Start Date, the Wisecorder will record during the time slots specified by the Timers in the Configuration. • Create a Recording Profile tapping on “Add Recording Profile” • Select the desired parameter values •...
Page 19 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Example of Use-Case Let’s say we want create a Recording Profile to record the birds’ call in the morning and in the afternoon every day. To choose a Sampling Frequency, we have to divide the Sampling Frequency by 2: the resulting number is the frequency corresponding to the highest pitch that we can record using that Sampling Frequency.
Page 20 • Input Type: Single Ended or Differential. • Analog Gain: From a minimum of 0 dB to a maximum of +24 dB, in steps of 3 dB. • If the Wisecorder is turned on, is connected to the App and has a microphone connected on the first channel, it’s possible to...
Page 21 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES • Sampling Frequency: Frequency that will be used in the Analog to Digi- tal Conversion. Available Frequencies: 384 kHz, 192 kHz, 96 kHz, 48 kHz. • Bit Depth: Depth Resolution that will be used in the Analog to Digital Conversion.
Page 22: Trigger Parameters
• HPF 24 kHz • Blindtime: Once the source signal goes above the Start dB threshold, the Blindtime parameters tells the Wisecorder for how long it should keep recording before re-enabling the Trigger. Minimum value of 1 second, maximum value of 15 sec- onds.
Page 23: Timer Parameters
• Stop Time: When the recording will stop, written in form HH:mm • (Only in Repeat Mode) Recording Duration: Inside the time frame de- scribed by Start Time and Stop Time, for how long the Wisecorder will continue recording before going in standby mode.
Page 24 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES • Recording Profile: Which Recording Profile to use to record inside the time frame described by the Timer. (The Recording Profile must be cre- ated before accessing the Timer Creation View) • Trigger: Which Trigger to use to record inside the time frame described by the Timer.
Page 25 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES App’s Advanced Features With the Wisecorder’s Controller App it’s possible to access some additional functions, which we’ll dive into in this following Chapter. Device Name, Battery Type, Wisecorder Logs In the Settings Tab, it’s possible to set the...
Page 26 16: USB Commands file. More details available in the ta- ble in the next page. To request the information via Command Buttons, the Wisecorder needs to be first supplied with battery power, connected to the phone via USB and turned...
Page 27 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES...
Page 28 Recording Outcome: these two numerical values are equal to 0 if no error occurred • Last Recording Duration in Min- utes • Whether the Wisecorder is cur- rently recording • Whether the last recording was Wisecorder Info stopped by the Firmware •...
Page 29 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Command Description Panic list request The Wisecorder replies with the mes- Request Panic List sages generated during the recording session Returns the XML file if present, “N” Check XML Config otherwise” Last recording info request. The Wisecorder replies with the following fields: •...
Page 30: Configuration Files
DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Conﬁguration Files It’s possible to save on your Mobile Phone’s internal memory storage the cur- rent Recording and Settings Configuration, for later retrieval. By default, the App saves all the changes made to the Record Tab and retrieves them throughout different sessions without the need of user intervention.
Page 31 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES 17: File Tab Without Conﬁgurations 18: One Conﬁguration Saved...
Page 32 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES LEDs...
Page 33: Firmware Upgrade
DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Firmware Upgrade Download the FIRMWARE.ENC file from www.dodotronic.com. Store the file in the root directory of a micro SD card. Insert the SD card into the Wisecorder.
Page 34 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Tips & Tricks How to set the right sampling rate? The sampling rate setting is related to what you need to record. According to the Shannon-Nyquist theorem the bandpass must be at least the double of the incoming signal.
Page 35: Technical Specifications
DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES Technical Specifications Recording format Linear PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) format S/N, DR: 109 dB, THD+N: −87 dB (Gain = 0 dB) S/N, DR: 100 dB, THD+N: −86 dB (Gain = +18 dB) Bandwidth -3,0dB 22,8 kHz @fs = 48 kHz -3,0 dB...
Page 36 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES 32 bit integrated ARM Cortex M33 microcon- troller Power 45 mA @ 5V mean power requirement in autonomous recording mode during record- Update Software upgradable via firmware file stored in the micro SD card...
Page 37: Recording Times
Due to the high versatility and the very low noise circuitry, the board can be used in a variety of custom applications. The microcontroller integrated into the Wisecorder, although low-power, allows for AI operations on the recorded audio, enabling sound classification to cate- gorize the acoustic data.
Page 38: Tag Description
The programming of the Wisecorder is managed by the Wisecorder Controller Android App, which generates a configuration file that is uploaded into the SD card of the Wisecorder. The more curious and experienced users can use the following chapter to manually edit the configuration file that is being saved on the SD card.
Page 39 ISO, like: “YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS”, with leading zeros. - “batt_type”: Configures the battery type which are being supplied to the Wisecorder. Specified value must be one of: ALKALINE, NIMH, LITHIUM The sensor setup defines if the sensors on the board or external devices such as GPS are active or not.
Page 40 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES TAG “session” <session index = "1" mode = "SCHEDULING" start_date = "2023-10-22" timer_used = "1,2,5-8" /> The "session" TAG appears only once in the file and specifies the programming mode and recording times. Below are the supported fields: - “index”: Not used, always set to “1”.
Page 41 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES characters for hours and minutes: “HH:MM”, with leading zeros. This is used for both “SCHEDULING” and “REPEAT” modes. - “stop_time”: Specifies the hour and minute to stop recording. It also consists of 5 characters for hours and minutes: “HH:MM”, with leading zeros.
Page 42 This function is useful when you want to save space on the SD card by avoiding recording silences. In this oper- ating mode, the Wisecorder must remain always active, and therefore it will consume energy even when not recording.
Page 43 DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES microphone will continue recording regardless of whether the signal exceeds the start threshold. Values range from “1” to “15” seconds. - “filterHPF”: Applies a filter to the signal before comparing it to the start_db threshold. Specified value must be one from: “Off” (no filter), “HPF_8KHZ”, “HPF_16KHZ”, “HPF_24KHZ”...
Page 44 __________________________ Q: How can I connect the Wisecorder to my own analog recorder? A: Wisecorder doesn’t need a separate recorder and cannot be connected to an analog recorder since the only output is digital (USB). Use the integrated recorder instead.
Page 45: Tips And Tricks
DODOTRONIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES TIPS and TRICKS 1 – Remove the front cap to improve the overall microphone sensitivity and if you place the microphone outside provide a shelter to protect it from rain. 2 – Keeping far from the power the battery supply will reduce the noise due to the switching regulator of the USB converter.
Page 46: Safety Precautions
Safety Precautions Before using this device, read this manual carefully to ensure that you know how to operate the Wisecorder safely and correctly. Be sure to keep this manual on hand so that you can refer to it at any time.