Why We've Rebranded and Launched a Dedicated Platform
Slam Stick is a name that is not easily forgotten. Since its introduction in 2014, we have enjoyed hearing the broad range of applications our products have been used in: from the US Navy needing to quickly isolate a vibration issue in an aircraft to bakeries looking to reduce vibrations for more evenly rising bread. We have taken great pride in our Slam Sticks helping fellow test engineers and designers improve or create new systems.
We’ve sold over 8,000 Slam Sticks all over the world to a dedicated customer base made up of both individual buyers and businesses, so you might be wondering why we would want to change a trusted name in vibration and shock testing. It’s a good question. This is our answer:
Despite knowing that name changes and rebranding efforts are difficult, we began to realize that the Slam Stick name was constraining us as the underlying technology continued to advance. Once it became clear that our product was growing and morphing, it became more evident that we needed a new name. Slam Stick described a singular product. What we needed was something that described a measurement and analysis platform.
Shaping and establishing a new name took some thought. At first, we came up with some very literal names, like Mide Sensing Systems and SensorDAQ, but they weren’t memorable enough and were often too generic. This reminded us that we aren’t just all about the technology as those first few name ideas suggested, but that we’re all about the engineering process and helping fellow engineers acquire and analyze data. Because of this, we knew we needed to incorporate engineering into the name. Thus, enDAQ was born.
Slam Stick ≠ enDAQ
One point we want to clarify is that “a Slam Stick” is not “an enDAQ.” enDAQ is the platform that has sensors and software within its ecosystem—it is not the name of the physical recording system.
So, if Slam Sticks can’t be called enDAQs, what will they be called? They’ll be called exactly what they are and what our customers have been referring to them as for years: sensors, specifically enDAQ sensors. Sensors respond to physical stimulus, and that’s exactly what enDAQ sensors do: they measure multiple physical stimuli and, with accompanying analysis software, help the user respond to it. Our sensors help you acquire, analyze, and act!
We’re so excited to announce our new enDAQ platform and to share all the great new things we’ve recently released, have planned, and are developing for the future, but for now, this blog will introduce you to our brand-new website and our new sensors, software, and services.
What's New with the...
From Sensor to Platform
Over the last 5 years we have continued investing heavily in R&D (after all we are development engineers at heart!). We have introduced new embedded sensors (secondary accelerometers, gyroscope for orientation, humidity, light) and improved the original ones with better primary accelerometers (piezoelectric and piezoresistive options). We also have faster response times and a wider range for our temperature and pressure sensors. And we’ve added tons of capabilities to the firmware and software to make the sensors more configurable with intelligent triggering options that give you greater insight with more advanced analysis features.
Along the way we’ve learned that our core competency and technology is not solely as a shock and vibration recorder. We have built a highly configurable and scalable measurement and analysis platform. This platform can be expanded along several axes:
- More sensor options that allow users to connect traditional accelerometers, strain gauges, load cells, pressure sensors, thermocouples etc.
- More communication options with the introduction of data transfer over WiFi, Bluetooth, radio, RFID, etc.
- More power options with larger batteries and external batteries. We’re even going back to our roots and introducing energy harvesting options!
- More analysis features and report generation in our desktop apps and the introduction of a cloud-based app to do analysis in real time around the world.
We will continue to invest heavily in R&D to expand the capabilities of our platform and we have big plans on what products to develop. We want to hear from you and get your feedback to help prioritize these efforts into solutions for you! Visit our roadmap page to learn more.
What's New with the Website enDAQ.com?
Our enDAQ platform emerged from Mide Technology and its engineering services which meant that Slam Stick was just a part of the original Mide website. Now with a dedicated website and accompanying brand we can share even more helpful content:
- There is a whole new education area with detailed articles on measurement and analysis fundamentals.
- Our Help Center is full of all the technical specs we can think of to help you understand how to use our sensors and software.
- The blog has been redesigned and dedicated entirely to the topics of measurement and analysis.
- We launched a community so members can share their test data, analysis reports, and tips.
The new site also makes comparing different enDAQ sensors easier with table-based catalog pages, and our product pages have all the necessary technical content right there—not buried away on a datasheet somewhere. Our software packages, which are free to download, also have their own dedicated area on the site.
Product Names are the Part Numbers
As we’ve said, Slam Stick ≠ enDAQ, and with a new name, comes a need for a new naming convention. In naming our enDAQ sensors, we didn’t want to embark on a big effort of coming up with new product names, especially considering we plan on introducing many new products in the future.
Since we are all about simplifying what has, historically, been needlessly complex, we looked to the automotive industry where the luxury brands use simple alphanumeric identifiers for each of their series. This gives them flexibility to introduce a lot of closely related variants while letting them focus on the strength of the overarching brand name.
So, this is exactly what we did: we created different series of sensors.
Initially we have the S-Series to pay homage to Slam Stick with different numbers (S2 vs S3 vs S4) that define the physical form factor, and a secondary identifier that describes the specific sensor package like S3-E100D40 for a 100g piezoelectric accelerometer and a 40g DC-response secondary accelerometer. Soon we will be launching our W-Series for our wireless products, and in 2020 an H-Series for sensor “hubs” that will allow you to connect external sensors like accelerometers, strain gauges, thermocouples, etc.
Our Help Center provides more information on our product names. We think our customers will appreciate the brevity of this new part numbering convention!
Introducing New Sensors, Analysis Software & Services
With the launch of our website comes the launch of:
- Tom Irvine’s VibrationData Toolbox and accompanying handbook
- Completely revamped electronics in our enDAQ sensors along with a brand new “mini”
- Services to help you get the most value from our sensors and software
- Updated Analyzer software with more capabilities like integration for displacement
VibrationData Toolbox & Handbook
Tom Irvine is a legend when it comes to analyzing shock and vibration data and has a blog chock full of helpful content. He has developed a MATLAB package for signal analysis and structural dynamics and he has given away the source code for free for years. We partnered with him to compile a software package that we’re calling the VibrationData Toolbox. Now you can get the great functionality of this analysis software without a MATLAB license! You can download this for free directly from our website. We also have some helpful articles on how to use it.
We also worked with Tom to publish his new handbook called an Introduction to Shock and Vibration Response Spectra. Don’t let the word “introduction” in the title fool you, though: the handbook is nearly 300 pages long! We published all the content on freely accessible (and searchable) web pages, and at the bottom of all these pages is a form to download the full PDF.
Updated and New enDAQ Sensors
We have spent over a year working on a new processor within the sensor that enables some short-term improvements as well as setting the stage for many future developments (like wireless and onboard processing). The updated sensors include a better secondary accelerometer that now has far greater noise performance. Every device comes with more storage than before and they use less power, so they last longer.
Best of all, we also introduced a new product called the S2 which is even smaller! This model includes two accelerometers and the full range of environmental sensors to help you go in more places to measure your environment. Check out the full lineup of sensor options here!
Paid Services
We’re really excited to start offering paid services to help you get the most out of our platform. Although we designed our platform to be intuitive, we know how testing and analysis can be complex and time consuming. Being a part of Mide means engineering services is in our DNA, so we are really looking forward to partnering with our customers to help them better understand their test data and develop custom solutions to meet their needs.
New Version of Our Analyzer
The Analyzer 1.1 has also been released and includes more advanced analysis functions such as:
- Integration and double integration to get displacement data from acceleration
- Moving metrics such as mean, max, min, RMS, primary frequency to see how these metrics shift throughout a long file
- FindPeaks to provide statistics on the shock/peak events throughout a file such as the number of times a 5g shock event occurred
- Smoothing to clean up the waveforms in plots
- Plot editing to give you the information you need in the way you need it for your analysis reports
Download the latest version here and learn about all the new features: enDAQ Analyzer software.
What's Next?
We’ve been working on our new brand and accompanying new website for a long time. We’re excited to get it out there and start focusing on building this platform for decades to come. We’ve already started on additional developments that include:
- A S-Series sensor (the S5) with a battery that has 4x the capacity of current models
- W-Series sensors that have WiFi connectivity and a battery with 20x the current models
- A cloud app to let you monitor data as its recorded and uploaded by W-Series sensors in real time
We are constantly innovating and looking to advance our platform, we’d love to hear your feedback to help us prioritize these developments! And we’d love to connect with you and hear your thoughts on this new website and new brand name—we hope you are excited as we are!
