Dragon SCADA: DataTRACS

User Manual
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

CONTENTS

Overview .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Home Screen .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Menu bar ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Configuration Settings ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Configuration Options............................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Use on‐screen keyboard .................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Automatically scale chart axes ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

Add, Select or Edit a company ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

Recording Interval .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Display Interval .................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Chart time window ............................................................................................................................................................................ 6

Company List .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Adding New Company........................................................................................................................................................................ 6

Select a Company for a Data Recording ............................................................................................................................................. 7

Data Tracking ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Changing Sensor Settings ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Changing Sensor Gauge Style............................................................................................................................................................. 8

Changing Sensor Source..................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Advanced Sensor Settings .................................................................................................................................................................. 9

Changing Sensor Layout ....................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Beginning a Data tracking Recording ................................................................................................................................................... 15

Creating a Marker ................................................................................................................................................................................ 16

Pausing the Timeline Chart Display...................................................................................................................................................... 17

Job History ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Job Report ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 19

1
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

Sending a Job Report ....................................................................................................................................................................... 25

Deleting Job Data ............................................................................................................................................................................. 29

OVERVIEW

Providing state‐of‐the‐art data tracking and recording, the Dragon SCADA: Data Acquisition application

Implementing cutting edge data acquisition and analysis concepts, Dragon Products introduces the industry‐leading data acquisition
solution, Dragon DataTRACS. Gain control of your fracking jobs from the safety of a data van and quickly make critical decisions by
accessing Dragon Product’s robust and sophisticated software that has been developed to improve efficiency, accuracy and the
overall experience of traditional data acquisition. This document provides detailed instructions and information to help guide users
through all features and functionality of Dragon DataTRACS. Dragon prides itself in comprehensive solutions and support, for more
information visit dragonproductsltd.com.

2
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

HOME SCREEN

The home screen is divided into several sections related to the different functions in DataTRACS:

 Menu bar
 Data tracking
 Job history
 Software configuration settings
 Recent recordings (if available)

MENU BAR

The menu bar is available on every screen, containing buttons to all the user quick access to the most commonly used features of
DataTRACS.

 Back: Like the back button on an internet browser, clicking this button will return the user to the previous screen.
 Home: The button returns the user to the home screen.
 History: Clicking this button will display a scrollable listing of DataTRACS job recording sessions in the database.
 Job Report: This button will display the job report for a DataTRACS recording session in progress.

3
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

CONFIGURATION SETTINGS

The Settings screen provides access to the DataTRACS configuration options.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

USE ON‐SCREEN KEYBOARD

This button will toggle whether the on‐screen keyboard appears when the user attempts to change a numeric or text value.

AUTOMATICALLY SCALE CHART AXES

This button toggles how the sensor value scale is displayed on charts.

 With the automatic scaling off, the charts will display sensor data values plotted inside a scale of the sensor’s defined
minimum and maximum values.
 With the automatic scaling on, the charts will display sensor data values on a rolling scale defined by the sensor’s recent
actual minimum and actual values, with an added percentage on the upper end as a display buffer.

Example: Pump 1 Pressure sensor was created with a minimum/maximum value range of 0 / 15000.

With the auto‐scale toggle off the timeline chart will look like this:

4
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

The sensor data is plotted with the defined min & max for that sensor. If the sensor value drops to a very low or very high value
then the chart can become difficult to read.

If the auto‐scale toggle is on then the timeline chart automatically contracts (or expands) the chart scale, based on recent sensor
data values ‐ to allow the displayed data to be more easily read. If the example below, if the sensor data value were to increase then
the chart scale would expand to accommodate plotting the larger data values.

ADD, SELECT OR EDIT A COMPANY

Opens the company listing screen (see Company List section for more info).

5
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

RECORDING INTERVAL

The recording interval is the number if milliseconds that DataTRACS will wait between checking sensor new values.

To change the recording interval:

1. Click on the current value in the recording interval text box.

2. To clear the current value, either click the X character in the box or use the keyboard backspace or delete keys.
3. Enter a new recording interval value (in milliseconds).
4. Click the “Save Settings” button.

DISPLAY INTERVAL

The display interval controls how often DataTRACS updates the gauges and charts on the screen.

To change the display interval:

1. Click on the current value in the display interval text box.

2. To clear the current value, either click the X character in the box or use the keyboard backspace or delete keys.
3. Enter a new display interval value (in milliseconds).
4. Click the “Save Settings” button.

CHART TIME WINDOW

The value for the chart time window controls the time range for the amount of visible sensor data on charts. While running in real
time mode, the timeline chart will display a rolling window of time defined by this configuration option.

COMPANY LIST

The company list contains an entry for each combination of customer and operator. For example, a customer might run a
DataTRACS recording session at one site under operator “PetroOp”, then move the recording equipment to another site under
operator “Completion Pumping”; there would be two company entries, one for each operator. Having separate company entries
allows a customer to track specific operator information for a data recording session.

ADDING NEW COMPANY

To add a new company entry:

1. Click the “Add New Company” button. The Add Company screen will be displayed.

6
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

2. In the text boxes provided enter the company and operator information. You can optionally add a company logo by clicking
the “Add/Edit Logo” button and selecting an image file from the computer or a thumb drive.
3. When finished, click the “Save & Back to List” button.

SELECT A COMPANY FOR A DATA RECORDING

The company list can also be used to select a company to begin a new data recording session.

1. Click on a company in the list.

2. Click on the “Start Data Tracks” button.

The data tracking screen will appear and the recording features will be enabled for that company. To begin the recording simply
click on the red “Record” button in the upper right of the screen.

7
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

DATA TRACKING

The Data Tracking screen is the heart of DataTRACS, allowing flexible control of all sensor display and recording functions.

The data tracking screen is composed of various styles of sensor displays along with control buttons for configuring sensor display
and alert levels.

CHANGING SENSOR SETTINGS

The sensor displays on the tracking screen can be changed to a different gauge style or to an entirely different sensor input.

CHANGING SENSOR GAUGE STYLE

To change the gauge type:

1. Click on the sensor display. The sensor info panel will open on the right side of the screen.

8
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

2. Click on a gauge type to select it.

3. Click on the X button in the upper right to close the sensor info panel. The sensor display will be updated to the selected
gauge type.

CHANGING SENSOR SOURCE

To change a displayed sensor:

1. Click on the sensor display. The sensor info panel will open on the right side of the screen, with the current sensor selection
highlighted.

2. From the leftmost column, click on a sensor group to select it.

3. From the middle column, click on a sensor to select for display.
4. From the rightmost column select the unit of measure. Depending on the sensor there may be multiple units of measure
from which to choose.
5. Click on the X button in the upper right to close the sensor info panel. The sensor display will be updated to the selected
sensor.

ADVANCED SENSOR SETTINGS

9
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

Inside the sensor info panel is another panel that allows the user to make more advanced settings to a sensor, such as
minimum/maximum thresholds, sensor calibration, and changing the display name of the sensor.

ALARM SETTINGS

The “alert” and “critical” threshold levels control when a sensor display is highlighted on the data tracking screen. Once a sensor
value reaches a threshold level the background color of the sensor display changes alerting the operator to a possible abnormal
condition.

To view or change the alarm settings:

1. Click on the sensor display in the data tracking screen. The sensor info panel will open on the right side of the screen.
2. Click on the “advanced” table pullout in the upper part of the sensor info panel.

3. The advanced sensor info panel will open up. In the upper part of the panel is the alarm settings.

4. Change the threshold levels by clicking the textbox next to either “alert” or “critical” label, then enter a new value using the
keyboard.

10
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

5. The alert and critical thresholds can be disabled entirely by clicking the “Turn high alarms” button to the right of the
thresholds. Clicking this button will toggle it on or off.

6. Alarms can also be set for low sensor values. To set low alarms click the “Turn low alarms” button to toggle it on, then set
alert and critical values in the text boxes set to those labels.

7. The right side of the alarm settings has toggle buttons to enable (or disable) the display of alarm threshold levels on the
timeline chart on the data tracking screen. When toggled “on” the alarm thresholds appear as dotted lines on the timeline
chart.

11
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

8. Save changes to the alarm thresholds by clicking the “Save Settings” button at the top of the panel.

SENSOR CALIBRATION

The advanced sensor panel allows the user calibrate a sensor by adjusting its raw value up or down by an offset value, returning a
calibrated value for display and recording.

To calibrate a sensor:

1. Click on the sensor display in the data tracking screen. The sensor info panel will open on the right side of the screen.
2. Click on the “advanced” table pullout in the upper part of the sensor info panel.

3. The advanced sensor info panel will open up. In the bottom half of the panel is the calibration section.

12
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

4. “Raw Value” displays the current measurement value for the selected sensor. Click the “Plus/Minus” button to toggle
whether the calibration should adjust the raw value up or down.
5. Click in the text box below “Offset” and enter the adjustment value.

6. If using the on‐screen keyboard, click the hide keyboard button to close it. Then click the “Save Settings” button at the top
of the panel.

SENSOR NAME

Users can change the sensor display name from the default value to one more familiar or in line with their business terminology.

To change the sensor display name:

1. Click on the sensor display in the data tracking screen. The sensor info panel will open on the right side of the screen.
2. Click on the “advanced” table pullout in the upper part of the sensor info panel.

3. The advanced sensor info panel will open up. At the bottom of the panel is the sensor display name section.

4. Click on the current sensor name text box and enter a new display name for the selected sensor, then click the “Save
Settings” at the top of the panel.
5. To return the sensor display name to its default value, the user clicks the “Reset to default” text at the bottom of the panel,
then clicks the “Save Settings” button.

13
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

CHANGING SENSOR LAYOUT

DataTRACS enables the user to select from a variety of sensor representations on the tracking screen, as well as having several
sensors displayed at the same time.

To change the sensor layout:

1. Click on the “Sensor Layout” tab in the upper right of the tracking screen.

2. The sensor layout panel opens to display two columns, the left column for major layout group and the right column for
layout options within the major group.

3. Click one of the major layout group icons to display the layout options for that group. When you find a layout option that
you want, click it. The data tracking screen will switch to that layout.
4. If satisfied with the selected sensor layout click the “Sensor Layout” tab again to close the layout panel. Otherwise, select a
different layout.

NOTE: After sensor layout has been changed DataTRACS will make a best guess on which sensors are to be displayed for that layout.
The user should review the sensors and, if necessary, use the Change Sensor Source procedure to select sensors for display.

14
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

BEGINNING A DATA TRACKING RECORDING

Recording tracking data requires a company to be selected.

1. If the user has not already selected a company from the option on the Settings screen then a company can be chosen on
the data tracking screen via the “Select a Company” button in the upper right of the screen.

2. Select a company/operator from the “Choose company” screen and click the “Start Data Tracks” button in the upper right
portion of the screen.

3. Once a company has been selected and is active the “Select a Company” button on the data tracking is replaced by the
“Record” button and the recording timer.

4. Start the recording by clicking the red “Record” button. This button turns into a white square labeled “Stop”, the recording
starts, and the counter begins counting the hours, minutes and seconds of the recording. All sensor data – including sensor
data not displayed on the screen – is written to the database for later use.
5. To stop the recording click the “Stop” button.

A recording can also be set to run for a specified time, counting down to the end of the recording. To set a timed recording:

1. Follow steps #1 and #2 above.

2. Instead of clicking the “Record” button, click the recording timer.
3. A panel will open on the right side of the screen to allow the user to set recording duration. Set the duration hours,
minutes and seconds using the keyboard or the keypad at the bottom of the panel.
4. When finished entering the recording duration, click the “Return” button on the keypad.

15
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

(To cancel the recording timer, click the X button in the top right of the panel.)
5. After the panel closes, the requested recording duration will be displayed in the timer. Click the red “Record” button to
start the timed recording.

CREATING A MARKER

While a recording is running the user can place a text comment at a selected time in the sensor data stream by added a marker. This
marker function is only available on the timeline chart.

To add a marker:

1. On the chart control, click the marker button.

2. The marker panel will display on the right border of the screen. Click inside the “Description of stage or event” text box and
enter the marker text.

3. You can also optionally adjust the time of the marker using the +/‐ buttons to increment or decrement the marker time.
4. When finished, click the “Save Marker” button at the top of the marker panel. The marker will be displayed on the timeline
chart at the specified time.

16
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

PAUSING THE TIMELINE CHART DISPLAY

The timeline chart can also be paused to allow the user to examine values that may have scrolled off the screen. Pausing the moving
chart can be accomplished by either…

‐ Clicking the Pause button on the chart.

‐ Using the mouse to move the scroll bar at the bottom of the chart.

17
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

In addition to moving the display along the timeline, the buttons at the ends of the scroll bar can also be used to enlarge or shrink
the spread of time displayed on the chart. Making the scroll bar smaller will cause the chart to display a smaller amount of time,
while enlarging it will display a larger range of time.

When finished reviewing data, the user un‐pauses the display by clicking on the chart’s Play button which returns the display to real
time.

18
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

JOB HISTORY

Job history is a manifest of recorded jobs in the DataTRACS database.

The list of jobs is scrollable via the arrows on the right of the listing. Clicking on any of these job recordings will display a job details
section to the right of the listing.

This details section displays a scrollable listing of job info, along with a button that allows the user to delete the recorded data for
that job. This deletion process can be used to remove old job data from the database.

JOB REPORT

19
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

This button will display the job report for a DataTRACS recording session. A job report consists of a mix of:

 Charts displaying recorded sensor data in a graphical format.

 Files of sensor data in comma‐separated values (CSV) format.
 Optional additional data about the recorded job.

Job reports can be viewed on the screen, exported to disk files, and sent to email recipients. Reporting is unavailable when a
recording session is running.

JOB DATA

This screen is separated in sections for:

 Data groups: Classes of data in the job. These groups can be customized for/by the user outside of the DataTRACS
application. Arrows at the top and bottom allow the user to scroll the group list.
 Data detail: Job detail for the selected data group. Like with the groups, this detail can be customized by the user.
 Job summary: A recap of the job data groups and their detail. Arrows at the top and bottom of the section allow the user
to scroll the group list

20
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

To add job detail data:

1. Select a job on the Report History screen to highlight it.

2. Click the “View Job Report” button in the right hand panel. The Prepare Report screen will display.
3. Select a data group by clicking on it, which in turn will display the detail for that group.
4. Add or change the data in the detail fields by clicking on the field, then entering information.

As the user enters detail data it is saved to the database and the job summary panel is automatically updated.

5. Using the method in #4, continue adding or modifying detail data in groups until finished.

CREATING A CHART OR DATASET

Charts provide a graphical view of a job’s sensor data over time; datasets are files of raw sensor data that are exported to disk.

To create a chart/dataset:

1. On the Prepare Report screen click on the “Add Chart or Dataset” button in the right hand panel. This brings up the
reporting wizard screen.

21
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

2. Click one of the “Add Sensor” buttons above the chart view.

3. Click on one of the sensor group buttons along the right side of the screen.

4. Depending on the sensor group, this will open an adjacent listing of sensors for that group. (Example below)

22
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

5. Select a sensor by clicking on it. Depending on the sensor, a unit of measure option may be displayed.

Click on the unit of measure to select a different unit type (if available).

6. When finished with this sensor click the close button in the upper right.

7. The sensor data will be added to the chart.

After the addition of the first sensor to the chart, a list of markers for the job will appear.

23
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

8. Repeat from step #1 to add other sensors to the chart. Each chart can display data for up to eight sensors.
9. By default the timespan for the chart is the entire run time of the selected job. If the user wishes to report on only part of
the total time of the job, then the time window for the chart can be adjusted by using the time bar at the bottom of the
chart window.

To change the report time range drag either handle to a point in time on the bar. As the user drags a handle the time range will
update in the selection window…

…and both the chart and marker list will automatically adjust to the selected time range.

10. When all desired sensors have been added to this chart click in the Title box on the right side pane then enter a title for this
chart/dataset. Each chart is required to have a title.
11. By default, both the graphical chart and the dataset file is enabled for each new chart. To disable one or the other click
either the “Remove Chart” or “Remove Dataset” button on the right side pane. The button will display a gray background
when the option is disabled.
12. When finished click the “Save and Continue” button in the right side pane. After DataTRACS saves the chart/dataset
information and returns to the “Prepare Report” screen where additional charts/datasets can be added to the job report.

DELETING A CHART OR DATASET

When a chart or dataset is no longer desired for inclusion in a job report, it can be removed by de‐selecting the chart and/or dataset
from its chart builder view.

1. Open the job report.

2. In the right‐hand panel, click on the chart/dataset that you want to remove.

24
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

3. When the chart builder view comes up, click on the highlighted chart or dataset buttons on the right to remove them. After
removal the button background color will change from red to gray.

4. Click the “Save and Continue” button at the top of the panel. The chart/dataset will be removed from the display.

SENDING A JOB REPORT

Once a job report has been created it can be sent via email, exported to files on disk, or exported to a USB drive.

To send a job report:

1. Open a job report, either via the Job History screen or the Job Report button in the menu bar.
2. Once definition of all charts/datasets are complete, click the “Confirm Report” button.

3. The application will compile the job report charts, including the job details and a list of event log markers from the job.
4. Click the “Send Report” button.

25
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

5. The Send Report screen will display, offering the various send options.

Decide on a job report output option and see the directions below.

SENDING A JOB REPORT VIA EMAIL

To send a job report through email:

1. At the “Send Report” screen, click the “Send via Email” button.
2. Click in the top “Email Address” text box and enter a recipient email address.
3. Repeat step #2 for each recipient of the job report.
4. After the first email address has been entered, the application will display buttons allowing the user to select the output
types.

5. Reports are written to PDF‐format files; raw sensor data is exported to CSV files. Click either button to highlight it for
creation.
6. When finished, click the “Send Now” button in the upper right of the screen.

26
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

7. After the email send is complete click to the “Done” button in the lower right of the screen to return to the home screen.

SENDING A JOB REPORT TO A USB DRIVE

To export a job report to files on a USB drive:

1. Plug a USB drive (“thumb drive”) into a USB port on the computer or server.
2. At the “Send Report” screen, click the “Send to USB Drive” button.
3. If there is no USB drive detected the following message will be displayed:

4. When a USB drive is detected the application will list it in the middle of screen as an available drive letter for the export.

5. Click the USB drive letter to select it. The application will display buttons allowing the user to select the output file types.

27
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

6. Reports are written to PDF‐format files; raw sensor data is exported to CSV files. Click either button to highlight it for
creation.
7. When finished, click the “Send Now” button in the upper right of the screen.

The application will create the files on the selected USB drive in a folder named for the company for which the job was run.

8. After the email send is complete click to the “Done” button in the lower right of the screen to return to the home screen.

SENDING A JOB REPORT TO A SERVER DRIVE

This function attempts to export a job report to files on a remote disk drive (such as a network share). The local C: drive is not
available as an export destination but attached disk volumes are candidates for export location.

To export a job report to files to a server drive:

1. Plug a USB drive (“thumb drive”) into a USB port on the computer or server.
2. At the “Send Report” screen, click the “Send to Server” button.
3. Available remote disk drives will be displayed in a list in the center of the screen.

9. Click on an available drive to select it. The application will display buttons allowing the user to select the output file types.

28
Dragon Data Acquisition ‐ User Manual

4. Reports are written to PDF‐format files; raw sensor data is exported to CSV files. Click either button to highlight it for
creation.
5. When finished, click the “Send Now” button in the upper right of the screen.

The application will create the files on the selected server drive in a folder named for the company for which the job was run.

6. After the file export is complete click to the “Done” button in the lower right of the screen to return to the home screen.

DELETING JOB DATA

When job data is obsolete, no longer needed, or the recording database is full then the data for a particular recording can be
deleted.

To delete job data:

1. In the Job History screen select the job to be deleted. The background color on the selected job will be highlighted.
2. On the job info panel to the right click the “Delete Job” button at the bottom of the panel.

3. A confirmation screen will appear, verifying whether the user wants to delete the job and all its data.

4. Click on the desired selection. The user will be returned to the job history screen.

29