Status - is the 16-bytes piece of information which CIMEL routinely transmits. Status consists of the "Identificator" byte, and status data as Temperature, Battery Voltage, and different system codes. During normal operation Statuses precede all sequences of measurements or scenarios performed by the instrument in the Auto Mode. The ID byte then identifies the scenario. When abnormal conditions occur, the Status has the troubleshooting information. The ID byte the identifies the nature of trouble.
All statuses can be seen on the report page as "sta*" , where "*" is the ID byte. Please refer to the below tables to determine the meaning of ID bytes.
Abbreviation |
Measurement |
SUN |
Direct sun measurement |
SKY |
Sky radiance measurement |
ALM |
Almucantar sequence |
PP |
Principal plane sequence |
PPP |
Polar Principal plane sequence |
BLACK |
Dark current measurement |
Normal Condition Status |
CIMEL TYPE
(S-standard, P-Polar) |
MEASUREMENT SEQUENCE (scenario) |
staA |
S or P |
3 SUN, 3 SKY |
staB |
S or P |
3 SUN, 3 SKY, 4 ALM, BLACK |
staC |
S |
3 SUN, 3 SKY, 4 ALM, 4 PP, BLACK |
staC |
P |
3 SUN, 3 SKY, 4 ALM, 4 PP, PPP, BLACK |
staD |
S or P |
3 SUN |
staE |
S |
3 SUN, 4 PP |
staE |
P |
3 SUN, 4 PP, PPP |
staF |
S |
3 SUN, 4 ALM, 4 PP, BLACK |
staF |
P |
3 SUN, 4 ALM, 4 PP, PPP, BLACK |
Abnormal Condition Status |
CONDITION |
stab |
S or P |
Robot error |
star |
S or P |
Reset error |
stah |
S or P |
Humidity sensor activated* |
stap |
S or P (version 5.x) |
Sensor head fails to respond to control box communication request. |
stas |
S or P |
Filter wheel error |
* The activation of Humidity sensor does not mean that there is problem with the instrument. It usually only means that the normal auto operation is interrupted due to wet condition, and is to be resumed after the wet sensor gets dry again.
Additional Information
When two statuses occur with no data between them, e.g., STA STA, the filter wheel is not working properly.
Further definitions to read operational transmission information:
Abbreviation |
Measurement |
NSU |
Direct sun measurement |
SSK |
Sky radiance measurement |
ALR |
Right Almucantar sequence |
ALL |
Left Almucantar sequence |
PP1 |
Principal Plane |
PPP |
Polarized Principal Plane |
BLK |
Black Current |
SKY |
Sky Channel Measurement |
PRS |
Seaprism sequence |
!!! |
Transmission or encoding problem; could not read data correctly |
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