gq-gmc-control

Control tool for the GQ GMC Geiger Counters. This tool provides a convenient cross platform (Linux, Windows & OS X) command line user interface to most of the device features (which are accessible by USB). Currently the GMC-280, GMC-300, GMC-320 and GMC-500 models are supported.

The implementation of the tool is based on GQ-RFC1201 (http://www.gqelectronicsllc.com/download/GQ-RFC1201.txt), and testing done on a GQ GMC-500. It possible some incompatibilities exists with other GQ GMC devices. Any help to test and debug these devices is welcome, and will only improve the quality of this tool.

The following (device) commands are supported:

--device-info Get the device type and revision.

--serial Get the serial number of the device.

--power-on Powers on the device.

--power-off Powers off the device.

--heartbeat Prints every second the CPS (or uSv/h) value until CTRL-C is pressed.

--voltage Get the current voltage of the battery (or power supply).

--cpm Get the current CPM (or uSv/h). can be used in combination with the '--output-in-usievert', '--unit-conversion-from-device' and/or '--output-in-cpm' options.

--temperature Get the current temperature.

--gyro Get the current gyroscopic data.

--data Download all history data and store it to file. Can be used in combination with the '--no-parse', '--output-in-usievert', '--unit-conversion-from-device' and/or '--output-in-cpm' options.

--only-parse Do not download history data, only parse the already downloaded data to a csv file. can be used in combination with the '--data' option to create a csv file with a different file-name, and the '--output-in-usievert', '--unit-conversion-from-device' and/or '--output-in-cpm' options.

--list-config Shows the current device configuration.

--write-config Write a specific device configuration parameter. The following parameters are supported: 'cal1-cpm', 'cal1-sv', 'cal2-cpm', 'cal2-sv', 'cal3-cpm' and 'cal3-sv', the values depend on the type of argument (e.g. '1000' for cpm, '6.45' for us, '0x123' for addresses). Multiple configuration parameters can be provided at once (space separated). Note: this feature is only tested on a GQ GMC-500.

--set-date-and-time Set the local date and time.

--get-date-and-time Get the local date and time.

--send-key Emulate a key-press of the device.

--reset Reset the device to the default factory settings.

--reboot Reboot the device.

The following additional options are provided:

--baud-rate Set the baud-rate of the serial port (default 115200).

--port Set the serial port (default '/dev/ttyUSB0').

--no-parse Do not parse the history data into a csv file, only store the binary data. use only in combination with the '--data' command option.

--config Load command line options from a configuration file.

--output-in-usievert Don't log data in CPM or CPS but in micro Sievert/h. Optionally supply a tuple used as a conversion factor. e.g. '1000,6.50' indicates 1000 CPM equals 6.50 uSievert/h.

--output-in-cpm Log data in CPM or CPS.

--skip-check Skip sanity/device checking on start up. The tool will use it's default settings, if needed use in combination with '--device-type' to override these defaults (recommended when skipping device checking).

--device-type Don't use the auto detect feature to select the device- type, but use the one provided ('CMG-280', 'CMG-300', 'CMG-320' or 'CMG-500').

--unit-conversion-from-device Use the CPM to Sievert calibration values from the device to convert data to uSieverts.

--verbose In- or decrease verbosity.

--list-tool-config Shows the currently used command line configuration options.

--version Show program's version number and exit.

--help Show a help message describing the usage and options of the tool.

Usage Linux

To get the device information the following command could be used:

~/gq-gmc-control$ ./gq-gmc-control.py -i

Which should result (in the case of the GQ GMC-500 device) in: GMC-500Re 1.03

To get all history data in a CSV file:

~/gq-gmc-control$ ./gq-gmc-control.py -d

Which should create a file called 'gq-gmc-log.csv'. The file can be opened in LibreOffice Calc, MS Excel, Matlab or any other tool which handles comma separated data.

Normally no additional option are required to run this tool in Linux. When multiple USB devices are connected the tool might not find the (correct) GQ GMC device. In this case look for an tty USB device by disconnecting and reconnecting your GM GMC device while checking which tty USB device dis- and re-appears:

$ ls /dev/ttyUSB*

Provide the correct device using the '-p' option:

~/gq-gmc-control$ ./gq-gmc-control.py -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -i

When you get access denied errors running this tool, please refer to the INSTALL file and correct group permissions. If problems persist there is always the option to prepend the gq-gmc-control command with the 'sudo' command (not advisable).

Usage Windows

Once the device is connected using USB a virtual com port should be available. Check the 'devices' in the control panel and look for COM & LPT ports. The one you are looking for is called like "USB Serial (COMx)" or "USB CDC (COMx)". Try disconnecting and reconnecting your GM GMC device while checking which device dis- and re-appears. In the examples below we assume the device was connected to COM3.

To get the device information the following command could be used:

C:\gq-gmc-control> C:\Python27\python gq-gmc-control.py -p COM3 -i

Which should result (in the case of the GQ GMC-500 device) in: GMC-500Re 1.03

To get all history data in a CSV file:

C:\gq-gmc-control> C:\Python27\python gq-gmc-control.py -p COM3 -d

Which should create a file called 'gq-gmc-log.csv'. The file can be opened in MS Excel, Matlab or any other tool which handles comma separated data.