Where does the timestamp information of the FP1000 module come from

Question

I am using the FP 1000 module with a serial link to my PC. When I read out data (with help of the Data Socket in VB) I can obtain a timestamp with Data.GetAttribute("TimeStamp", "0:0:0").This timestamp does not change when I change the time of the PC. When and how is it set?

Answer 1

The timestamp for FP-1000/1001 modules are generated by the FieldPoint Server residing on the host computer. The FieldPoint Server synchronizes to the computer's time when the server launches. Once the FieldPoint Server has it's base time, it calculates new times by measuring the elapsed time through the use of tick counts. This makes it insensitive to changes in the computer's time. This method generally is more stable for timestamp information as you do not get jumps in timestamps like you may get if an application is constantly changing the computer's time clock.
The FP-1600 modules have their own onboard clock which is synchronized to a Time Server, a computer running the Lookout Time Synchronization Service. The FP-1600 modules will continually synchronize t
o the Time Server and to some extent will reflect jumps in computer time if it changes more than a certain amount, but small changes are averaged out through a PID loop preventing discontinuities in the timestamp. However, if the FieldPoint Server or OPC Server lose communication with a FP-1600 for any reason, the timestamps returned will be from the host computer's clock as described above for the FP-1000/1001 modules, as long as the server can not communicate to the FP-1600.
Regards,
Aaron