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SGL (.sgl) Binary Data File Format

This data format was developed to overcome deficiencies in several other binary data formats. The important things to notice in the example given are the variable number of channels and the variable bytes per scan. These two variables allow this data format to store a wide range of data types. A selection of 1 byte per scan would be 8-bit data and the data size for each scan in the table would be 1 instead of 4. A selection of 2 bytes per scan would be 16-bit data and the data size for each scan would be 2 instead of 4. The default selection of 4 bytes per scan is for 32-bit data.

*Example SGL 4-byte (32-bit) 4-channel 4-scan Binary Data File*
Section	Start Byte	End Byte	Data Value	Data Type	Byte Ordering	Data Size (Bytes)
Header	0	3	Number of channels	Integer	low-byte-first	4
Header	4	7	Bytes per scan (1-16 default 4)	Integer	low-byte-first	4
Header	8	11	Scan rate	Float	low-byte-first	4
Header	12	75	Acquisition Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	76	83	Channel 0 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	84	91	Channel 1 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	92	99	Channel 2 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	100	107	Channel 3 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	108	171	Channel 0 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	172	235	Channel 1 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	236	299	Channel 2 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	300	363	Channel 3 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	364	427	Channel 0 Name	String	ASCII	64
Header	428	491	Channel 1 Name	String	ASCII	64
Header	492	555	Channel 2 Name	String	ASCII	64
Header	556	619	Channel 3 Name	String	ASCII	64
Data	620	623	Channel 0 Scan 0	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	624	627	Channel 1 Scan 0	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	628	631	Channel 2 Scan 0	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	632	635	Channel 3 Scan 0	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	636	639	Channel 0 Scan 1	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	640	643	Channel 1 Scan 1	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	644	647	Channel 2 Scan 1	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	648	651	Channel 3 Scan 1	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	652	655	Channel 0 Scan 2	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	656	659	Channel 1 Scan 2	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	660	663	Channel 2 Scan 2	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	664	667	Channel 3 Scan 2	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	668	671	Channel 0 Scan 3	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	672	675	Channel 1 Scan 3	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	676	679	Channel 2 Scan 3	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4
Data	680	683	Channel 3 Scan 3	Float (default)	low-byte-first	4

*Example SGL 2-byte (16-bit) 4-channel 4-scan Binary Data File*
Section	Start Byte	End Byte	Data Value	Data Type	Byte Ordering	Data Size (Bytes)
Header	0	3	Number of channels	Integer	low-byte-first	4
Header	4	7	Bytes per scan (1-16 case 2)	Integer	low-byte-first	4
Header	8	11	Scan rate	Float	low-byte-first	4
Header	12	75	Acquisition Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	76	83	Channel 0 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	84	91	Channel 1 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	92	99	Channel 2 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	100	107	Channel 3 Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8
Header	108	171	Channel 0 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	172	235	Channel 1 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	236	299	Channel 2 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	300	363	Channel 3 Information	String	ASCII	64
Header	364	427	Channel 0 Name	String	ASCII	64
Header	428	491	Channel 1 Name	String	ASCII	64
Header	492	555	Channel 2 Name	String	ASCII	64
Header	556	619	Channel 3 Name	String	ASCII	64
Data	620	621	Channel 0 Scan 0	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	622	623	Channel 1 Scan 0	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	624	625	Channel 2 Scan 0	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	626	627	Channel 3 Scan 0	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	628	629	Channel 0 Scan 1	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	630	631	Channel 1 Scan 1	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	632	633	Channel 2 Scan 1	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	634	635	Channel 3 Scan 1	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	636	637	Channel 0 Scan 2	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	638	639	Channel 1 Scan 2	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	640	641	Channel 2 Scan 2	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	642	643	Channel 3 Scan 2	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	644	645	Channel 0 Scan 3	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	646	647	Channel 1 Scan 3	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	648	649	Channel 2 Scan 3	Short	low-byte-first	2
Data	650	651	Channel 3 Scan 3	Short	low-byte-first	2

*SGL Header Variable Descriptions*
Section	Data Value	Data Type	Byte Ordering	Data Size (Bytes)	Description
Header	Number of channels	Integer	low-byte-first	4	Stores the number of channels
Header	Bytes per scan (1-16 default 4)	Integer	low-byte-first	4	Bytes per scan changes the number of bytes and the data type of the stored data scans
Header	Scan rate	Float	low-byte-first	4	The rate that every channel is sampled or scanned
Header	Acquisition Information	String	ASCII	64	Acquisition information like start time stamp in YYYYMMDDHHmmss format and other notes
Header	Channel N Calibration factor	Double	low-byte-first	8	The calibration factor used to go from counts to volts or volts to Eus
Header	Channel N Information	String	ASCII	64	Extra channel information like gauge number, frame number, bulkhead number, or location
Header	Channel N Name	String	ASCII	64	The name of the channel; unused trailing characters should be the null character '\0'