Portable or stand alone data loggers. What's your application?

The need to monitor and document temperature and humidity has created a huge market for chart recorders, and data loggers. One segment of this market is the portable data logger. This useful tool is being deployed in the transportation industry and building engineering in ever increasing numbers. They are battery powered, waterproof, and rugged. One manufacture describes them as, "small, paperless, lightweight, battery-powered, electronic monitoring devices used for data acquisition." They can be programmed to collect temperature samples every few minutes, and at a later date downloaded into a computer where the data appears as a chart for archiving or printing. The portable data logger is a relative recent innovation made possible by the computer industry that has driven the miniaturization of computer chips and other components. The portable data logger can be made as small as a couple of inches in width and length so that they can be placed in a basket of strawberries to monitor the temperature changes while in transit. Tracking the temperature changes in merchandise being transported by trucks has until recent years been impossible. Some fleets were equipped with chart recorders but the results were not satisfactory. Advances in battery technology have also contributed to the improvements in the portable data logger. Data loggers that can operate in the field for up to five years without a battery change are now available which makes long term monitoring of remote locations possible. Increasing government regulations requiring the documentation of temperature and humidity for safety and quality assurance purposes, are driving more and more industries to use chart recorders and data loggers. Expect to see the portable data logger employed in increasing numbers as the price comes down and new uses are found for this very useful tool.