Song Meter 3 Firmware Release Notes

1.3.4 (2019-03-21)

1.3.3 (2018-02-20)

Adds a serial interface protocol via RS-232 to request and receive status information using the Serial Communication port including timestamp, temperature, voltage, card storage, and rolling bat trigger and pulse counters. Contact Wildlife Acoustics for more information.
Fixes a bug that could cause summary files to become truncated.

1.3.1 (2016-06-16)

1.2.9 (2015-10-13)

1.2.8 (2015-08-20)

Corrected handling of SD cards with non-contiguous free space (fragmentation). If cards are not reformatted at the start of each deployment as we recommend, and instead recording files are deleted while log files are not, then the card can become fragmented. Prior to this release, the firmware was not correctly handling a fragmented card resulting in some free space not being utilized and possible corruption.
Corrected a problem causing the schedule to restart from the beginning during deployments. Under some unusual circumstances, a recorder might wake up and enter the main menu rather than begin the next scheduled recording. After a few minutes, the recorder would time out and start the schedule from the beginning. This may be a problem for some schedules while the issue may go unnoticed for others.

1.2.7 (2015-06-10)

1.2.5 (2015-05-12)

Differentiate between "DIRTY" and "ERROR" cards. A card marked "DIRTY" indicates that a critical write operation affecting the filesystem (typically at the very beginning or ending of a recording) was interrupted due to an unrecoverable error or power failure. The Song Meter SM3 will avoid further use of a "DIRTY" card to avoid further card corruption that could lead to unrecoverable data loss. Prior to 1.2.5, a "DIRTY" card was indicated on the LCD as "ERROR" indistinct from other flash card problems. The "DIRTY" condition can be cleared by accessing (writing) the card on your host computer or by reformatting the card using the SM3 on-board formatting utility.
Improvements to how cards are utilized. Files will now be written more sequentially to cards A through D. Prior to this release, files and sensor log entries were distributed more randomly across cards.
Further improvements to back-to-back triggering reducing turn-around time.
Advanced feature: Added support for 32-bit recording. This feature is specific to certain marine recording applications and is not intended for general use. It only works for acoustic rates (not ultrasonic rates), trigger level must be set to OFF (no triggers), and the recording channel must be set to zero (mono recording on channel zero only). This mode is enabled using the FEATURE program command.

1.2.3 (2015-04-13)

1.2.2 (2015-04-10)

SD card compatibility fixes in 1.2.1 apparently broke compatibility with

some cards that worked before causing "ERROR" messages. This has been

corrected.

1.2.1 (2015-03-23)

Added automatic upgrade of boot code. Version A-1 will be updated to A-3 to fix potential intermittent reliability issues.
Improved handling of ambiguous AT_TIME/AT_SRIS/AT_SSET commands. Recording will now begin immediately, if appropriate, as if the program was started 24 hours previously. This behavior generally is more likely to match the user's intention and maximize recording time.
Improved accuracy of the DMIN and DMAX calculations.
Improved SD card compatibility
Changed built-in programs to have DMAX set to OFF (infinity).
Program AUTO settings are now applied at record time rather than program start time to improve fault tolerance and reduce risk of human error.
Revised the AUTO sample rate calculations. See Program Commands section of User Guide for new AUTO settings.
Fixed problem with native ZC only mode file timestamps, introduced in 1.1.9, causing duplicate file names.
Fixed enforcement of maximum trigger length on two-channel recordings.

1.1.9 (2014-10-16)

Fix possible GPS synchronization bug in which a recording may be marked as synchronized when it is not
Correct microphone calibration mode to read dBVrms. This version will read 1.6dB lower for the 40kHz measurement than prior releases
Implement microphone sensitivity meta data to account for gain
For SM3BAT units, re-ordered built-in programs such that sunset-to-sunrise comes before sunrise-to-sunset

1.1.8 (2014-09-09)

Significant improvements and fixes to native crossing recording

1.1.7 (2014-08-13)

Several performance, compatibility and reliability improvements to accessing flash cards
- Fix problem causing some cards to fail to initialize reliably after power-up
- Fix potential problems that could lead to filesystem corruption under some circumstances
- Improve performance to decrease delays in back-to-back recordings as the number of recordings grows
Improvements to diagnostics

1.1.4 (2014-07-25)

Added a new programming command "FEATURE". This is for advanced use and is not a required command by the program checker. The first parameter is a number from 1 to 16 and the second parameter is OFF or ON. By default, all features are OFF. The only feature implemented initially is FEATURE#01 which, if ON, disables the LED blinking during recording. Thus, you can insert into the top of a program "01 FEATURE 01 ON" to disable the LEDs. This capability may be used to add additional features in the future.
Improved performance of back-to-back triggers.
Added a means to disable file scrubbing (deleting files with no bat echolocations detected) in triggered WAV mode so that no files will be deleted. If DMIN and DMAX are set to OFF then scrubbing is disabled.
Changed built-in program DMIN values to 1.5ms from 2.0ms for better detection of Myotis and other species in cluttered environments.
Fixed a bug when "backing up" to start the schedule immediately with NAP mode or zero crossing enabled, which caused constant "auto- leveling" activity.

1.1.2 (2014-06-13)

Fix problem with recording in stereo WAC format with one triggered and one untriggered channel
Fix problem with LED blink status during triggered recording

1.1.1 (2014-05-28)

1.1.0 (2014-05-09)

Change in manufacturing diagnostics

1.0.9 (2014-04-18)

1.0.8 (2014-04-02)

1.0.7 (2014-03-11)

1.0.3 (2014-03-02)

Initial release