Onset Computer Corporation
Onset Computer Corporation is an American company that designs and manufactures data loggers, wireless monitoring devices, and weather stations. Headquartered in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States, Onset was founded in 1981 to market data logging products.
Used worldwide, Onset products include stand-alone data loggers, technology for building wireless sensor networks for both indoor and outdoor applications, and remote weather stations. Additional products include web-based energy monitoring software, energy monitoring and targeting systems, time-of-use net metering, sensors, and communication networks. These products help researchers and engineers monitor temperature, light, electricity, and other variables. Data collected is used to study and verify green building performance, renewable energy systems, agricultural practices, water quality, and coastal areas.
History
Onset was founded by Lon and Ellen Hocker, MIT and Harvard professors respectively, in North Falmouth, Massachusetts. The company’s first commercially successful product was a C44 bus. Onset's next popular product, launched in 1981, was a low-power portable data logger called the Tattletale. Tattletales were used in a broad range of applications, including monitoring ocean parameters on buoys and tracking performance of Indy Cars.
Soon after the Tattletale was launched into the marketplace, commercial and educational organizations requested that Onset design data logging devices for their specific monitoring applications. Onset soon increased its staff to twelve.
Between the years of 2007 and 2012, Onset’s revenue increased steadily. This increase in sales is mainly attributable to growing concerns for climate change. As a result of environmental interests, demand for energy monitoring and green building initiatives has steadily risen across the globe.
Onset Timeline
1981 - Founded by Ellen and Lon Hocker
1991 - Developed first HOBO device and purchased 10,000 sq. ft. facility
1997 - Purchased 40,000 sq. ft. facility
1998 - Developed first data shuttle
2002 - Established market for mid-range, research-grade weather stations
2004 - Launched the first HOBO Energy Logger (15-channel modular energy monitoring system)
2005 - Developed HOBOware cross-platform data logging software
2006 - Sold one millionth data logger
2007 - Introduced the HOBO U30 Remote Web-based Monitoring System
2009 - Launched the HOBO ZW wireless data node system
2011 - Celebrated 30th anniversary with over two million data loggers sold
2012 - Introduced the first HOBO UX90 time-of-use data loggers and the HOBO U26 Dissolved Oxygen Logger
In 2012 Onset employed 125 people and had sold over 2 million data loggers worldwide.
Products
A data logger is a battery-powered device, equipped with an internal microprocessor, data storage, and one or more sensors. Before deployment, a data logger is pre-programmed and then placed in a testing location, where it reads and records a desired measurement.
Onset’s data logging products are used for field research, water monitoring, and building performance monitoring. Specific examples of field research applications include compiling sea temperature statistics, tracking river water conductivity levels, and monitoring localized weather parameters to measure their impact on ecological life. In addition, NASA researchers rely on relative humidity and temperature HOBO data loggers to study microbial grown in space.
Specific examples of water monitoring application include assessing the impact of urban development and agriculture on water resources and monitoring rain garden performance. Specific examples of building performance monitoring applications include ascertaining heating water temperatures’ impact on airport interior temperatures, determining industrial equipment energy use, and maintaining interior comfort levels using temperature and relative humidity data. Onset’s data logging products have also been used for wind turbine site evaluation in Boston, Massachusetts.