The Minimon file format has been in use since 2000 and is scheduled to be phased out in 2022. It is an ASCII text file format with five sections. The File Type, Start Message Records and End of File Records contain information about the file type, site at which the data was collected, and the time period of data collection. The Interrogation Data Records and Other Record Types contain PIT tag detection records and diagnostic output from the transceivers and antennas, as well as annotations and other messages. The position of values in each line is significant and is used to identify the type of value. Timestamps are expected to be recorded in Pacific Standard Time.
Minimon and PIFF 1 software can be used to create files of this type.
Minimon files consist of five record categories:
•File Type
•Start Message Records
•Interrogation Data Records
•Other Record Types
•End of File Record.
File Type Record
This record is generated by the software on the first line in the file, is a required record, and has the following format:
"FILE TYPE" starting in column 5; a colon (:) in column 36; and "INTERROGATION" starting in column 38.
Start Message Records
Like the File Type record, Start Message Records begin in column 5, followed by a colon (:) in column 36 and the correctly formatted value beginning in column 38.
|
FIELD NAME |
FORMAT |
MANDATORY |
|
FILE TITLE |
SSSYYJJJ.Aaa |
Mandatory |
|
File Titles contain a maximum of 12 alpha-numeric characters. The format consists of a three-character site code (SSS), two-digit year (YY), and three-digit day-of- year (JJJ). The file extension (Aaa) is at least one and no more than three alphanumeric characters. This record is generated by the software on the second line of the ASCII file. This is a required record. |
||
|
FILE CREATED |
DD MONTH YYYY AT HH:MM |
Mandatory |
|
Date and time (e.g./ 24 APRIL 2009 AT 16:45). This record is generated by the software on the third line of the ASCII file. The format is in little endian form, which is common to the vast majority of the world‘s countries. The format is space separated, beginning with the two digit day of the month, followed by the full month name followed by a four digit year, two digit hour based upon twenty-four hour clock time and two digit minutes of the hour. The date and time, in Pacific Standard Time, denotes when passive interrogation monitoring began for this file. This is a required record. |
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|
PROGRAM VERSION |
PROGRAM v# |
Optional |
|
Enter the name of the program responsible for creating the file along with a version number |
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Interrogation Data Records
Individual records, if present, consist of the following required components. Optional
|
FIELD NAME |
FORMAT |
COLUMN # |
|
DATA TOKEN |
"|" (a "vertical bar" or "pipe" symbol, ASCII 124dec./ØH7C) |
1 |
|
PORT ID |
2-char Hexadecimal |
3-4 |
|
DATE |
MM/DD/YY |
6-13 |
|
TIME |
hh:mm:ss (PST) |
15-22 |
|
PITCODE |
14-char (3.10) hexadecimal |
24-37 |
|
TRANSCEIVER ID |
"XX" or FS1001M transceiver ID |
39-40 |
|
ANTENNA ID |
2-char hexadecimal |
42-43 |
Other Record Types
Status and Warning Messages, Optional
Records prefaced with a tilde ("~") in the first column contain information regarding site and transceiver operations.
Annotations, Optional
Records prefaced with an exclamation point ("!") contain manually-appended annotated notes and documentation.
Buffered Records,Optional
Records prefaced with an asterisk ("*") have been downloaded from a transceiver buffer and contain date and time stamps assigned by the transceiver‘s clock.
Blank Lines, Optional
End of File Record
FILE CLOSED DD MONTH YYYY AT HH:MM Mandatory
Date and time (e.g., 24 APRIL 2009 AT 16:45). The format is identical to the FILE CREATED record, beginning with the two digit day of the month, followed by the full month name followed by a four digit year, two digit hour based upon twenty-four hour clock time and two digit minutes of the hour. The date and time, in Pacific Standard Time, denotes when passive interrogation monitoring concluded. This is a required record generated by Minimon on the last line of the ASCII file.
Version: 1.07
Published: 9/6/2023