APPQARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMPRESSING MEASUREMENT DATA CORELATIVE TO MACHINE STATUS

A method and apparatus for compressing, storing and transmitting measurement data correlative to machine status is disclosed in which the measurement data is continuously sensed, sampled and processed to extract significant spectral elements including magnitude and phase information from each successive period of the originally measured data and to store those spectral elements in a memory means from an initial period of significant spectral elements and each successive period of significant spectral elements which have changed since the previous period for developing a compressed data history correlative to a continuous history of the status of the machine being monitored and from which continuous signals can be regenerated and analyzed for any earlier historical time.