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A distributed control system has a plurality of distributed field devices, each of which contains a transducer and a wireless transceiver. The distributed control system includes a base station transceiver, a database and a virtual transmitter application in communication with the database. Each fie

A distributed control system has a plurality of distributed field devices, each of which contains a transducer and a wireless transceiver. The distributed control system includes a base station transceiver, a database and a virtual transmitter application in communication with the database. Each field device transmits and receives data via wireless signals between the communications boards and the base station. The data is stored in the database for later retrieval and evaluation by the virtual transmitter application. The deployed field device senses information and transmits the sensed information wirelessly to a base station. The sensed information is stored in memory on a computer system, and programmatically groomed to provide a measurement value, upon request by a user.

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The invention claimed is: 1. A method of monitoring a distributed system having a plurality of deployed field devices and at least one computer at a control room, each field device containing a transducer and a wireless transceiver, the method comprising: sensing information with the deployed field

The invention claimed is: 1. A method of monitoring a distributed system having a plurality of deployed field devices and at least one computer at a control room, each field device containing a transducer and a wireless transceiver, the method comprising: sensing information with the deployed field devices to produce ungroomed digital transducer data; wirelessly transmitting the ungroomed digital transducer data from each field device to a base station; receiving the transmitted information ungroomed digital transducer data from each field device at the base station; storing the received information ungroomed digital transducer data in a database on a computer network; storing in the database, for each field device, secondary information needed to groom raw data from that field device; running a virtual transmitter application program on a server connected to the computer network, the server being remote from the field devices; receiving at the server a request by a computer at the control room for a measurement value from a selected field device; retrieving to the server from the database stored ungroomed digital transducer data generated by the selected field device and the stored secondary information for the selected field device; programmatically grooming at the server the stored ungroomed digital transducer data with the virtual transmitter application using the stored secondary information to derive the measurement value; and transmitting over the network the measurement value from the server to the computer at the control room that requested the measurement value. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: evaluating the measurement value against a predetermined parameter value; generating an output signal; and transmitting the output signal. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the output signal is a display code, and wherein the step of transmitting the output signal comprises: transmitting a display code to a selected field device for display on a field device display. 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the output signal is an adjustment signal, and wherein the step of transmitting the output signal comprises: transmitting the adjustment signal to a selected field device for altering a parameter associated with the selected field device. 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the output signal is an alarm signal. 6. A distributed monitoring system comprising: a plurality of field devices, each field device comprising: a transducer for producing raw digital data based upon a physical measurement of a sensed parameter, the raw digital data being ungroomed; and a wireless transceiver for wirelessly transmitting the raw digital data; a base transceiver for receiving the transmitted raw digital data from each field device; a file for storing the raw digital data for each field device and for storing secondary information needed to groom the raw digital data from that field device, the file being accessible over a network; and a server on the network, the server being remote from the field devices and having a virtual transmitter application for retrieving, upon a request received over the network from a computer at a control room, the stored raw digital data and the secondary information, generating a measurement value having a recognizable relationship to the sensed parameter for each field device identified in the request by grooming the stored raw digital data using the stored secondary information for that field device, and transmitting the measurement value to the computer at the control room that made the request. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the measurement value is calculated by inserting the raw digital data and the secondary information into an equation. 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the raw digital data is a raw A/D count derived from the transducer. 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the wireless transceiver transmits the raw digital data over control channels of a wireless communications link. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the wireless communications link is a link on a packetized routing network. 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the wireless communications link is a link on a circuit switched network. 12. The system of claim 6, wherein the wireless transceiver is selected from the group consisting of a cellular communications circuit, a digital communications circuit, an infrared communications circuit, and a IEEE 802.11b compatible wireless communications circuit. 13. The system of claim 6, wherein the virtual transmitter application comprises: a plurality of software applications in communication with the database. 14. The distributed monitoring system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of software applications performs pattern recognition algorithms on the raw digital data stored in the database. 15. The system of claim 6, wherein the field devices are battery powered. 16. The system of claim 6, wherein the virtual transmitter application further comprises: an alarm function for generating an alarm signal when the raw digital data deviate from predetermined parameters. 17. The system of claim 6, wherein the base transceiver transmits display information to the wireless transceiver for display on a display of the field device according to a request from a user. 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the virtual transmitter application calculates the display information using the secondary information to evaluate the stored digital data against one or more tables of values. 19. The system of claim 6, wherein the virtual transmitter application comprises: diagnostic applications for programmatically selecting and retrieving digital data and for comparing the digital data against predetermined values. 20. A method of monitoring a distributed system having a plurality of deployed field devices, each field device containing a transducer and a wireless transceiver, the method comprising: sensing a parameter with one of the deployed field devices to produce raw digital data; wirelessly transmitting the raw digital data from the field device to a base station, the raw digital data representing an ungroomed numerical value produced by a physical measurement of the parameter taken by the transducer; receiving the measurement information from the field device at the base station; storing the raw digital data in memory on a computer network; storing secondary information for each field device in memory on the computer network; programmatically grooming, upon request from computer at a control room, the stored raw digital data to derive a measurement value representative of the parameter, the grooming being performed by a virtual transmitter application running on a server on the network using the stored secondary information for the field device that produced the stored raw digital data, the server being remote from the field devices; and transmitting the measurement value over the network from the server to the computer at a control room that made the request. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of programmatically grooming the stored measurement information comprises: retrieving the stored raw digital data from the memory; programmatically calculating the measurement value from the stored raw digital data according to a grooming equation. 22. The method of claim 20, further comprising: evaluating the derived measurement value against predetermined parameter values; generating an output signal; and transmitting the output signal. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the output signal is a display code, and wherein the step of transmitting the output signal comprises: transmitting a display code to the field device for display on a field device display. 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the output signal is an alarm signal. 25. A distributed system comprising: a distributed network of field devices, each field device having a transducer and an associated first wireless transceiver for transmitting wireless signals comprising raw digital data representing an ungroomed numerical value produced by a physical measurement made by the transducer; a second wireless transceiver for receiving the wireless signals; a database for storing the raw digital data based on the wireless signals received by the second wireless transceiver and for storing secondary information associated with each field device; and a virtual transmitter application running on a server connected to a network at a location remote from the field devices for retrieving from the database the stored data and secondary information associated with each field device, for generating on request from a computer at a control room a groomed measurement value based on the raw digital data and secondary information, wherein the transmitter application grooms the raw digital data according to the secondary information, and for transmitting the measurement value over the network to the computer at the control room making the request. 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the raw digital data comprises: a raw A/D count derived from the transducer. 27. The system of claim 25, wherein the first wireless transceiver is selected from the group consisting of a cellular communications circuit, a digital communications circuit, an ultra-wideband communications circuit, and free space optics communications circuit. 28. The system of claim 25, wherein the wireless signals are transmitted using control channels of a wireless communications link. 29. The system of claim 25, wherein one or more of the field devices are powered using energy conversion devices. 30. The system of claim 25, the transmitter application further comprises: an alarm function for generating an alarm signal when the measurement value deviates from predetermined parameters. 31. The system of claim 25, wherein the wireless signals are transmitted using a circuit switched network. 32. The system of claim 25, wherein the wireless signals are transmitted using a packetized routing network. 33. The system of claim 25, wherein the second wireless transceiver transmits display information to the first wireless transceiver for display on a display of the field device according to a request from a user. 34. The system of claim 33, wherein the transmitter application calculates the display information using the secondary information. 35. The system of claim 25, wherein the transmitter application comprises: diagnostic applications for programmatically selecting and retrieving digital data and for comparing the data against predetermined values. 36. The system of claim 25, wherein the transmitter application comprises: a plurality of software applications in communication with the database. 37. The system of claim 36, wherein at least one of the plurality of software applications performs pattern recognition algorithms on the digital data stored in the database. 38. A method of monitoring a distributed system having a plurality of deployed field devices, each field device containing a transducer and a wireless transceiver, the method comprising: sensing a parameter with one of the deployed field devices to produce raw digital data; wirelessly transmitting the raw digital data from the field device to a base station, the raw digital data representing an ungroomed numerical value produced by a physical measurement of the parameter taken by the transducer; receiving the measurement information from the field device at the base station; storing the raw digital data in memory on a computer network; programmatically grooming, upon request from a computer at the control room, the stored raw digital data to derive a measurement value representative of the parameter, the grooming being performed by a virtual transmitter application running on a server on the network, the server being remote from the field devices; transmitting the measurement value over the network from the server to the computer at the control room that made the request; evaluating the derived measurement value against predetermined parameter values; generating an adjustment signal; and transmitting the adjustment signal to the field device for altering a parameter associated with the field device.