Log.html  (Mostly just a reference for me.  Not exciting reading.)                            To-Do List                                Links

 

• 2008/06/19 01:04 UTC - Turned off glitch removal.  No luck getting rid of top-of-hour or Amaseis restart spike. Saw artifact on TCP remote Amaseis station and am seeing if glitch removal is responsible.  Never saw it before turning it on.
• 2008/06/19 01:14 UTC – I see I’m still having problems with the structure in this (raw Amaseis data) directory.  Didn’t seem to be able to get “upload.exe” to work with  no entry in FTPUploadPath=, so I put in a “/”.  First time I did this it put it in the root like I wanted.  Second upload it made a new directory named ../.  I’ll figure it out, but structure may change again.
• 2008/06/20 – Installed old version of Snag-It and started it doing screen captures every 10 minutes for posting to this site.
• 2008/06/20 – Abandoned idea of posting Amaseis data files to this site.  Amaseis upload utility “upload.exe” uploads data files to site but does not have the capability to format the files into the directory structure necessary for direct use by Amaseis. Choices are either write server side code to re-create the directory  structure, or to use 3^rd party ftp upload application that preserves structure from host machine.  Putting this on back burner for now.
• 2008/06/20 23:32 UTC – Took system down for a few minutes to open vault and install a jar of silica gel desiccant.
• 2008/06/22 16:50 UTC - Operating 3500lb end loader within 6 feet of seismo vault for next several hours.
• 2008/06/23 ~23:00 UTC - Taking offline and pulling instrument to re-set sampling rate to 33sps per recommendation from Dave Saum.
• 2008/06/24 22:22 UTC - First positively identified quake detected, an  M2.9 215 miles south of here near site of "big" Illinois quake last month.
• 2008/06/24 ~23:00 UTC - Taking offline again for more extensive troubleshooting.  Was only able to achieve 12.33sps yesterday.
• 2008/06/25 ~00:00 UTC - No luck achieving sampling rate above 12.33 sps.  Reset unit to 8.7 sps pending further discussion. Re-installed instrument.
• 2008/06/25 - Having trouble getting Snag-It to automagically re-initialize upon re-start, resulting in 10 per min captures not happening.  Working on it.
• 2008/06/25 - Amaseis data files now updating via AutoFTP to this site in proper directory structure allowing me to access the data via the "stations.exe" application through the use of a custom entry in my "IRISEdStations.xml" file. [edited]  Having same problem with AutoFTP as I am with Snag-It, i.e., automatic re-initialization of operating sequence following reboot. I guess I'll be writing some inelegant and failure prone timed keyboard scripts.
• 2008/07/02 - Will be changing configuration in next few days preparatory to moving instrument 900 feet further away from road that is responsible for most of the noise. Configuration change will consist of moving monitoring computer into house, and linking it to the instrument via a pair of Lantronics UDS-100 CoBoxes (RS-232/Ethernet converters). Ethernet link between CoBoxes will be via an 802.11G WIFI link. If this is successful, it will reduce my instrument end power consumption down to under 6 watts making solar power of the remote equipment feasible (on my budget).
• 2008/07/02 - Helicorder capture images now linked from  http://www.iris.edu/amaseis/schools/index.phtml.
• 2008/07/05 02:22 UTC - Detected M 7.7 In Sea of Okhotsk.
• 2008/07/05 18:37 UTC - Switched RS-232 link between instrument and computer to RS-232/Ethernet/Ethernet/RS-232 as outlined in 2008/07/02 entry above.  WIFI part of link not yet implemented.
• 2008/07/08 15:29 UTC - WIFI link implemented. Monitoring computer is now remote from instrument. Main concern with this setup is time inaccuracies introduced by skewing of Amaseis sample rate measurements caused by collisions on this busy LAN. Significant inaccuracies could be observed during first hour of monitoring when Amaseis computes it's timebase based upon a 10 second sample during initialization. I expect subsequent hours to be accurate because Amaseis will re-adjust it's timebase based upon the total samples received during the previous hour.
• 2008/07/09 01:42 UTC - First try with WIFI link failed. Although it basically worked, high amplitude artifact showed up on the helicorder display for about 2.5 minutes every 30 minutes.  Could be caused by heavy network traffic or at least be related to it, although I don't really understand why it would manifest itself that way. To try and solve this problem I have moved the entire serial link to a dedicated network separate from the main LAN.  I also installed a second NIC  in the monitoring computer so that I will have a way to administer the equipment (2 CoBoxes and 2 Wireless clients) on that network.
• 2008/07/12 02:35 UTC - Installed UPS at the head-end and wrote and installed an upload sequence startup script for Snag-it and AutoFTP using AutoHotKey.
• 2008/07/13 13:00 UTC - Unexplained system lockup at top of hour. Second occurance. Didn't catch it for 15 hours. If this happens again I'll start troubleshooting.
• 2008/07/30 02:40 UTC - Installed UPS at instrument end. Should be immune to power failures now as all equip and network have UPS coverage sufficient to bridge to generator pickup at T+30sec. (I can't help it, I'm an emergency IT systems guy.)
• 2008/07/31 - BSODs continued occasionally. First tried removing drivers for newly added NIC, no help.  Then completely removed new NIC.  Problem seemed to go away till today when I experienced another lockup after about 10 days of un-interrupted operation. Best guess at this point is that one of the many programs that facilitate image and data upload are misbehaving. Not sure what to do about this at the moment beyond just seeing what happens.
• 2008/07/31 - General update. I have pretty much abandoned the solar power idea.  Even if I get my instrument power consumption down to 3-4 watts, the PV panel requirements will be 25+ watts to see the system through long overcast periods.  The cost of 25-40w PV panels coupled with the problems associated with mounting several square feet of solar panels in close proximity to a cheap seismometer installation (seismic wind noise coupling) has me searching for another solution.  Best one presenting itself is another site about 1800 feet SW that has power, placing the instrument about 2000 feet from the nearest major highway. I should have no problem linking the 802.11 that far given the "unlimited" power availability.
• 2008/08/15 - Major overhaul coming. No luck getting rid of crashes, seems to be a hardware problem. Good news is that since machine is now housed in a climate controlled environment, I have many choices on what type of machine I can use, so will be replacing with something a decade or so newer and running XPPro.
• 2008/09/3 - New computer obtained, in process of setting up.  Hope to have online by  9/7.