All of the DASs, sensors, GPS receivers (used for accurate timing), disk drives, and power generation systems add up to several thousand pieces of equipment to maintain. This is all done at the instrument center. Equipment is checked out before being sent into the field for an experiment, and repaired and/or upgraded when it returns from the field. In addition, special purpose equipment can be designed and built if required for a particular experiment. Equipment built by other groups and companies is also tested at the center.
The photograph above shows several sets of DASs being tested in the pier room.
Welcome to Antarctica! OK, not really. Above is a photograph of the freezer, or environmental chamber if you prefer, that is used to simulate cold weather effects on the equipment. The unit is made by Thermotron, and the temperature in the nearly one cubic meter chamber can range from -70C/-96F to 175C/350F.
Like most scientific endeavors these days, computers are an integral part of seismology. Most of the software that is used to analyze the data collected by the seismic equipment is written and maintained by the PASSCAL programming staff (Hey! That's me! :-). In addition, PASSCAL supplies computer systems that travel along with the DASs and sensors to experiments for analysis of the data while the equipment and the people are still in the field. Above is a photograph of the computer room showing some of the systems that we use to analyze our test data when working on equipment, and some of the computer systems that will be sent out to experiments.
2018-02-08