Geology Independant Study Journal
Chip Yeakey

Last updated: Monday, 02-Dec-2002 10:31:51 EST
12/01/02 Wrote more of the paper, hope to get Jon's oppinion tomorrow.

11/26/02 Began writing the paper to document what i have done in this research and where I have become stuck.

11/20/02 Have gotten responses from some of the academics and the USGS none have had much help to offer. The USGS suggests research universities but I have already asked the folks I could find in that area. Talked with Jon and decided it was time to wrap things up and record what I have found.

11/13/02 Still no word from teh USGS I am resending my questions to them and to a few other academic folks that have done research in the same field or with similar equipment.

11/06/02 I have not found any way to change the baud rate as of yet so I emailing the USGS and attempting to find some information or where to look for it from them.

10/28/02 Opened up the machine and looked around inside. No dipswitch or equivalent seems to be present. I just sent an email to the usgs asking how this should work. Hopefully they will have a few useful comments in the near future.

10/23/02 Attempted to send in a loop and had no luck getting data to show up on the light board. It is also seeming impossible to find anything about how to change the baud rate. On page 75 it has more detailed control sequences that will be helpfull once communication is working. Questions to answer: is there a FAQ or ask the community site out there? Can Ron take our questions with him to GSA?

10/18/02 Shows an error from seismograph when the serial cable is not properly setup. Rechecked data cable, it is together and working fine. Re-Check pg80 instructions to see what all the "MIRROR" stuff is about. How can I set the baud rate???

10/07/02 Working more with G and trying to narrow down what sequence to make things happen. Started steps.txt for keeping track of what to do.

9/30/02 Playing with G character and how to. need to make step by step document and narrow down the different variables. Try sending in a loop and look at cable interface.

9/25/02 Worked with old cabling to try for data. Can not figure out how to send a 'G' to the device to get it to start sending data. Sent email to charlie to hopefully get some help.

9/18/02 Tested cable to see what pins connect to what, seems to be correct for the manuals standards.

9/11/02 Re-organized all my equipment and got a work space claimed in the E&I lab. Hopefully I will not have to go looking for pieces again any time soon.

7/30/02 Talked with charlie and got a good idea of what i can do to move forward some more. THe cable I have should do what i want it will just be a matter of testing it to be sure it works ok and all.

7/27/02 Found commands for the data output I want but they are not making sence, they use keys that are not on the machine. Talking with charlie monday to work it all out.

7/24/02 More screwing around, not any usable data yet.

7/17/02 Finally got data through but not much worth while, will try again to get more worth while info. At this point it is all just 0s and 128s.

7/13/02 Found docs on how to use output, not working yet though.

7/10/02 Possible bad cable, will try to find another.

7/06/02 Got code to read pretty well from other devices, should work for bison if output ever comes across.

7/03/02 Worked on code to attempt to read from device.

6/29/02 Played some more not much luck.

6/26/02 Played some more not much luck again.

6/22/02 Played with things a little, no luck at getting data read but have the storage comandes pretty well down.

6/20/02 It's alive!!! Got it all working with a little resodering of the trigger. Can see data for future analizing.

6/19/02 John got the power suppy and we are going to give it a run in the morning.

6/17/02 Talked with john about getting some time setup for testing outside. He is going to get a power supply and let me know.

6/15/02 Working on data collection from unit. I can't seem to get the unit to register waveforms in my indoor test setup. It may be that i will have to have it acctually set up outside to get the kind of data that I am looking for. I am going to email john to see if he has a good time to do this.

6/08/02 Tryed data sending and readng. No luck yet.

6/03/02 Some more looking at the manual to determine the signaling between the device and the computer.

6/01/02 Some sodering to fix trigger and then organizing the rest of the equipment (untangling and re-wrapping the geophones).

5/31/02 Still more reading.

5/30/02 More reading

5/28/02 Did reading of manual and begun to form plan of how code will be structured.

5/23/02 Got a power supply and found the correct levels, it runs on about 12v and 4.5amps. The first power supply didn't supply enough amps for the device but the second worked fine. The screen and basic behavior looked promising. I also moved the other hardware needed to the E&I lab. The geophones, stringer, trigger cable, and power cables all seem in good shape and ready to go. The trigger does need to be reatached to it's cable.

5/22/02 Got power cable but can't yet find the power supply needed to give the 12v power. I will talk to aaron to see if he can help me find the powere supply he used with stepper motors and possibly talk to the physics people to see what all they have.

5/21/02 Looked some at stuff, realized i will need the cable for the power to the unit. Plan to get it from upstairs today.

5/20/02 Talked some with John about starting up, have hardware in bot lab and geophones are still in 3rd floor closet.

All the work I have done on this project can be viewed in the geo_code directory.
You can contact me at chip@cs.earlham.edu