Historical Background

Common systems have common problems, so in the past it has been felt the need to have a common way to solve such a kind of problems and/or to address future developments and needs. A few people decided finally to meet and start what become afterwards the Quanterra Users Group (QUG). They were initially Joe Steim from Quanterra, Sue McLafferty, Caryl Peterson and Bob Hutt from Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory (ASL), Doug Neuhauser from U.C. Berkeley , Phil Maechling from Caltech, and Tim Ahern from IRIS DMC in Seattle, Washington. After the first one, the QUG meetings have been scheduled once a year, every institution organizing in turn:

• 1993 Quanterra
• 1994 IRIS DMC, Seattle, WA, USA
• 1995 ASL, Albuquerque, NM, USA
• 1996 Caltech, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 1997 ASL, Albuquerque, NM, USA
• 1998 Geophysical Institute, Prague, Czech Republic

With time, the Group got bigger and bigger, involving institutions from all over the world (Japan, Mexico, etc.). It has also established the QUG official FTP site at Berkeley. Last meeting was a special one, because it was the first time that such a kind of meeting was held outside the US. As the organizer, I can tell it was difficult to convince people from the US to travel overseas! But, of course, this has been on occasion to gather people not only from the US, but also from Europe. Let me quote from Joe Steim

The major point of the QUG, in my opinion, is to share information among users and Quanterra with the purpose of operating networks and stations optimally. This implies a flow of information both to and from Quanterra on what's needed from the data gathering organizations' perspectives. We also try to explain what we've implemented to try to achieve these goals. By not spreading our support effort too thinly, and searching for common ground among everyone's desires (inasmuch as that's possible) we all end up with a better product to make and use. I firmly believe that the needs of most organizations are not as divergent as it might appear.

The first 4 or 5 meetings have been in the US, and for each, European users have been in some cases able to attend, but it has been difficult for some. Although our business is dominated by US organizations, there are certainly a number of groups in Europe for whom the goals above are also true. Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Czech Rep., Spain, to name a few. It seemed like a positive suggestion to have at least one QUG meeting to incorporate these folks' ideas and benefit from their participation. We all benefit from good ideas that may be broadly applicable. Bear in mind that the current generation of equipment populating the GSN is the fruit of a Czech idea, developed by US, Swiss, and German scientists, with Italian support! Broad participation in the QUG, wherever it may be, is squarely in the best interest of IRIS and all groups using our equipment.

Agenda / Major items

1. Introduction 8:30-8:45
   A "Welcome to Prague" speech was given by Jan Zednik, the representative from the Institute where the meeting was held. Damiano Pesaresi presented the agenda and coordinated the meeting.

2. Presentation of Quanterra's Products by Joe Steim 8:45-10:15AM
   Currently in Production: Q680, Q4120, Q730
   PCDSRW - Simple Personal Data Acquisition and Terminal Emulation Package.
   Comserv - Open standards client-server suite for real-time acquisition of seismological data which was developed in collaboration with network operators. It is public domain code maintained by Quanterra.
   MultiShear

3. IP protocol in Quanterra Systems: Present and Future.

4. Comserv-Linux demonstration by Winfried Hanka - 10:15-11:00

5. Communications Technology
   A. Nanometrics Libra System - Neil Spriggs 11:00-11:50
   B. Kinemetrics VSAT - KMI VSAT: John Fort 11:50AM-12:00
   C. Integration with Quanterra Systems - Joe Steim 12:00-12:30PM
   D. Spread Spectrum Radios - Bob Busby - 12:30 - 1:00PPM
   Freewave spread spectrum radios used at Cal Tech

6. New Systems and Software/State of the Art: - Joe Steim, Danny Harvey, John Fort - 3PM-4:15PM

7. CTBTO/IMS
   A. IMS stations - Bob Hutt - 4:30PM- 4:45PM
   Auxiliary IMS stations contribute data to help define an event
   Most Auxiliary stations are single stations rather than arrays
   Authentication of data
   B. CTBTO - Rod Stewart 5PM-6:20PM
   Maps of Stations, count of stations were presented
   C. Data Authentication - Pres Herrington 6:20- 7:00PM
   D. Discussion of Scientific Networks and the IMS - Rhett Butler 7:00PM - 7:30PM
   GSN welcomes the use of its stations by the IMS because dual use can benefit both parties. However, there are concerns:
   1. IMS requirements and Operations Manual (Draft)
   2. Sensors
   3. Dynamic Range
   4. Calibration
   5. Operational paperwork
   6. GCI Interface
   7. Authentication
   8. Future upgrades
   9. Network Stabilization
   Day 2 - Friday November 13, 1998
8. 8. Y2K - Millennial Woes, GPS Epoch, and FIR Filter Delays- Joe Steim 8:30AM-9:30AM
   MultiShear, FIR Filter Delays

9. Geodetic GPS data Acquisition under MultiShear - Doug Neuhauser 9:30-10:30AM

10. MultiShear configuration workshop - "keys", "keymacros" - Bob Busby 11:00-1:PM
    Key system file structure

    Types of Q680 Systems:
    * LV - Internal GSP clock and 4 serial ports
    * DV - External GPS clock and 8 serial ports
    * LT - 68000 systems
    * LX - 68000 systems

    MultiShear Status Screen comments

11. Potential Problems and Real Problems with seismic systems - Joe Steim 3PM-4:30

12. Remote Update Procedure - Bob Busby

13. Network Operator Updates
    Geofon (Winfried Hanka), - about 30 stations world wide
    Austria (Peter Melichar) - Oldest Quanterra telemetered network. He has hardware solutions to severe lightning problems. He uses a cascaded lightning protection system.

Next QUG meeting