ANU Seismic Data Loggers

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ANU has designed and built three generations of seismic data recorders, two of which (the small yellow TerraSAWR and the larger beige LPR-200) are still in use today. Despite their contrasting appearance, they both use the same software, data cards, and have the same instrument response.

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= Power Considerations =

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Both the LPR-200 (or "Low Power Recorder" 200) and TerraSAWR are designed to use as little power as possible, and more or less use the same amount of power.

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At 100 Hz and with a GPS cable connected these loggers draw about 220 mW of power once the screen is off (higher sample rates draw more power but only marginally, < 5mW). Adding a sensor (e.g. a Trillium Compact 120) increases this to approximately 400 mW, or 0.4 volt-amps. So, in theory 7 Ah battery should last about 10 days without a solar panel, but in practice it seems to be a bit closer to 8 which may be due to variability in power drain while in getting GPS locks.

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For very sunny environments (latitudes < 30) a 20V 10 Watt solar panel should have no issue keeping these loggers alive over the summer months, and assuming unobstructed skies should also be fine over winter. However there is no harm in using 20 or even a 40 Watt panel, especially for high latitudes, coastal regions, or areas without a full sky view. In theory up to a 60 Watt solar panel is fine, but we don't recommend anything over 40 Watts and that amount of power is already overkill.

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Power issues are easy and cheap to solve relative to the cost of your experiment, don't skimp!

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= Data Card Formatting and Information =

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Both the TerraSAWR and LPR-200 require SD Cards to be formatted in FAT32 filesystem. For 64Gb cards it can be difficult to format in FAT32, but [[software >>http://auspass.edu.au/field/fat32cardformatter.exe]]is available. ANU recommend SanDisk Extreme 150 mb/s cards in either 32 or 64Gb size. We strongly discourage using cards larger than 64Gb, and in general smaller cards are less likely to fail. We have also found that "adapter" cards (e.g. SD to microSD) are prone to having write issues and **strongly** advise against them.

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The loggers can be "pre-programmed" with information (e.g. site name, sampling rate, etc) or they can be programmed in the field using the buttons on the logger. To pre-program the cards you simply edit a text file (named "[[ANUSRSetup.txt>>http://auspass.edu.au/field/ANUSRSetup.txt]]" for the LPRs, or "[[tSAWRSetup.txt>>http://auspass.edu.au/field/tSAWRSetup.txt]]" for the TerraSAWRs) and place it in the root directory on the SDCard. When the logger boots up, it will parse and load this information.

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== The format for ANUSRSetup.txt / LPR200s will be a single line of text that looks like this: ==

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{{{XXX195G0100010034864 2 }}}

//corresponding to//

site **XXX19**,

network **5G**,

sample rate **0100**, (i.e. 100 Hz)

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"gps interval" **01** (once per hour~-~- don't change),

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start mode (always **0**),

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stop mode (always **0**),

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seismometer type (**3** = broadband (+/- 20V), 2 = Guralp (+/- 10V), 1 = shortperiod (+/- 5V),

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and seismometer serial number (**4864**).

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NOTE: the 2 at the very end is for "RECORD ON RESTART". The record on restart option ensures that if the logger dies and is powered back up whilst in the field (due to battery charging cycles or other causes) that the recording will resume. (# of blank spaces before this doesn't matter)

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== The format for TSAWR loggers is shorter: ==

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**NOTE: The format is shorter as they don't have an option to set the "GPS sync". The GPS sync number should be omitted otherwise the formatting will not work!**

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SITE15G02500039999 2

corresponding to site SITE1,

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network 5G

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sample rate 0250, (i.e. 250 Hz)

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start mode (always 0),

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stop mode (always 0),

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seismometer type (3 = broadband (+/- 20V), 2 = Guralp (+/- 10V), 1 = shortperiod (+/- 5V),

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and seismometer serial number (9999).

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== The formatting process using the logger: ==

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The process for formatting an SD card within the logger is straightforward. Navigate to the "SD INFORMATION" screen and press ERASE SD CARD. This process may take up to a minute. This will result in erasing all files from the card. Upon starting recording, a new 'seed' will be written containing all the information that the logger has been set with FINISH THIS SECTION

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[[image:original_0747763c-e3dd-4667-b897-833f12c8e0b8_20241219_130604.jpg||height="240" width="298"]]

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Here is a general guideline for how much data you can expect to fit on a card:

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{{{ 64Gb card: 245 days @ 250hz or 610 days @ 100hz

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32Gb card: 122 days @ 250hz or 305 days @ 100hz

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}}}

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== Default Settings ==

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As of 2025, the default settings for both LPR (v. 2.7) and TSWAR (v 3.6a) loggers are below. If you're using a broadband instrument, you are essentially good to go without having to program the cards.

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* XX.ANUSR network and station name

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* 100 Hz Sample Rate

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* 40V pp (or +/- 20 V) gain / Trillium Compact seismometer version

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* Record on Restart enabled

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Note that if a user sets the gain incorrectly, this can be fixed later (assuming nothing clipped) by multiplying or dividing by factors of 2. The gain setting can be looked up from the logfile, else you may have to guess from a PSD or other method.

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= Logger Menus Overview (and setup) =

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The same menus are used in both the TSAWR and LPR-200 loggers.

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== System Information ==

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This menu provides an overview of the status of the station. Under 'Initialisation Parameters', the status of systems that are initialised upon powering on the logger can be checked.

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This menu also displays the firmware version, battery, external, and solar voltages, and the temperature of the system.

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* Check all Initialisation Parameters are marked as successful.

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* Check that solar voltage is above 10 V, otherwise the station will not last long.

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== Live Seismometer Data ==

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This screen displays real time seismometer data for all 3 axes of the seismometer. Initially, a plot of raw data from all 3 channels is shown. By pressing enter, a high pass filter can be applied showing a more useful plot of all channels. The up and down arrows can be used to change between a view of all channels, individual channels, and all channels on different X axes.

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* Check that all 3 channels are present and are producing a signal.

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* Stomp on the ground near where the sensor is installed to check that a signal is being picked up by all 3 channels.

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* Common representations of poor signals include channels sloping smoothly from high values to zero, or sharp corners in the plots.

== GPS Data ==

This menu displays the status of the stations' GPS connection. The screen lists; UTC time, UTC date, latitude, longitude, altitude, number of satellite connections, and SNR.

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* Check that the station is connected to satellites

== SD Information ==

The menu lists if the SD card has been initialised, as well as the capacity and space free on the memory card. See "Data card formatting" (above) to see how to format and initialise the inserted SD card.

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== System Configuration ==

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This menu is used to set the stations identifiers and parameters.

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First, the sampling rate can be chosen from a set of options (1 Hz, 10 Hz, 25 Hz, 40 Hz, 50 Hz, 100 Hz, 250 Hz, 1000 Hz).

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Next, the station identifier (up to 5 characters) and the network code (2 characters) can be set.

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Record start and stop mode should be left to 'On Request' mode.

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The seismometer model and serial number (up to 10 characters) can be set. Seismometer model options include:

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* Trillium Compact (same for 20 and 120)

* CMG - 3ESP

* Guralp 40T

* LE-3D Lite

* Mark L4C

* Mark L4

Additionally, the following settings can be used in place of the seismometer model types: +/- 20V, +/- 10V, +/- 5V

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The record on restart option ensures that if the logger dies and is powered back up whilst in the field (due to battery charging cycles or other causes) that the recording will resume.

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* Set the sampling rate, station identifier, and network code. Set the appropriate seismometer type. Most importantly, ensure the record on restart setting is checked.

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NOTE: Ensure the 'RECORD ON RESTART' option is marked with a cross.

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[[image:original_2b83fcf5-ee5a-4375-bab1-2d738e4ffe8c_20241219_130646.jpg||height="234" width="289"]]

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== STA/LTA Configuration ==

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The Short Term Average and Long Term Average Configuration screen.. this is a relic for when people weren't recording continuously. Not advised!

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= LogFile Conversion Script =

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Both the TSAWR and LPR-200 write logging information as a binary "dat" file which includes GPS time syncs, temperatures, battery power, and position. To convert them into ASCII you can read, use [[THIS PYTHON SCRIPT>>http://auspass.edu.au/field/anusr_log.py]].

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= Instrument Response =

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Both the TerraSAWR and LPR-200 use the same ADS1281 analog-to-digital converter chip and are designed to have identical instrument response. The ADC (analog to digital) chip in both loggers originally samples at 1024000 Hz and downsamples towards the output data rate via various stages. First via a 5th order SINC filter, then another 32x via 3-4 2x or 4x FIR filters. If the output is below 250 Hz, a final "pure" /5 decimation is done without any sort of FIR filter.

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All SINC and FIR filters are performed internally within the logger and all phase delays are accounted for. Thus, the FIR coefficients and delays are not needed/given in the response information.

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The user can choose to apply a 2nd stage "sensor gain" by selecting an instrument type in the setup menu. This effectively selects a 10 Vpp (e.g. short period sensors), 20 Vpp, 40 Vpp (most broadband sensors) regime to match the sensor's sensitivity. This has the effect of doubling amplitude from 10v to 20v, or quadrupling from 10v to 40v. If you have set your sensor correctly (and the signal isn't clipped!) you can "correct" this by simply multiplying your data by 0.5 etc. This gain manifests itself in stage 2 in the response information.

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Instrument response can be downloaded from IRIS [[Nominal Response Library>>https://ds.iris.edu/ds/nrl/]] if need be, or [[directly from us>>http://auspass.edu.au/data/logger_response]] , or by downloading the response of an equivalent sensor at AusPass (e.g. get_stations(level='response') ).

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= ANU TerraSAWR (Gen 3, FW 3.5a, 2017- current) =

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Not sure there's much left to say

= ANU LPR-200 (Gen 2, FW 2.6a/2.7a, 2013 - current) =

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Ditto the mighty LPR!

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= ANU "ANUSR" (Gen 1, 2003? - 2012) =

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This logger has been retired for a long time and has a different instrument response. It used modular component boards and was powered via an acrylic case of 6 x 6V lantern batteries. There is a somewhat complete one above the CAT lab door if anyone is so inclined to have a look.

= References =

* [[PDF Manual>>http://auspass.edu.au/field/LPR-200_Instruction_Manual.pdf]]

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