2.0 Data Acquisition Support

A primary role for the UNAVCO Boulder Facility is supporting PIs in developing GPS data collection strategies to meet their scientific goals, within the funding levels of their grants. Such planning activities are most successful if the Facility is involved in the early stages of proposal development. The goal of the planning process is to develop budgets that accurately reflect all equipment and support costs, develop detailed field activity plans, identify special technical requirements that may have development lead times, identify special data management requirements, develop an appropriate data communications strategy for continuous stations, anticipate special shipping and customs requirements, and coordinate US and international collaborator activities. Early and thorough discussion and agreement between the PI and Facility on these key items is crucial to a successful and cost-effective project.

Once the initial planning is complete and the project commencement date nears, the Facility starts actual support to the project. Equipment is cleaned, calibrated, repaired and prepared for shipment including preparation of manifests and customs documents. If permanent stations are to be installed as part of the project, appropriate enclosures, power options, data communications equipment, and system monitoring capability are fabricated based on previously proven designs. Systems are tested and burned-in, then repackaged for shipment. Field engineers receive special training for the specific system configuration, including special hardware and software features of the system.

The goal of the field engineer during the project is to accomplish the data collection strategy developed in the planning stage with emphasis on a complete set of high quality data being returned to the PI and the UNAVCO archive at the end of the project. If permanent systems are installed, the engineer strives to integrate the GPS data flow into existing infrastructure such as a local Internet connection to achieve a reliable, low-cost, quasi-real time data flow to the PI and UNAVCO archive. Communications costs are increasingly becoming a driving factor in system design and implementation, often limiting technical options on specific projects.

As high precision applications of GPS technology have matured and become more of a standard process, UNAVCO has developed a strategy to respond to a wider variety of data collection approaches and individual PI preferences. The hierarchy for this mix of approaches is as follows:

Agent Project

Campaign Project

Mixed-mode Project

Permanent Station Installations

In supporting GPS data collection, the UNAVCO Boulder Facility has built flexibility into the support process by adopting a "toolbox" approach. With this approach, a standard set of hardware and software capabilities for different project requirements, locations and circumstances are developed. A field engineer, other support staff, or collaborator can then go to this toolbox and select the suite of hardware and software tools most appropriate to support a specific project. Some customization can generally be accommodated to meet project-specific requirements.

This approach offers flexibility while imposing some standards on the conduct of a project and greatly accelerates technology transfer where other GPS research groups can apply this technology directly to their project needs. This technology transfer option is especially critical when working with international collaborators who are being depended on for the long-term support of the in-country GPS measurements.

Tools in the UNAVCO toolbox can be classified under general categories as either equipment, hardware systems designs, or software. Figure 2-1 shows example tools presently in the UNAVCO toolbox. Tables 2-1 and 2-2 show the basic hardware systems designs and software capabilities represented in the current toolbox. Transfer of this technology to other groups can be through intensive interactions with the Facility or by those groups "capturing" the design or software code off of UNAVCO's Home Page on the Web (http://www.unavco.org). UNAVCO is presently cataloguing and evaluating these tools to ensure accurate documentation is available and that a rational plan for product maintenance and upgrades is in place.

Figure 2-1. Example "Tools" in the UNAVCO Toolbox.

Table 2-1: Hardware Systems Designs in the UNAVCO Toolbox

NOTE: X denotes the tool will work for this application; T denotes the tool is under test; The UNAVCO Web page provides details on these tools as well as links to other related Web sites.

Table 2-2: GPS Data Management Software/Techniques Available to UNAVCO

2.1 - Short-term Loans and Servicing of Equipment

2.2 - Training and Technical Support

2.3 - Support for Campaigns

2.4 - Mixed-mode Data Collection Support

2.5 - Support of Continuously Operating GPS Stations

2.6 - Hardware and Software Development in Support of Data Acquisition

2.7 - Direct Project Support for FY97

2.8 - Data Acquisition Group (DAG) Staff and Budget

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