Upgrade of a Pool of Highly Portable Seismic Recorders for Use by the Seismological Community

University Of Texas At El Paso, El Paso TX

Investigators

Abstract

0521644 Keller This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program supports upgrade of 370 RefTek 125 single channel "Texan" seismic recorders located at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). A current pool of 440 Texan instruments have limited on board memory, proprietary CPUs that are no longer supported and cannot be replaced upon failure, and require a proprietary bridge computer for data download. The upgrades (to RefTek 125A standards) will include replacement of the CPU, increased random access memory (RAM) by a factor of eight, and replacement of power supply boards. The upgraded instruments will offer a 400 times improvement in bit transfer rate and will include a USB port for data download from any USB port equipped PC. The instruments will be community accessible through the IRIS-PASSCAL instrument facility for support of active source and passive seismic imaging studies of the crust and upper mantle. The instrument pool will give UTEP students regular access to this state-of-the-art equipment. UTEP is a Hispanic Serving Institution with a student body that is 71% Hispanic and 10% Mexican. The enhance versatility and usability of the Texan seismic recorders will expand opportunities for underrepresented student research and educational experiences with seismic subsurface exploration techniques. ***