Overview:
Applied Sciences Group has supported projects requiring knowledge of gravity
measuring techniques used in mineral and oil exploration. Applied Sciences
Group has been involved in all software aspects of these projects: real-time
instrument monitoring, calibration and stabilization software, data communications,
data analysis, operator interfaces, data collection and archiving, failsafe
operation, low-level interrupt services, and critical timing algorithms.
These very extensive projects have involved several staff members with diverse
backgrounds, programming requirements that included knowledge of Assembler,
Pascal, C, C++ and Visual Basic, and low-level understanding of three different
operating systems, numerous processing platforms and peripheral equipment,
plus real world experience with instrumentation and industrial environments.
Project Description:
Applied Sciences Group participated in the development of a series of gravity
gradiometric measurement systems. These gradiometers are sensitive instruments
used to detect changes in the gravity field over an area of land or water,
and as such are useful for oil, water and mineral exploration. Each system
comprises three elements:
| • |
A gyro-stabilized platform containing an
array of accelerometers, which senses changes to the gravitational environment. |
| • |
A real-time control program that maintains platform
alignment and counters the effects of the Earth's motion through space
and the transport vehicle's motion across the Earth. |
| • |
A program to process the sensor inputs in real-time
and to display these results on a console. |
Applied Sciences Group has been involved in all control and MMI aspects of
the gradiometer program development. Applied Sciences Group assisted in the
design of the platform calibration, platform stabilization and gravity instrument
control algorithms; and is principally responsible for the design and implementation
of the real-time task manager and control program that drives the entire system.
Approach:
Sensor data is shuttled from the control processor to an analysis processor
via Ethernet for subsequent processing (also in real time). Here, Applied
Sciences Group developed the process algorithms and the man-machine interface,
used for both system control and to visually observe interesting gravitational
events.
Results:
The gradiometer system was developed using a common design and programming
methodology, which was adapted to support each customer's specific needs.
The maximization of common software components (and minimization of components
unique to a customer) was given a high priority in order to keep costs down.
Additionally, several different programming languages - C, Pascal, Assembler
and PVWave - were selected for different subsystems, based on the overriding
real-time performance issues.
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