IMS Infrasound Network Station and Engineering Projects

Infrasound Technology Workshop 2016, Quito, Ecuador

Julien Marty
Seismic-Acoustic Unit Head, IMS/ED
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
Vienna International Centre
P.O. Box 1200
1400 Vienna, Austria

IMS Infrasound Network History

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

IMS Infrasound Network Status

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

Station Establishment Status

Planned station certifications
- I01AR (2019): Site survey completed in 2016
- I03AU (2018): Construction work started in 2016
- I16CN (2017): Installation nearing completion
- I20EC (2017): Construction work started in 2016

90% of the network certified

by 2019 > 85% threshold for
the commissioning of the IMS

- I25FR (2019): Site identified in 2016

Establishment processes currently on hold

- I12CF: Process initiated in 2011, on hold due to political situation
- I15CN: Location to be proposed by Host Country
- I28XX: Pending decision on location
- I29IR: Political issue
- I38PK: Political issue

- I54US: Political issue / Engineering challenge

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

Data Availability
-

DA > 98%

IMS Operational Manual Minimum Requirement

96% < DA < 98%

Threshold for commissioning of the IMS

90% < DA < 96%

PTS Midterm Strategy objective 20142017

DA < 90%

Fulfilment of IMS DA requirements at all IMS Stations is a real challenge

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

Data Availability
Station Operators are responsible for ensuring that their stations meet data
availability, data quality and data surety requirements
Stations must also be designed to be as reliable and as resilient as possible
within available resources:
- Data storage and backfilling capabilities included at different levels
- Protection of single points of failure by automatic or semi-automatic back-up systems
- Adequate level of spare equipment available at the station

Why DA requirements are not met at all IMS

infrasound stations even though:
(a) stations including data storage and
backfilling capabilities?

(b) DA only computed on minimum number

of channel to be mission capable?

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

Data Availability
Except in case of complete station outage, data should be re-transmitted to
the IDC at the end of the outage and stations should fulfil DA requirements
In reality, this is not always the case because:
- Oldest stations have limited storage/backfilling capabilities and would require upgrade
- Minor equipment upgrades or configuration changes are from time to time performed
without testing station capabilities again (as it is done at time of certification/revalidation)
- Data availability includes data quality criteria (burst, constant values, signals with no input
from the sensor no taken into account)

Yearly testing of station storage and backfilling capabilities, similarly to

what is required for calibration, should help in fulfilling DA requirements

Data storage and backfilling capabilities to be tested and troubleshot at all

stations in 2017 with support from Station Operators

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

Failure Analysis

Environment: Decrease due to repair of stations that failed under harsh environments
and development and implementation of grounding and lightning protection standards

Planned Activities: Decrease due to definition of strategies for preserving data

availability during preventive maintenance and upgrade activities

Equipment and Infrastructure: Currently main source of station downtime. Power

issues (50%) Updated procedures for battery replacement and installation of noncritical equipment on independent power sources
Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

Failure Analysis
High-level approach tuned to WGB reporting needs and used for verifying
that implemented engineering solutions led to improvements on reliability
Approach limitations:
- Rarely allows highlighting issues that were not
already known through the operation of the network
- Incompleteness of the data outage information
collected in the IMS Reporting System

- Does not include total station downtime due to nonconsideration of data gaps less than a few hours.

Monitoring and understanding of all data gaps including short ones, which can
account for several percent of data availability at the end of a year, is necessary
for fine-tuning station configurations and fulfilling DA requirements
Project for root cause analysis of station data gaps to be
initiated in 2017 with support from Station Operators
Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

Station Upgrade Minimizing Downtime

Main challenges when upgrading a certified station
- Limited time for carrying out upgrade (and testing) in order to minimize station downtime
- Integration of new components together with legacy components
- Fulfilment of new requirements (data surety, command and control, authentication, calibration)

Examples of strategies for reducing station downtime

- Full mock-up testing prior shipment of the equipment
- Progressive upgrade to ensure that the minimum number of channels for the station to be
mission capable is always available
- Upgrade of components with no data storage and backfilling capability first
- Installation of a new station in parallel of the existing one with decommissioning of the old
station only after the new station is promoted into operations
- Installation of a temporary station in parallel during station upgrade
- Improvement of project planning (required resources, multi-year projects)
- Increase level of coordination with the PTS (IMS/IDC) when upgrade performed by SO
Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

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Equipment and Services Support Contracts

The PTS is putting in place long term equipment and engineering

services support contracts to streamline its sustainment program

Lessons learned from previous contracts were analyzed in details in

order to increase the quality of the delivered equipment and services

Provision of reliable equipment and services while reducing procurement time

Use of external resources to tackle station sustainment workload
Improvement of system design and quality through use of external expertise

Extensive market research performed to increase number of bidders

Technical terms of reference taking into account reality of market
Contracts awarded to multiple suppliers

In 2016, the PTS made significant progress on contract establishment

Power and Grounding: Contract awarded

Intra-Site Communication Systems: Contract awarded
High Resolution Digitizers: Technical evaluation completed
Sensors: In signature phase
Software: Technical evaluation underway
WNRS and Vaults: Contract amended
Equipment Testing: Contract awarded
Metrology: Technical evaluation completed

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

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2016 I60US Certification

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

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2016 I14CL Upgrade

- Station not mission capable in Nov

2015 Major upgrade implemented in
remote location in a few months
- Upgrade of power, data acquisition and
intra-site communication systems at all
array elements

- High and heterogeneous noise levels

between elements Repair of WNRS

Station back in Ops in Apr 2016 with higher data quality compared to last 4 years
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2016 I57US Upgrade

- Upgrade of WNRS, sensors and
CRF equipment
- Standardization of WNRS
design at all elements
- GPS differential site survey
- Revalidation testing

Significant improvement in computation of wave parameters

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

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2016 I18DK Upgrade

- Upgrade of WNRS, vaults

and infrastructure
- Use of gravel on inlet ports
for further reduction of noise
- GPS differential site survey
- Revalidation testing

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

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2016 I20EC Construction

Facility Agreement signed in 2015
RN24 station installation to be completed in 2016
Main steps for the establishment of station I20EC:
- Mar 2016: Application for environmental permit
- Apr 2016: Start of competitive bidding processes for station construction and equipment

- Jul 2016: Identification of final location for array elements

- Sep 2016: Contract for station construction awarded
- Jun 2017: Targeted date for station installation

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

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2016 I01AR Site Survey

8-element array: data recorded
continuously for 3 weeks in July
Site Survey report completed

Minor change of coordinates to be

requested to WGB
Station construction pending final
land agreements

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

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Deployment of On-Site Calibration Capability

WGB43 and WGB46 encouraged the PTS to pursue integration of on-site calibration
capability at IMS infrasound stations

Capability implemented at I26DE (2015) and I37NO (2016)

Very high stability of the calibration results through time High stability of the method
and of infrasound measurement system responses

Software under development to operationalize process (automatic computation and

storage of results in PTS seismo-acoustic calibration database)

PTS working with expert community to define standards/methods to achieve traceability

I37NO Full Frequency Response

I26DE Full Frequency Response

Infrasound Technology Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

7-11 November 2016

I26DE Sensitivity 1 Hz
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Pilot Interlaboratory Comparison Study 2

Scope of Pilot Studies: review, comparison and improvement of methods for the testing and
evaluation of infrasound sensors with the long-term objective of refining IMS specifications for
infrasound sensors and achieving metrological traceability for sensor sensitivity

Participants to Study 2: CEA, LANL, SNL, UMiss (Participants), DFM (NMI) and PTS (Coord.)

Focus on two quantities:

- Frequency Response: achieve traceability to a standard through refinement of technical protocol, addition of
participants, homogenization of sensor set and addition of reference microphone calibrated by a NMI
- Self-noise: converge to a standard and state-of-the-art measurement method among the Pilot Study Group

1.

Jun 2016: Definition of Pilot Study 2 scope, timeline and participants

2.

Sep 2016: Agreement on working terminology and Technical Protocol

3.

Nov 2016 Feb 2017: Sensor set testing by all Participants

4.

Feb Oct 2017: Review of results from both Studies with support of
Experts from National Metrology Institutes + Plan way forward

Contract to be established in 2016 with National Metrology Institutes to support the Group with:
- Definition of roadmap to achieve metrological traceability for sensor sensitivity

- Organization of interlaboratory comparisons, keep abreast of developments in acoustics community

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Station Standard Interface

SSI is a data acquisition/forwarding software developed

by the PTS and widely used in the IMS network

Objective = ease fulfilment of IMS requirements through

the development of standard solutions

Modules for calibration and authenticated command and

control capabilities upgraded in 2016

New software engineering contracts for SSI development

and support in 2017

Developments planned in 2017-2018 aimed at improving

software testing, documentation and user-friendliness:

Integration of SOH information within SSI GUI

Full set of documentation

Automation of testing and release of SSI versions

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Conclusion

Continuous efforts toward completion of the IMS infrasound network with objective
of 90% certified stations by 2019.

3 IMS infrasound stations under construction, 1 site survey completed

Increased resources to be dedicated to the testing of station storage and backfilling

capabilities with the objective of increasing Data Availability

Equipment and services support contracts in place or under negotiation for most
station sub-systems, equipment testing and software

Progress in deployment of on-site calibration equipment with successful

implementation at two IMS infrasound stations

Continuous achievement towards better understanding and standardization of

infrasound metrology through international pilot interlaboratory comparison studies

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Muchas Gracias!