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Minishark User Guide

The document provides instructions for using the Minishark station and Geopsy software to record and analyze geophysical sensor data. Key points: - The Minishark station records data from connected sensors onto an SD card. Ensure the SD card is plugged in before use. - Sensors must be oriented correctly and installed flat according to the study being conducted. Firmly connect the sensor cable to the station. - Use the station's interface to configure settings like date/time, recording duration, and gain before starting recordings. - Recordings produce .txt files with header information and formatted sensor data that can be analyzed in Geopsy. - Geopsy allows viewing signal graphs over time, performing fast Fourier transforms

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quenimido
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© © All Rights Reserved
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83 views

Minishark User Guide

The document provides instructions for using the Minishark station and Geopsy software to record and analyze geophysical sensor data. Key points: - The Minishark station records data from connected sensors onto an SD card. Ensure the SD card is plugged in before use. - Sensors must be oriented correctly and installed flat according to the study being conducted. Firmly connect the sensor cable to the station. - Use the station's interface to configure settings like date/time, recording duration, and gain before starting recordings. - Recordings produce .txt files with header information and formatted sensor data that can be analyzed in Geopsy. - Geopsy allows viewing signal graphs over time, performing fast Fourier transforms

Uploaded by

quenimido
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MINISHARK AND GEOPSY

USER GUIDE
CAUTION !
The Minishark station only works with the SD card plugged.
Stop the Minishark station before removing the SD card.
Do not leave the station connected to the mains when using it. Charge it before use.

1. SENSOR INSTALLATION

The arrow on the top of the sensor must be oriented North in the case of a study on the ground.
If the study concerns a structure, it must be oriented towards one of its principal directions.
Be careful, however, not to leave a compass nearby when measuring.

The sensor must be laid flat. Check with the spirit level and adjust with the screws of the sensor
feet.

To connect the cable to the sensor and to the station, screw until you hear a «click».

At the end of the manipulation, the sensor must be stored and transported with the label with the
orange circle facing up (see picture).

2. MINISHARK PARAMETER SETTINGS

Entering parameter settings: press and simultaneously.


Move to next parameter: press .
Change parameter value: press . For fast value run, keep pressed.

FIRST PARAMETER SETTING SCREEN


DO NOT CHANGE ANY SETTINGS

• Clock Set: Manually set date and time. Usually used when GPS not available
• GPS pwr: turns GPS reception On or Off.
• GPS upd: turns GPS date and time update on (yes) or off (no).
To validate parameters, press OK .

SECOND PARAMETER SETTING SCREEN


ONLY CHANGE:
GPS ant: External (antenna outside the building) or Internal
Trans factor: 400

• GPS ant.: GPS antenna used (Internal or External).


• Trans Factor: sensor conversion factor (V/m/s). Set to 1 if unknown.
• Batt low level: read only parameter. Lowest allowed internal battery voltage. Alarms rings when reached.
• Batt voltage: read only parameter. Current battery voltage. Below 13.3V, internal battery may irrever sibly fail.
To validate parameters, press OK .
THIRD PARAMETER SETTING SCREEN
ONLY CHANGE (IF NECESSARY) :
Lgth: duration of measurement
Gain: amplification (can be modified before recording)

• Gain: amplification factor


• Ovmx: maximum allowed overflow sample rate.
• Lgth: recording duration (1 to 60 minutes).
• Continuous or Single recording mode.
• Sample Rate: sample rate acquisition.
• Bootloader start: set to Y only to update internal firmware, when linked to a PC via USB cable. When the
parameter is set to Y, the bootloader mode starts immediately.
To validate parameters, press OK .

→ Only gain can be modified before recording without entering the setting parameter process.
→ When Ovmx is reached, a beep rings but recording does not automatically stop. It is up to the user to
decide to stop or not the current recording.

3. MINISHARK MAIN SCREEN

Increase of decrease gain by pressing or . Other parameters are read only.

MAIN SCREEN
Change the gain so that there is no saturation

• Gain: current gain (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16382). « Ovf » overflowed
sample rate of preceding recording.
• Nxt: name of next file (station#_yymmdd_hhmm). Automatically updated with time.
• Lgth: current recording duration.
• Continuous or Single current recording mode.
• Ampli: signal level, indicated by moving black squares.

4. MINISHARK RECORDING

Start recording by pressing OK .


The corresponding light flicks during recording phase.
End of recording is indicated by three series of three beeps. By clicking on OK , you relaunch a measure.
Following information sequentially appears on screen:

1. Recording start 2. During recording 3. End of recording

→ A beep rings when Ovf ≥ Ovmx


→ Stop recording during data acquisition: push OK during at least 5 seconds. Current data file can then
be saved or deleted (Only when elapsed time of current recording is over one minute).
5. MISCELLANEOUS

Station reset: press and OK simultaneously during at least 5 seconds. Use only when station is frozen
or if Bootloader Start has been mistakenly set to Y.
Turn screen light on during recording: briefly press On/Off button.
Turn station off: press On/Off button for 3 seconds.
GPS update: when not recording the = following Nxt repetitively alternates with a *.
Recording indication: the : after Remaining Time or Rt blinks.

6. DATA ANALYSIS

The created data file is a .txt file, with a header recalling all the parameters.

The file then contains the data in Volt in the form of 3 columns, with (in the order) the Z axis, the North-
South axis and the East-West axis.
It is possible to return to the voltage at the sensor output ( in ) using the following formulas:

The and the are given in the following tables:

The Conversion Factor ( ) can also be found in the header of the data file.
6. OPENING AND DISPLAYING SIGNALS IN GEOPSY

To open a signal file (text file), click on the «Import signal» button and select your file.

To display the temporal signal, drag the file onto the «Graphic» button, or select «Graphic» by right-
clicking on the file.

If there are several files in the file box, click on «All signals» to display all temporal signals at the same
graph.

Caution ! When you remove a file from the file box, all windows will be closed !

7. FAST FOURIER TRANSFORM IN GEOPSY

To make a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of one or more signals, click and drag the file(s) onto the
«Spectrum» icon, or select «Spectrum» by right-clicking on the file.

A parameters window appears :


• In the «Time» window, set the «Length» according to the duration of the recordings (in seconds)
• In the «Output» window, choose the frequency sampling («From» and «to»)
Then, click on «Start»

Two new windows appear: one displays the Fourier spectrum of each of the signal components (Z, N and
E), and the other displays an averaged spectrum (continuous line) and the standard deviations (dashed
lines) of the set of signals and components.

Set of curves Average spectrum

Standard deviations

Graphical parameters (as linear/logarithmic scale, dimensions of the window, etc.) can be modified by
right clicking on the graph and selecting «Properties». You can also add elements by right-clicking in the
window (not the graph) and select «Insert».

To export the resultats in a PDF file, right click in the window and select «File» > «Export image».

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