The Miller Freeman supports a large suite of sensors for meteorological and oceanographic data acquisition. This sensor suite is supported by 2 high-powered Dell PowerEdge computers. A well developed ethernet computer network integrates nearly all of the shipboard computers, including several NT4.0 Gateway Servers and Workstations along with other specialized computer platforms. The up-to-date shipboard computers and software are used for everything from sensor acquisition and data analysis to administration and payroll. Intranet services support many network applications. The two basic categories of shipboard computers are scientific and administrative.
Nearly all of the ship's sensors are integrated into the Scientific Computing System (SCS), which allows for centralized data acquisition and logging from numerous sensors with different sampling rates. One central data set of all sensors is logged continuously, and user-specified subsets of sensor data and independent sampling rates may also be logged simultaneoulsly. All data are time stamped from the ship's high-precision UTC clock and GPS navigation parameters can be easily included within any data set. SCS data can be accessed with feature-rich software from workstations throughout the ship-wide network. Details for individual shipboard sensors and systems are provided below. Temporary installation of additional mission-specific sensors and systems within SCS is also possible.
The calibration policy for the following scientific equipment can be found on the Equipment Calibration Policy page. More information about specific ship equipment can be found on the Communications Equipment and Navigation Equipment pages.
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The primary node is used for data acquistion from several real time and derived scientific sensors. Each Dell NT server has 4 internal 9 GByte drives operating in RAID 5, a CD-ROM drive, a CD-RW drive, and a 30 gb tape drive. The primary function of this system is to run the Scientific Computer System (SCS) software.
In addition to the Dell servers, Gateway NT workstations are located in the Chem Lab (1), Dataplot (2), and on the Bridge (1). If needed, the Gateway NT workstations can be relocated to better meet scientific requirements. The Dell servers are connected to all other nodes using a 100BaseT network throughout the vessel. The nodes include the two Dell PowerEdge computers, Gateway NT workstations, network Postscript (Laser and Deskjet) printers, and numerous Windows NT 4.0 workstation and Windows 95/98 personal computers. This networking makes data transfer throughout the vessel simple and efficient. TCP/IP and Microsoft NetBEUI are the preferred protocols for the PC's.
The primary function of the computer systems is to fulfill the data requirements as outlined in the project instructions; however, limited access is available to personnel for projects not directly related to the mission.
A variety of storage media are available on the public PC's including Iomega Zip's and DAT tapes.
The PC network utilizes shared resources such as postscript printers, virtual disk drives, tape drives, and CD-RW drives. The network is used extensively for the sharing of message traffic and data (IS).
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URL: http://www.moc.noaa.gov/mf/science/equipment.htm
Updated: August 28, 2008