Seismograph records

Attach your own seismograph's record of a blast beside the ShockAI units: compare the two instruments on one clock, score both against the same limits, and carry both into the blast report.

Many sites run their own seismograph, often a geophone from Instantel, Nomis, Sigicom or White, beside ShockAI units. You can attach its record of a blast to the blast. It then sits beside your units on the blast page, in the ViB Analyser and in the blast report, and both instruments are scored against the same limits by the same engine.

Watch it end to end

3:20

A client's seismographs on a production blast: the records on the blast page, a Syscom export taken through the import walk, an Instantel compared with the unit beside it in the analyser, and the two report blocks. Narration is on; the switch on the video turns it off.

The walkthrough is chaptered. Each page in this section opens with its own chapter, so you can watch the part you need and read the rest.

What a record is

A seismograph record is one instrument's record of one blast. It belongs to the blast, never to a ShockAI unit, and it is described by four answers you give when you import it:

Waveform or summary. A waveform record is the export your seismograph's software writes: every sample, which we read and score ourselves. A summary record is the figures from the vendor's printed event report, typed in, for when there is no export to hand.
Reference or compliance instrument. A Reference, the default, is compared and printed but never counts towards the blast's verdict. A Compliance instrument is judged against the project's limits like a ShockAI monitor, and its verdict counts. See Reference or compliance instrument.
Where it stood. A saved monitoring location, a new named one, coordinates, or a distance and bearing from the blast.
Paired or on its own. A record paired with the ShockAI unit that stood beside it is compared with that unit in the analyser and in the report. A record with no pair is read on its own.

The instrument itself (make, model, serial, calibration dates) is remembered with the account, and named places are remembered with the project, so the next import from the same unit at the same place fills itself in.

Seismographs never count towards a blast's readiness: a blast is ready, and its preliminary report renders, when its ShockAI units have reported. An unscored record never holds a report up.

How a record is scored

A waveform record goes through the same analysis as your ShockAI records: the same processing, the same peak and frequency rules, and the same limit curves from the project's compliance settings. The vendor's own printed figures are kept beside ours, so every screen that shows a record can show both.

Expect small differences between the two sets of figures:

Frequency. Most seismographs print a zero-crossing frequency rounded to whole samples, so a printed value moves in steps. Ours is not rounded. The analyser marks a stepped vendor value as reported value is stepped.
Peaks. Ours are read from the samples after the same filtering as your ShockAI records; the vendor's are its own. They agree closely, not always exactly. A gap of a unit's factor on every channel, such as 25.4 between inches and millimetres per second, means the file was read in the wrong unit, and the import walk checks for that before you import.

A summary record is judged from its figures exactly as typed, and says as reported wherever it is shown. There is no waveform behind it, so it cannot be laid over a unit in the analyser.

Where records show up

The blast page. Under the units in Results, with a sheet of details per record. See On the blast page.
The ViB Analyser. Compare with… lays a record over any ViB event on the same blast, lined up in time. See Comparing with a ShockAI unit.
The blast report. An instrument table, a comparison page per pair, and the records in the results and compliance pages. See In blast reports.
The site law. The project's site law chart draws each record as a blue diamond at its peak vector sum, against the law but never fitted into it.
The visualiser. Each record with a position stands as a pin on the scene, beside the ShockAI stations.

In this section

On the blast page: the rows, the record sheet, roles and monitoring locations.
Adding a record: the import walk, screen by screen, and the summary-only path.
Comparing with a ShockAI unit: one clock, one frame, and what the difference means.
In blast reports: the blocks that print records and how to turn them on.
Supported exports: which files the walk reads, and what to do when one does not.

Continue reading

Seismograph records on the blast page

Where a blast's seismograph records sit, what each row says, and the record sheet: the two sets of figures, the instrument, the pairing, the role and the actions.

Adding a seismograph record

The import walk screen by screen: the export and its report, which column is which, the instrument, where it stood and what stood beside it, and the check before you import. Then the summary-only path and editing.

Comparing a seismograph with a ShockAI unit

Lay a seismograph record over a ViB event in the analyser: one clock from the waveforms, one frame once the unit is oriented, the difference per component, and adjusting the alignment.

Seismographs in blast reports

The blast report blocks that print seismograph records: the instrument table, the comparison of each pair, the results and compliance pages, and the vendor's own reports in the appendix.

Seismograph exports we read

Which seismograph export files the import walk reads, what it looks for in each, the units and numbers it understands, and what to do when a file does not read.