Development of a new seismic-data acquisition station based on system-on-a-programmable-chip technology

Abstract

There has been considerable development of seismic detectors over the last 80 years. However, there is still a need to further develop new earthquake exploration and data acquisition systems with high precision. In particular, for China to keep up with the latest technology of these systems, it is important to be involved in the research and development, instead of importing systems that soon fall behind the latest technology. In this study, the features of system-on-a-programmable-chip (SoPC) technology are analyzed and used to design a new digital seismic-data acquisition station. The hardware circuit of the station was developed, and the analog board and the main control data-transmission board were designed according to the needs of digital seismic-data acquisition stations. High-definition analog-to-digital converter sequential digital filter technology of the station (cascade integrator comb filter, finite impulse response digital filter) were incorporated to provide advantages to the acquisition station, such as high definition, large dynamic scope, and low noise. A specific data-transmission protocol was designed for the station, which ensured a transmission speed of 16 Mbps along a 55-m wire with low power consumption. Synchronic acquisition was researched and developed, so as to achieve accuracy better than 200 ns. The key technologies were integrated into the SoPC of the main control data-transmission board, so as to ensure high-resolution acquisition of the station, while improving the accuracy of the synchronic acquisition and data-transmission speed, lowering the power consumption, and preparing for the follow-up efforts to tape out.