Phidgets Forums

Hello,

I am currently utilizing the PhidgetSpatial Precision 3/3/3 (MOT0110_0) accelerometer in a project where the sensor feeds data to a Raspberry Pi for processing. My goal is to integrate this setup with SeisComP for seismic data analysis. Specifically, I plan to use a SeedLink plugin to convert the raw acceleration data into miniSEED format, as outlined in the SeisComP SeedLink documentation (https://www.seiscomp.de/doc/apps/seedlink.html).

However, I've encountered a challenge: the SeisComP SeedLink configuration requires specifying a Digitizer/Data Acquisition System (DAS) type, but I haven't found information regarding the digitizer or DAS associated with the PhidgetSpatial Precision 3/3/3. Could you please provide details on the digitizer/DAS used in this sensor?

Additionally, if there are existing tools or methods to directly obtain miniSEED data from the PhidgetSpatial Precision 3/3/3, I would greatly appreciate any guidance or resources you could share.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Best regards,
Chanthujan

The PhidgetSpatial communicates its data by sending USB packets to the computer or Raspberry Pi, and then our drivers take those packets and make the data available to your program via API events and calls. I don't have any experience with this seedlink- is there some kind of software interface that lets you manually build the kind of data packets it's expecting?

Thanks for your response.

Yes, you're absolutely right about the current architecture of the Phidget — it communicates via USB, and the data is made available to your program through API events and calls provided by the Phidget libraries.

Regarding SeedLink, it's a protocol primarily used in seismology for transferring data in MiniSEED packet format. This format is widely supported by various seismic data processing libraries and tools, including many Python packages.

I've now configured the data stream from the Phidget sensor to emit MiniSEED packets. However, to fully integrate this with SeedLink and seismic data workflows, I need to create a metadata file (StationXML format) that describes the sensor. This metadata is essential for accurately interpreting the data, especially when sensors are deployed at different sites — each with its specific characteristics.

To build this metadata file, I need some details about the accelerometer, particularly its manufacturer and datalogger model. These are required fields when creating inventory files for MiniSEED processing using libraries like ObsPy.

You can refer to the following resources to see the supported manufacturer and datalogger names:
Creating metadata (StationXML) from scratch: https://docs.obspy.org/tutorial/code_sn ... ratch.html
List of supported manufacturers/dataloggers: https://docs.obspy.org/packages/obspy.c ... lients.nrl
Could you please check if any of the listed manufacturers or dataloggers are appropriate for use with the Phidget sensor? Your input here would be really helpful. Let me know if you have any questions!

Looking at the documentation you linked, it looks like the main purpose of requiring the manufacturer and datalogger is so the proper NRL data can be loaded, which specifies the frequency and sensitivity (volts per m/s2) of the accelerometer. It makes sense this information would be necessary when interfacing directly with an accelerometer chip, but with the Phidget Spatial that's not the case. Have you tried choosing arbitrary NRL settings to see if it works with your custom data stream?