The NEES mini-MOST is a project
sponsored by the National Science Foundation to allow non-NEES
equipment sites to connect to and make use of the George
E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation
network (NEESgrid).
NEESgrid enables complex experiments to be modeled as
experimental and computational components and at multiple
locations.
The mini-MOST project experimentally
tests the local behavior of individual members of a more
complex structural frame simulated in MATLAB and subjected
to a seismic excitation. The
experimental members are located at geographically
distributed laboratories all connected to the NEESgrid. To
date, the Mines mini-MOST site has run distributed
experiments with the UIUC mini-MOST site.
A data acquisition computer, web
server, and dedicated live web-cam system enable the
experiment to run in “real-time” and allow visitors to
watch the experiment in progress.
System
Arcitecture
The mini-MOST experiment utilizes four different
computers on campus interconnected via the internet using
NEESgrid. The
four computers on campus consist of the following:
 |
NEES
point of Presence (NEESpop) server - Linux |
|
Tele-presence
(TPM) server - Linux |
|
Data
Acquisition (DAQ) machine - Windows XP |
|
Simulation
(MATLAB) machine - Windows XP |
Experiment
The mini-MOST experiment consists of a 48-inch scale cantilever
beam used to model a single column in a steel frame. Loads
are applied to the column with a 20lb linear actuator.
Displacement, force and strain sensors are used to measure
the behavior of the column collected through LabView and
MATLAB.  This
figures represents the assembly containing the linear
actuator (red), force transducer (green), and the LVDT
(yellow). Links to the various equipment used in
this mini-MOST experiment are available HERE.
Teleobservation
and Teleparticipation
TelePresence Mode (TPM) is a graphical
user interface to an on-line environment, which facilitates
the observation and/or operation of a selected NEES imaging
and record keeping resources by multiple remote users over
the Internet. This
provides the following:
|
Remote viewing of the lab
and physical components of the experiment via a
telerobotic pan-tilt-zoom network camera. |
|
Remote viewing of data. |
|
An electronic notebook for
sharing and saving notes, data, and still or video
images. |
The site contains collaboration windows
that can be configured remotely by the user to view
streaming video from up to five separate locations.
This makes viewing multi-site experiments possible.
|
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