QUACK - Quality Analysis Control Kit

The IRIS DMC is developing an automatic quality control system (QUACK) to monitor seismic data flowing into the DMC BUD (Buffer of Uniform Data). The BUD currently receives approximately 4,000 channels of data and records approximately 13 gigabytes of data per day. This large volume of data makes it difficult to track data quality issues without an automated system. When completed, QUACK will help network operators quickly spot problems with data quality and will help seismologists quickly select data of desired quality levels.

QUACK is written in Java and features a modular design that allows third parties to develop quality control “plug-ins”. Currently, ISTI and the NEIC are helping us develop plug-ins to monitor timing accuracy and power spectral density. In-house we have developed simple plug-ins for monitoring signal mean and variance and data availability.

Currently, QUACK is at a beta stage of development. The two in-house plug-ins are monitoring data from several networks and the QUACK program is storing this information in database tables. A web-based reporting mechanism is under development that will allow users to easily view the information generated by the plug-ins.

Submitted by Bruce Weertman, IRIS DMC