Publications Details

Storage and retrieval of nuclear test data

Stearns, S.D.

This report is a part of the Test Information Program (TIP) at Sandia National Laboratories. It is an interim report, written primarily as an instruction document to aid in current work on the project. It addresses some found in storing and retrieving data from nuclear field tests conducted over the past five decades, primarily instrumentation data recorded from tests at the Nevada Test Site. First, the TIP data unit for storing and transporting TIP data is described. The data in the TIP data unit is typically recorded in a universal medium such as the portable optical or magnetic disk, or the tape cassette. Each TIP data unit is portable, and is also self-contained in the sense that it includes a set of related test data files, along with complete instructions and software for retrieval of the data by an unknown user, possibly on an unknown platform. Secondly, we describe the use of current software for compressing and waveform data, for authenticating and checking for errors in data processing files to be used on foreign platforms.