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Our leaders' perspectives
Brian Lamb, Mary Erodes and George Gatch share why diversity and inclusion is so important to them personally.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Target date fund changes over time. It takes into account when I would retire, and starts phasing out of the more risky investments towards a more balanced or more conservative approach so that I have more stability at the time that I might retire. So before-- well, if I even bothered-- it was me going out trying to figure out which fund or mutual fund to invest in, and then having to go out online, make those choices, make those changes, watch everything that's going on, and trying to figure out for myself what I need to do.
And instead of that, a target date fund will allow me to let a professional do that for me. Investing in a target date fund is like what I've done for myself. I've lost 150 pounds, I gained 40 of it back, and realized I wasn't the one that was able to do this all on my own. I needed some experts to help me. So I've hired a nutritionist and a personal trainer to help me get back on track. And so that's what you do when you use a target date fund. It helps you stay on track without you having to do all of the work.
This material has been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide and should not be relied upon for investment, accounting, legal, or tax advice. JP Morgan Asset Management is the marketing name for the asset management businesses of JPMorgan Chase and company and its affiliates worldwide.


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Game of Secrets
By Dawn Tripp
By Dawn Tripp
By Dawn Tripp
By Dawn Tripp
Category: Suspense & Thriller
Category: Suspense & Thriller
Jun 05, 2012 | ISBN 9780812971484
Jul 05, 2011 | ISBN 9780679604952
Scribbling the Cat
The Girl in the Blue Beret
Life Stories
Under Magnolia
The O'Briens
The Orchid Thief
The Oregon Experiment
The Children Return
Those Wild Wyndhams
"A combination of thriller, mystery, and literary fiction . . . an intelligent beach-read."—The Boston Phoenix
"Drop-dead Yankee storytelling . . . Elizabeth Strout fans will find a lot to admire about [Game of Secrets], cleverly framed around the idea of revealing old family mysteries through a continuing series of Scrabble games."—Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Like a Faulkner novel, Game of Secrets weaves in and out of time. . . . The varied points of view and fragments are rendered with such poetry, each sentence is a pleasure."—The Providence Journal
"A gracefully told character study of three intelligent, forbidding women and the men who love them, wrapped up in a taut, suspenseful mystery."—Booklist
"Irresistible . . . An unusual love story melded to a literary thriller, and filled with exquisite language and dazzlingly alive characters, Game of Secrets is unlike anything you've ever read before."—Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You
21 Books You've Been Meaning to Read
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subset: commoncrawl


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This is the case for the Luxenbourg III: as the project name entails, this is the 3rd phase of this multi-building apartment complex. Logisbourg, the project builder, used Peikko's Frame Solution on all 3 phases of the development. Motives for using Peikko's solutions include fast construction, a slim floor requirement and long spans to facilitate the 2 level underground parking. This article will take you through all 3 facets of the decision to use this structural system.
Fast Construction
''Our primary objective with structure was to have a system that would go up quickly'' explains Jean-Simon Généreux, Project Manager for Logisbourg. ''With the Peikko Frame, we were able to build at a rate of one floor (12 000 square feet) every 3 to 4 days'' says Mr. Généreux. The installation sequence was as follows:
- Day one: installation of Composite Columns, DELTABEAM® and precast shafts for the entire floor
- Day two: installation of 6 000 square feet of hollow core slabs
- Day three: installation of 6 000 square feet of hollow core slabs and grouting of the assembly
The subsequent floor can be installed immediately after the grouting of the floor is done.
Flexible Design
''Peikko solved many of our design challenges'' explains Claude Fugère of Fugère architecte. ''Our first challenge was floor depth: we were limited in height and needed a shallow floor assembly. We worked with a 10'' (250 mm) slab + beam assembly thanks to DELTABEAM®, with a typical bay size of 26' x 36' (8 m X 11 m).'' The long spans allowed for 4 parking stalls between each column while the shallow assembly allowed for minimum building height.
''Another challenge was column size'' says Mr. Fugère. ''We wanted the smallest, fire rated columns to minimize their impact on our interiors''. Peikko Composite Columns varied in size from Ø 16" (400 mm) toØ 10" (250 mm), making them smaller than concrete columns or dry walled steel columns.
As with any multi-family residential project, the balconies posed a challenge. Logisbourg was looking for large balconies that would cantilever outside of the building so the tenants would have a full 180 degree view. Additionally, Logisbourg wanted the balconies to offer some intimacy and no thermal bridge.
The Peikko frame was able to accommodate all the developer's request by utilizing a "T" shaped solid prestressed slab. The 6' (1.8 m) wide slabs cantilever 3' (0.9 m) outside of the building and the exterior walls recess inside the building by 3' (0.9 m) at the balcony creating a 6' (1.8 m) deep balcony that has both a cantilever and privacy walls. To avoid the thermal bridge, the solid slab of the balcony is completely separated from the rest of the floor and insulated on all three interior sides.
The Luxenbourg projects are comprised of 148 apartment units, all built with Peikko Frame. The developer, Logisbourg, has several other projects where Peikko Frame will also be used.


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Processing your order fast is one of our top priorities.Most orders are processed within 2-3 business days.Allow up to 2 to 7 business days shipping transit time. An expedited shipping option is available at checkout.


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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sent shockwaves around the country when he told the American Bar Association, the premier lawyers group in the country, that it is time to acknowledge some of the mistakes of the criminal justice system, which has been the bane of cries for reform for decades in the country.
The mass and disproportionate incarceration of people of color in America's prisons has been at the center of calls for reform in the justice system by civil rights groups, leaders of human rights associations, activists, and former law enforcement officials.
But on Monday, Holder, the 82nd attorney general, changed the game, bringing with him major drug sentencing proposals to the ABA meeting in San Francisco where he told the influential lawyers group, no more harsh sentences for minor and non-violent drug offenses. Instead, treatment and community service are options that should be used.
"We need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, deter and rehabilitate — not merely to convict, warehouse and forget," Holder said in his speech. "We can start by fundamentally rethinking the notion of mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes. Some statutes that mandate inflexible sentences — regardless of the facts or conduct at issue in a particular case — reduce the discretion available to prosecutors, judges and juries. They breed disrespect for the system. When applied indiscriminately, they do not serve public safety. They have had a disabling effect on communities, and they are ultimately counterproductive."
Mandatory minimum sentences have been widely criticized by advocates for limiting the discretion of judges in imposing lesser sentences in low level and non-violent crime activities.
This major Justice Department change in policy could be seen as a way to address America's overcrowded prisons.
"While the entire U.S. population has increased by about a third since 1980, the federal prison population has grown at an astonishing rate, by almost 800 percent. It's still growing, despite the fact that federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent above capacity. Even though this country comprises just 5 percent of the world's population, we incarcerate almost a quarter of the world's prisoners. More than 219,000 federal inmates are currently behind bars," Holder said. "Almost half of them are serving time for drug-related crimes, and many have substance use disorders. Nine to 10 million more people cycle through America's local jails each year. And roughly 40 percent of former federal prisoners, and more than 60 percent of former state prisoners, are rearrested or have their supervision revoked within three years after their release, at great cost to American taxpayers and often for technical or minor violations of the terms of their release."
Holder, whose remarks were part of his "Smart on Crime" initiative, said he has mandated a change in the Justice Department's charging policies so that certain low-level, nonviolent drug offenders who have no ties to large-scale organizations, gangs or cartels will no longer be charged with offenses that impose draconian mandatory minimum sentences.
"They now will be charged with offenses for which the accompanying sentences are better suited to their individual conduct, rather than excessive prison terms more appropriate for violent criminals or drug kingpins," Holder told the ABA annual meeting.
Holder who prefaced his remarks with what he calls a "vicious cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities," said the justice system actually may "exacerbate this problem, rather than alleviate it."
"The bottom line is that, while the aggressive enforcement of federal criminal statutes remains necessary, we cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation. To be effective, federal efforts must also focus on prevention and reentry," Holder said.
Wade Henderson, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights called Holder's speech to the ABA "the most significant proposal ever put forth by the Justice Department to reform our nation's disastrous criminal justice system."
"For years, our justice system has treated dangerous criminals in the same manner as non-violent men and women. Instead of appropriate punishment and rehabilitation, the system destroys far too many lives and costs our nation tens of billions of dollars each year," Henderson said. "This has created a modern day caste system in America, where millions people — mostly African Americans, Latinos, and low-income Whites — are marked with a scarlet letter that erects permanent barriers to getting a job or an education and to reintegrate into society."
In Detroit, Barbara L. McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, the DOJ's top envoy welcomed Holder's speech to the ABA.
"The Attorney General's Smart on Crime initiative recognizes that it is time to revisit the policies that have resulted in an 800 percent increase in our prison population since the 1980s, costing taxpayers $80 billion a year. The initiative seeks to protect public safety while improving fairness and efficiency," McQuade said. "The new program emphasizes prevention and re-entry, and limits mandatory minimum sentences to the most serious offenders, so that defendants who do not threaten public safety are not incarcerated for long periods of time at taxpayer expense. While strong prison sentences are important to deter criminal conduct, these sentences should be reserved for dangerous criminals."
Carl Taylor, Michigan State University Professor of Sociology said the announcement by Holder is long overdue.
"It is a tremendous plus but in my opinion is very late when you look at the state if Michigan where correction is the number one budget item," Taylor said. "We have a very draconian approach to correction. What Holder did is the right way, the right policy…he even admitted that the system is broke and by placing these nonviolent individuals in prison when they come out, where is the infrastructure that is going to get them employment?"
Wayne State University Police Chief Tony Holt, said the reality and perception of crime, especially in urban cities such as Detroit, is at an all time high.
"For the victims of this reality the bottom line is 'put them away and don't let this happen to me again.' Up to this point we have tried a variety of different programs to arrive at a solution from more police officers on the street to more jails being built," Holt said. "So far the solution have not been attained as we can fill the jails faster than we can built them."
He said he couldn't agree more with Attorney General Holder, that it is time to develop a new law enforcement strategy.
"Being tough on crime does not mean we are being smarter on crime. The attorney general is on target is that we have to examine and develop new law enforcement strategies. We have to double this strategy with expanded and targeted resources to develop sustainable solution to the growing crime problem in America," Holt said. "The key question is how can we move beyond party lines, community mistrust and fear to get everyone to the table to discuss the issue? We can only do so by getting everyone involved working together toward a common sustainable solution. Holder has given us a challenge."


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Optimise with Fiber Secondary Coating Line Tech
Welcome to our article on optimizing fiber optic production with fiber secondary coating line technology. In today's fast-paced and interconnected world, reliable and efficient communication networks are essential. Fiber optic cables play a crucial role in transmitting data quickly and securely over long distances. To ensure the performance and durability of such cables, secondary coating technology is of paramount importance.
Secondary coating refers to the process of applying a protective layer within the delicate glass fiber core of the fiber optic cable. This coating works as a shield, safeguarding the core from external elements and potential damage. Moreover, it will help maintain optimal performance in harsh environments, preventing attenuation and ensuring high-quality signal transmission.
In this article, we are going to explore the value of FTTH cable production line cables and explore the world of fiber secondary coating line technology. We will discuss the key characteristics of effective coating lines, advancements in fiber optic cable coating solutions, and techniques for maximizing production efficiency. Furthermore, we'll emphasize the significance of quality control through the coating process and provide insights in to the mechanics and functionality of fiber draw towers.
Major Takeaways:
- Secondary coating is vital for protecting the delicate glass fiber core of fiber optic cables.
- It will help maintain optimal performance in harsh environments and sustains optimal optical properties.
- Fiber secondary coating line technology can be used within the manufacturing procedure for fiber optic cables.
- Advancements in coating solutions include innovative materials and new coating techniques.
- Maximizing production efficiency requires high-speed secondary coating and effective quality control.
The Value of Secondary Coating in Fiber Optic Cables
In the world of fiber optic cables, secondary coating plays a crucial role in ensuring the performance and longevity of these advanced communication systems. By protecting the delicate glass fiber core, secondary coating safeguards the integrity from the signal transmission and maintains optimal optical properties.
Protecting the Glass Fiber Core
The glass fiber core is the heart of any fiber optic cable, responsible for transmitting light signals over long distances. However, the glass fibers are incredibly sensitive and can be simply damaged by external factors like moisture, mechanical stress, or chemical exposure. This is where secondary coating comes into play.
Secondary coating provides an additional layer of protection across the glass fiber core, shielding it from potential harm. This protective layer works as a barrier, preventing moisture ingress and physical damage, ensuring the longevity and reliability of the fiber optic cable.
Maintaining Performance in Harsh Environments
Fiber optic cables are frequently deployed in harsh environments, including underground installations, outdoor settings, and industrial applications. Within these demanding conditions, maintaining optimal performance becomes paramount.
Secondary coating in fiber optic cables enhances their potential to deal with temperature changes, humidity, and exposure to chemicals. This added protection helps to ensure that the cables can withstand extreme climatic conditions, corrosive substances, and other environmental factors, without compromising signal transmission quality or overall performance.
Sustaining Optimal Optical Properties
Optical properties like low attenuation (signal loss) and signal transmission quality are critical for fiber optic cables to work effectively. The secondary coating in fiber optic cables plays a crucial role in sustaining these optical properties.
The secondary coating material is carefully selected to reduce signal loss and sustain optimal light transmission. By reducing signal attenuation, the secondary coating helps to ensure the fiber optic cable maintains high-quality signal integrity, resulting in reliable and efficient communication.
In Conclusion, secondary coating in fiber optic cables is not only an enhancement but an absolute necessity in today's advanced communication systems. It works as a protective shield, safeguarding the glass fiber core, maintaining performance in harsh environments, and sustaining optimal optical properties.
Introduction To Fiber Secondary Coating Line Technology
Within the world of fiber optic cable manufacturing, using advanced technology is crucial to ensure the manufacture of high-quality and reliable cables. One such technology that plays a crucial role in the manufacturing process is fiber secondary coating line technology. This innovative technology involves the effective use of a secondary coating for the fiber optic cables, providing additional protection and enhancing their performance.
The secondary coating equipment utilized in fiber secondary coating line technology contains state-of-the-art machinery and tools specifically made for this function. These equipment and machinery ensure precise and uniform use of the secondary coating, causing efficient and reliable cable production. They include advanced features and control systems which allow seamless operation and optimal performance during the coating process.
With fiber secondary coating line technology, manufacturers can achieve enhanced cable durability, better potential to deal with environmental factors, and improved overall cable performance. The use of this technology helps to ensure that fiber optic cables can withstand the difficulties of harsh conditions, making them suitable for a variety of applications and industries.
Advancements in Fiber Optic Cable Coating Solutions
With all the ever-improving demand for services for faster and more reliable internet connections, the necessity for advanced fiber optic cable coating solutions is becoming paramount. Technological advancements have paved the way for innovative materials and new coating techniques that offer enhanced protection and improved performance for fiber optic cables. Additionally, the accessibility to custom coating systems tailored to specific cable specifications has further revolutionized the business. Let's look into the exciting developments in fiber optic cable coating solutions and explore the rewards they feature.
Innovative Materials for Enhanced Protection
Coating materials play an important role in protecting the fragile glass fiber core of fiber optic cables from external elements and potential damage. Recently, there has been remarkable advancements in the development of innovative materials designed to provide enhanced protection. These materials offer improved effectiveness against mechanical stress, temperature variations, moisture, and chemical exposure, ensuring reliable performance even just in challenging environmental conditions.
New Coating Methods For Better Performance
Alongside innovative materials, new coating techniques emerged to enhance the performance and sturdiness of fiber optic cables. These techniques concentrate on achieving lower attenuation, higher signal transmission quality, and increased resistance to bending and microbending losses. Through state-of-the-art coating methods like plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD), the fiber optic coating process has become optimized for superior performance, ensuring reliable data transmission and minimal signal loss.
Custom Coating Systems Tailored to Cable Specifications
Every fiber optic cable project is exclusive, with specific requirements and specifications. To handle this diversity, custom coating systems have already been developed to provide tailored solutions. These systems allow manufacturers to change the coating process according to cable dimensions, fiber count, and particular operational needs. By integrating automated controls and monitoring systems, custom coating systems ensure precision coating thickness, uniformity, and consistency, leading to high-quality, reliable fiber optic cables that meet industry standards.
Advancements | Innovative Materials | New Coating Techniques | Custom Coating Systems |
Enhanced protection for fiber optic cables | Effectiveness against mechanical stress, temperature, moisture, and chemicals | Lower attenuation, higher signal transmission quality, and increased effectiveness against bending and microbending | Tailored solutions based upon cable specifications |
Better performance and durability | Superior protection in challenging environmental conditions | Precision coating thickness, uniformity, and consistency | Automated controls and monitoring systems |
Cost Efficiency in Fiber Optic Manufacturing
The manufacturing process of fiber optic cables could be complex and costly. However, optimizing cost efficiency is vital for companies in this particular industry to stay competitive and profitable. By implementing the right strategies and technologies, manufacturers is able to reduce production costs and improve overall efficiency, ensuring long term success.
One key area where cost efficiency can be accomplished is incorporated in the fiber optic manufacturing process itself. By streamlining and optimizing the production workflow, manufacturers can eliminate unnecessary steps, minimize material waste, and minimize production time. This may result in significant cost savings and improved productivity.
Another essential aspect to think about is the option of materials and equipment used in the manufacturing process. Making an investment in high-quality yet inexpensive materials, like reliable fiber secondary coating line, can result in long term cost savings by reducing maintenance and replacement costs.
Furthermore, advancements in technology have led to the growth of more effective and automated manufacturing equipment. These state-of-the-art machines can increase production throughput and accuracy while reducing labor and operating costs. By investing in such equipment, manufacturers can achieve higher output levels and improved product quality.
Additionally, implementing quality control measures at each and every stage of the manufacturing process will help identify and address any issues or defects in the beginning, minimizing the potential for costly rework or product recalls. Utilizing advanced testing and inspection techniques can ensure the creation of high-quality fiber optic cables that meet industry standards and customer expectations.
In In Summary, cost efficiency plays a crucial role in fiber optic manufacturing. By adopting appropriate strategies, utilizing advanced technologies, and optimizing the manufacturing process, companies can achieve significant financial savings, improve overall efficiency, and keep a competitive edge on the market.
Fiber Secondary Coating Line
In producing fiber optic cables, the fiber secondary coating line plays an important role in ensuring the last cable quality and sturdiness. Effective coating lines are crucial for protecting the delicate glass fiber core from external elements and potential damage, as well as maintaining optimal optical properties.
Key Characteristics of Effective Coating Lines:
- High Precision: Effective coating lines are created rich in precision to make sure accurate implementation of the secondary coating material in the fiber optic cables. This precision is essential for maintaining consistent coating thickness and avoiding defects that may compromise the cable's performance.
- Uniform Coating Distribution: Properly designed coating lines make sure the uniform distribution of the secondary coating material along the length of the cable. This uniformity is essential for achieving optimal cable performance and preventing disadvantages or inconsistencies within the coating.
- Controlled Cure Process: Coating lines with controlled cure processes permit precise control over the curing parameters, such as temperature and time. This makes sure that the secondary coating material cures properly, resulting in a strong and durable cable.
- Flexibility: Effective coating lines are designed to handle various cable sizes and types, accommodating different production requirements. This flexibility allows manufacturers to create an array of fiber optic cables without compromising on coating quality.
- Advanced Monitoring Systems: State-of-the-art coating lines are equipped with advanced monitoring systems that continuously monitor and analyze the coating process. This enables real-time adjustments and ensures consistent coating quality throughout production.
Impact on Final Cable Quality and Durability:
A highly effective fiber secondary coating line directly contributes to the standard and durability of the final fiber optic cable. The secondary coating behaves as a protective barrier, safeguarding the delicate glass fiber core from moisture, mechanical stress, as well as other external factors that may jeopardize the cable's performance. Through providing a dependable and consistent coating, effective coating lines be sure that the cable maintains its optimal optical properties, low attenuation, and high signal transmission quality.
State-of-the-Art Equipment for Reliable Processing:
To attain quality results, fiber secondary coating lines incorporate state-of-the-art equipment for reliable processing. These equipment are made to handle the delicate fiber optic cables with precision, ensuring accurate implementation of the secondary coating material. Advanced control systems and automated processes further improve the reliability and efficiency in the coating lines, minimizing human error and optimizing production output.
Equipment | Function |
Optical Fiber Pay-Off | Provides controlled tension and unwinding from the fiber optic cable during the coating process. |
Coating Unit | Applies the secondary coating material on the fiber optic cable with precision, ensuring uniform distribution and controlled cure process. |
Curing Chamber | Produces the ideal curing conditions for the secondary coating material to harden and form a protective layer across the fiber optic cable. |
Fiber Take-Up | Controls the winding and tension from the fiber optic cable right after the coating process is finished, ensuring an even and consistent cable winding. |
Comparing Compact and Full-Scale Coating Lines
When it comes to fiber optic manufacturing, deciding on the best coating line is vital to make sure optimal production efficiency and quality. Two common options are compact coating lines and full-scale coating lines. Let's compare and contrast these two types to know their advantages, disadvantages, and suitability for many different production requirements.
Compact coating lines provide a space-saving solution, which makes them perfect for smaller production facilities or limited workspace. These lines are designed to be efficient and versatile, allowing manufacturers to coat a wide range of fiber optic cables with precision. However, due to their compact size, they might have slightly lower production capacity in comparison to full-scale coating lines.
On the other hand, full-scale coating lines are equipped for larger production volumes and can handle an assorted variety of cable sizes and specifications. They supply high-speed coating capabilities, enabling manufacturers to satisfy demanding production targets. However, full-scale coating lines require more floor space and might involve an increased initial investment.
Here's a simple comparison of the two types:
Compact Coating Lines | Full-Scale Coating Lines |
Space-saving solution | Ideal for larger production volumes |
Versatile and efficient | High-speed coating capabilities |
Appropriate for smaller production facilities | Require more floor area |
Could have slightly lower production capacity | Higher initial investment |
When selecting between compact and full-scale coating lines, manufacturers should think about their production requirements, available space, and investment capabilities. Both options can deliver quality coating results, but the choice ultimately depends upon the precise needs and goals in the production facility.
Maximizing Production With Higher-Speed Secondary Coating
Strategies For Increasing Line Speeds
With regards to fiber optic cable production, maximizing production efficiency is a main priority. One way to achieve this is actually by implementing high-speed secondary coating technology. By increasing line speeds inside the coating process, manufacturers can significantly improve overall productivity and satisfy the growing demand for fiber optic cables.
To boost line speeds, several strategies could be employed. Firstly, optimizing the coating materials and formulations can help reduce cure time, allowing for faster processing. Secondly, implementing advanced machinery and automation systems can improve the speed and efficiency of the coating process, minimizing production bottlenecks. Leveraging state-of-the-art equipment specifically made for high-speed secondary coating can create a significant difference in line speeds and productivity.
Furthermore, streamlining the workflow and minimizing manual interventions is effective in reducing downtime and improve throughput. By making use of efficient material handling systems and implementing lean manufacturing principles, manufacturers can minimize material waste and achieve higher production speeds without compromising on quality.
Reducing Downtime and Material Waste
Reducing downtime is vital for maximizing production efficiency in high-speed secondary coating. Any unplanned interruptions can lead to significant losses in productivity and increased material waste. To lower downtime, proactive maintenance and regular equipment inspections ought to be conducted to identify and address potential issues before they cause production stoppages.
Furthermore, implementing efficient changeover procedures may help reduce downtime during product transitions. By optimizing the setup and cleaning processes between different cable types or coating materials, manufacturers can minimize downtime and maximize production time.
Material waste is another aspect that really needs careful management in high-speed secondary coating. By closely monitoring and managing the coating application parameters, manufacturers can minimize excess material usage and improve material efficiency. Implementing automated systems for precise material dispensing and coating thickness control may help optimize material usage and lower waste.
Managing Excess Fiber Length in High-Speed Environments
Managing excess fiber length in high-speed secondary coating environments can present challenges for manufacturers. Excess fiber length may result in tangling, snags, or inconsistent coating coverage, affecting product quality and gratification. To effectively manage excess fiber length, manufacturers can implement advanced fiber tension control systems that ensure smooth and continuous fiber movement through the coating process.
Automated monitoring and feedback systems will help detect and correct any deviations in fiber length, ensuring consistent coating application and-quality end products. Additionally, deploying advanced fiber laying techniques, including controlled fiber looping, can help manage excess fiber length and make certain uniform coating coverage, reducing the potential risk of performance issues.
By leveraging high-speed secondary coating technology and implementing approaches to increase line speeds, reduce downtime, minimize material waste, and manage excess fiber length, manufacturers can maximize production efficiency and fulfill the growing need for fiber optic cables.
Strategies for Maximizing Production Efficiency in High-Speed Secondary Coating |
Implement high-speed secondary coating technology |
Optimize coating materials and formulations |
Utilize advanced machinery and automation systems |
Streamline workflow and minimize manual interventions |
Proactively maintain equipment and conduct regular inspections |
Implement efficient changeover procedures |
Monitor and control coating application parameters |
Implement automated systems for precise material dispensing and coating thickness control |
Implement advanced fiber tension control systems |
Deploy automated monitoring and feedback systems |
Utilize controlled fiber looping techniques |
Enhancing Quality Control in Fiber Coating Processes
In the creation of fiber optic cables, quality control is paramount to make certain consistent and-quality coating. Fiber coating processes play a crucial role in protecting the delicate glass fiber core and looking after optimal performance in various environments. To accomplish these objectives, rigorous testing and inspection through the entire coating process are crucial.
There are many methods and technologies utilized to boost the quality control in fiber coating processes. Laser measurement systems, as an example, provide precise control over the thickness and uniformity from the coating, ensuring optimal optical properties. Additionally, automated inspection tools with advanced imaging capabilities enable thorough visual inspection to detect any defects or imperfections within the coating.
Quality control is crucial in fiber coating processes to retain the performance and longevity of fiber optic cables. By implementing robust testing and inspection methods, manufacturers can ensure consistent and high-quality coating, enhancing the overall quality of the final product.
Another significant part of quality control in fiber coating processes is definitely the adherence to industry standards and specifications. Manufacturers are required to follow guidelines set by organizations like the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to make sure that the coating materials and procedures satisfy the required performance criteria.
The use of statistical process control (SPC) techniques can also contribute to effective quality control in fiber coating. SPC allows manufacturers to keep track of the coating process in real-time, detect any deviations from the desired parameters, and make immediate changes in maintain consistency and quality.
By implementing comprehensive quality control measures, manufacturers can optimize the fiber coating processes, making sure the last fiber optic cables satisfy the highest standards of performance, reliability, and sturdiness.
Insights into Fiber Draw Tower Mechanics and Functionality
Within the manufacturing process of fiber optic cables, fiber draw tower play a vital role in producing high-quality fibers. Knowing the mechanics and functionality of such towers is important for optimizing fiber quality and overall cable performance.
Understanding Draw Tower Operation
The draw tower operation requires the precise charge of tension and speed to elongate and strengthen the fiber. The process begins with a preform, which can be heated and drawn through a number of dies to reduce its diameter. The fiber will be coated using a secondary layer for protection against external factors.
The draw tower provides for continuous production, with all the fiber being drawn at high speeds. The tension control system ensures uniform fiber quality, minimizing variations in diameter and enhancing mechanical strength.
Integrating Coating Technology Into the Draw Process
To further enhance fiber quality, coating technology is incorporated into the draw process. By using a secondary coating, the fiber is protected from moisture, temperature variations, and mechanical stress. This coating helps maintain optimal fiber performance and ensures long term reliability.
The integration of coating technology into the draw process requires precise charge of the coating application, ensuring uniform thickness and finish coverage. Advanced coating systems are employed to achieve accurate and consistent results.
Draw Tower Innovations for Better Fiber Quality
Ongoing innovations in draw tower technology have triggered significant improvements in fiber quality. A few of the key innovations include:
- Advanced Tension Control: Modern draw towers include advanced tension control systems that enable precise and automated control over fiber tension. This ensures consistent fiber quality and reduces the chance of breakage during the drawing process.
- Online Monitoring Systems: Draw towers now feature online monitoring systems that continuously monitor and analyze various parameters, including fiber diameter, coating thickness, and tension. This real-time feedback allows for immediate adjustments, ensuring optimal fiber quality.
- Process Automation: Automation technologies have already been incorporated into draw towers, reducing manual intervention and improving production efficiency. Automated systems control the entire fiber drawing process, minimizing human error and optimizing fiber quality.
- Innovative Die Designs: The design from the drawing dies has changed, making it possible for precise control over fiber dimensions and enhanced fiber strength. Innovative die materials and coatings contribute to better fiber quality and reduced downtime.
By incorporating these innovations, fiber draw towers are able to produce fibers of exceptional quality, meeting the stringent requirements of recent fiber optic cable production.
Innovation | Benefits |
Advanced Tension Control | Ensures consistent fiber quality and reduces breakage |
Online Monitoring Systems | Allows for real-time adjustments and optimal fiber quality |
Process Automation | Reduces manual intervention and optimizes production efficiency |
Innovative Die Designs | Enables precise charge of fiber dimensions and enhanced strength |
FTTH Cable Production: Emphasizing Precision and Efficiency
In the fast-paced world of fiber optic cable manufacturing, the production of FTTH (Fiber to the Home) cables requires a special increased exposure of precision and efficiency. Because the demand for high-speed internet connectivity continues to surge, it is vital to make sure that the manufacturing process meets the stringent requirements and standards of FTTH cable production.
The production of FTTH cables involves intricate processes that need precise control and efficient workflows to provide high-quality cables that can fulfill the increasing bandwidth demands of recent households. This can include the deployment of advanced technologies and automated systems to streamline production, minimize errors, and optimize efficiency.
By incorporating precision technologies and automated systems, manufacturers can achieve greater accuracy in cable dimensions, connector compatibility, and fiber alignment, resulting in improved performance and reliability. This degree of precision is important to make sure that FTTH cables can deliver fast and reliable internet connectivity to homes.
Efficiency is yet another fundamental aspect of FTTH cable production. By implementing efficient workflows and optimized manufacturing processes, manufacturers can increase productivity and reduce waste, ultimately causing higher output and price savings. Efficiency is particularly essential in meeting the growing global interest in fiber optic cables and ensuring that the development process keeps up with market requirements.
Through continuous innovation and investment in state-of-the-art equipment, the industry is maximizing the precision and efficiency of FTTH cable production. This allows manufacturers to deliver high-performance and reliable cables, empowering homes with fast and reliable internet connectivity for that modern digital age.
The Role of Sheathing Lines in Fiber Optic Cable Construction
Sheathing lines play a crucial role in the construction of fiber optic cables, providing essential external protection to make sure optimal performance and longevity. Through the process of sheathing, fiber optic cables are shielded from environmental factors, mechanical stress, as well as other potential damage.
Adding External Protection through Sheathing
Sheathing serves as a protective layer round the fiber optic cables, safeguarding them from moisture, UV radiation, temperature fluctuations, and physical impact. This external protection is vital in maintaining the integrity from the cables, preventing signal loss, and ensuring reliable transmission in including the harshest conditions.
Customizable Sheathing Solutions For Many Different Cable Types
With a variety of cable types and applications, customized sheathing solutions are crucial to meet the specific requirements of numerous projects. Whether it's indoor or outdoor cables, aerial or underground installation, or specialized industrial applications, sheathing lines provide the flexibility to tailor the protective layer in accordance with the specific needs in the cables.
Customizable sheathing solutions can include materials with varying thicknesses, compositions, and mechanical properties to complement the required amount of protection and sturdiness. This customization allows for optimal performance and longevity in diverse environments and applications.
Automated Sheathing Systems for Consistent Quality
To guarantee consistent quality and efficiency within the sheathing process, automated sheathing systems have grown to be indispensable in modern fiber optic cable construction. These systems utilize advanced technology and precision machinery to apply the protective sheathing layer accurately and consistently.
Automated sheathing systems offer numerous advantages, including increased production speed, reduced human error, and improved overall product quality. With automated control and monitoring, these systems can maintain precise parameters through the sheathing process, resulting in consistent and reliable cable performance.
By leveraging customizable sheathing solutions and automated sheathing systems, fiber optic cable manufacturers can effectively protect their cables from external factors and deliver high-quality, reliable products to meet the ever-increasing demands in the telecommunications industry.
To Summarize
In Final Thoughts, the implementation of fiber secondary coating line technology plays a crucial role in optimizing fiber optic cable production. Throughout this article, we have explored the significance of secondary coating in fiber optic cables. It acts as a protective layer that safeguards the delicate glass fiber core, ensuring its durability and reliability even during harsh environments.
By sustaining optimal optical properties, including low attenuation and high signal transmission quality, secondary coating technology guarantees the efficient operation of fiber optic cables. It enhances their performance and longevity, causing them to be suitable for a wide range of applications.
Furthermore, we now have discussed the advancements in fiber optic cable coating solutions, including the usage of innovative materials and new coating techniques. These advancements have ended in enhanced protection and improved performance. The availability of custom coating systems tailored to specific cable specifications further adds to the versatility from the production process.
Since the interest in fiber optic cables continues to grow, the main objective on cost efficiency in manufacturing becomes imperative. By leveraging high-speed secondary coating, strategies can be implemented to increase line speeds, reduce downtime, and minimize material waste. This, in turn, maximizes production output and ensures optimal utilization of resources.
In summary, fiber secondary coating line technology is actually a key component in fiber optic cable production. Its significance cannot be understated, since it plays a part in the overall quality, performance, and cost efficiency of the cables. By purchasing state-of-the-art equipment and embracing innovative coating solutions, manufacturers can elevate their production processes and deliver reliable and high-performing fiber optic cables to satisfy the ever-growing connectivity needs of various industries.


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BALTIMORE (AP) — Is it ethical for Baltimore's top prosecutor, who staked her reputation on charging six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, to keep trying for a conviction? Legal experts said Friday that State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby is obligated to consider this question.
Mosby seemed devastated after the trial judge found no evidence a crime was committed when the young black man's neck was broken in the back of a police van.
The acquittal of van driver Caesar Goodson on all counts Thursday was more than just a courtroom setback, given the stakes Mosby raised last year when she announced the charges shortly after riots shook the city.
Stressing the ethical demands of her office and repeatedly invoking the civil unrest, Mosby vowed then to represent the aggrieved citizens of Baltimore who "experienced injustice at the hands of police officers."
"To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America: I heard your call for 'No justice, no peace," she declared, her voice rising in righteousness and outrage. "You're at the forefront of this cause and as young people, our time is now."
Judge Barry Williams also acquitted Officer Edward Nero, who also left Gray face-down in handcuffs and shackles but otherwise unrestrained inside the van's metal compartment. The two non-jury verdicts, plus another officer's mistrial, leaves four officers yet to be cleared and prosecutors already feeling defeated.
"I think she understands her ethical obligations," said University of Baltimore President Kurt Schmoke, who had Mosby's job in the 1980s before serving as the city's mayor.
"If I were in her position, I'd take the next couple of days to reevaluate the cases under these new circumstances. If she felt that the rest of the evidence that she has is not as strong as she felt last May, then I would think she would probably conclude that she shouldn't proceed," Schmoke said.
Neither Mosby and all others involved are bound by a gag order from commenting.
In court, her prosecutors argued that Goodson's inaction alone proved his intent to do harm.
They said he was criminally negligent because he didn't restrain the prisoner with a seat belt to keep him safe inside the metal compartment, and didn't get medical help after Gray repeatedly indicated he needed it.
Gray was healthy enough to run from officers before his arrest. When he arrived unconscious and incontinent at the station 45 minutes later, his neck felt "like a bag of rocks," one medic testified.
But the judge said he saw no evidence of individual culpability by Goodson, the only one of the officers to be with Gray the entire time, and to be charged with murder.
"The failure to seatbelt may have been a mistake or it may have been bad judgment," Williams said, but "the state has failed to meet its burden to show that the actions of the defendant rose above mere civil negligence."
In civil court, Gray's family could have sought compensation under a lower standard of proof. Instead, the city settled even before the young black man's family sued, agreeing to pay them $6.4 million.
The patience of people in Baltimore's inner city has been tested by each verdict. As if to confirm their complaints of unequal justice, a young man who admitted looting and torching the CVS pharmacy during the riots was given a 15-year prison sentence on Friday.
But the four officers still facing charges will likely opt for non-jury trials before the same judge, and that should weigh heavily as Mosby decides how to proceed, legal experts say.
"The job of a prosecutor isn't to obtain a conviction at all costs," said David Weinstein, a defense attorney who spent 10 years as a state prosecutor and another 11 as a federal prosecutor. "It's right for a prosecutor to strike hard, but they need to be fair."
"Her decision was to jump quickly into a prosecution of these police officers, and as a result she didn't have all the evidence in front of her," Weinstein added. "She needs to reassess what she's going to do."
Attorney Eric Schaffer, a former county prosecutor in Maryland, said "proving a negative is always hard, and proving a criminal intent where there's no overt act is always extremely difficult."
Schaffer said he was stunned when Mosby, just weeks into her job, charged the officers just 12 days after Gray's death. His office spent months investigating much less complex cases, he said.
"As a prosecutor, in my opinion, you shouldn't be in a rush," he said. "Take your time and analyze it and don't let political pressure force you into doing something that's not right."


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Hey guys,
this is more of a meth question and less of c, but after searching google for a long time I wasn't getting aynwhere.
Basically, I would like to render a 3d wireframe on the screen, WITHOUT LIBRARIES. I want to hack a few functions to draw lines, then use those, along with math, to make, for instance, a grid-plane that I can 'rotate' around, and have the lines stay in perspective.
so really there are two questions here:
1) (main) How can I use "transformation matrices" to move around this grid and keep the lines correct?
2) (insignificant) How can I stick a single pixel on the screen?
I'm not really looking for straight answers, but perhaps some article people might have seen over the years.
Thanks again,


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Hutton ClaysAndMinerals.com
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I'm on a short break all this week
but I've promised to give you a peek
at what I pack in my beach bag.
It's all about prints when summer comes around.
My sure pick would be florals, on my bag and on
my beach cover-up, a.k.a sarong or pareo.
This design reminds me so much of Indian block prints and
the blue & white combination is perfect for the season.
I can use it after a swim, line a lounge chair with it or
turn it into a shawl when the night gets too windy.
Hey, it can even pass for a dress, skirt or bandana!
Just check out the options here.


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Color is one of the four C's, or characteristics upon which white diamonds are graded at the NYC Diamond District. However, some people become understandably confused because some colored diamonds are also graded using a different grading system. The difference is in the type of diamond, White Diamonds or Fancy Diamonds.
White diamonds are graded using the four C's or the four characteristics.
Carat Weight
In a regular white diamond, less color equals higher clarity. The more yellow or brown coloring a diamond has the less valuable the diamond is. The most common color in white diamonds is yellow caused by traces of nitrogen elements.
Natural Fancy Diamonds
If a colored diamond contains too much color that is caused by a naturally occurring process, it is called a Natural Fancy Colored Diamond, or just Fancy Colored Diamond. Large amounts of naturally occurring nitrogen within the diamond will give you a Fancy Yellow. The element Boron creates Fancy Blue diamonds. Diamonds with browns, pinks, and red hues are the result of Crystal Lattice defects that occurred during the formation of the stones.
Fancy Colored Diamonds are graded in just about the same way as white diamonds with the exception of color. In white diamonds, less color is rated higher. In Fancy diamonds, the NYC Diamond District Master Jewelers look for more color and grade on "Hue" and "Intensity."
White Diamond Grading Process
Gemologists and Jewelers like the professionals at the NYC Diamond District use a color grading system that grades using letters D through Z of the English alphabet. The letter D has the least amount of color or is colorless. This is desirable and very rare. The letter Z has the most color within the normal range of color and indicates a diamond that is far less valuable.
Our grading process is performed by the Professional Diamond Graders of the NYC Diamond District in a strictly controlled environment. A special filtered cool white light is used and the graders use a set of G.I.A. colored diamonds with which to compare the diamonds to be graded. The G.I.A. issues sets of diamonds that are graded against their Master Set so that all grading is compared to the same high standards adhered to at the NYC Diamond District.
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D is colorless perfection in a diamond. It is rare and very valuable.
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I'm the lead of the GPSD project, a service daemon that monitors GPS receivers on serial or USB ports and provides TPV (time-position-velocity) reports in a simple format on on a well-known Internet port. GPSD makes this job looks easy. But it's not — oh, it's decidedly not — and thereby hangs an entertaining tale of hacker ingenuity versus multiple layers of suck.
Away back in the dark and backward abysm of time when GPS technology was first being made generally available (1993), only military-grade receivers were sensitive enough to use it where there were things like buildings and trees partly blocking the sky view. The first civilian customers to actually find a use for it were people messing about in boats. Thus it came to pass that the manufacturers of marine navigation systems were the first civilians to grapple with the question of how a GPS receiver should report TPV information over a wire to a navigational computer.
Our first layer of suck begins with the National Marine Electronics Association, or NMEA. They wrote a standard describing a protocol for GPSes reporting over serial ports called NMEA 0183 which, despite being a technical expert in the field, I've never dared to look at. The reason is that they made it proprietary and expensive, and their lawyers have been known to threaten legal action against people who quote it on the net.
To add injury to insult, NMEA 0183 was (and still is) a crappy standard. How crappy? Well, before I get into that, let's note that there is one thing NMEA did right that later attempts to replace it got wrong. Each NMEA report is a text packet, or sentence, that begins with a dollar sign and ends with a carriage-return and line feed. The data elements in in NMEA sentences are just text fields separated by commas, like this:
This means that log files of collected NMEA sentences are easy to read and edit. And that number on the right-hand end, after the "*" but before the CRLF? A data checksum, so you can tell whether you have a valid sentence or just line noise (and this is important: we'll come back to it later). A GPS speaking NMEA emits sentences like this onto the wire, usually in once-per-second bursts.
The first layer of suck actually begins with what NMEA 0183 has you put in those packets. If you are a mathematician, you have a pretty good notion of what a TPV report is. It's a 7-tuple
Internally, this is what a GPS sensor computes from the signal times to GPS satellites. Actually, to be pedantic, it doesn't compute the error bars in exactly this form; rather, you get scale factors for the errors derived from the geometry of the satellites when the fix was taken, and have to multiply that by an experimentally-derived bugger factor dependent on things like how turbulent the radio-reflecting layer in the ionosphere is.
Now let's look at what NMEA 0183 tells GPS devices to actually report. Here is a breakdown of the data in our sample sentence, which is in fact the most commonly used GPS reporting format for TPV:
1 225446.33 Time of fix 22:54:46 UTC 2 A Status of Fix: A = Autonomous, valid; D = Differential, valid; V = invalid 3,4 4916.45,N Latitude 49 deg. 16.45 min North 5,6 12311.12,W Longitude 123 deg. 11.12 min West 7 000.5 Speed over ground, Knots 8 054.7 Course Made Good, True north 9 181194 Date of fix 18 November 1994 10,11 020.3,E Magnetic variation 20.3 deg East 12 A FAA mode indicator (NMEA 2.3 and later) A=autonomous, D=differential, E=Estimated, N=not valid, S=Simulator, M=Manual input mode 13 *68 Mandatory NMEA checksum
Alert readers will notice what's missing here. Altitude, for starters — we've got no Z! People in boats, remember? They think they don't need no steenking altitude. And no error estimates at all. And the T report is incomplete, giving only a two-digit year. Yup, that one got annoying real fast when the millennium turned. And it's not like the designers couldn't see that coming in 1993.
Eventually, NMEA wised up about the altitude thing. The sane way to proceed would have been to define a new sentence containing all the GPRMC information, plus altitude, plus a real four-digit year, even if error bars had to remain suppressed for some inexplicable reason. Here's what we got instead:
$GPGGA,123519,4807.038,N,01131.324,E,1,08,0.9,545.4,M,46.9,M, , *42 1 123519 Fix taken at 12:35:19 UTC 2,3 4807.038,N Latitude 48 deg 07.038' N 4,5 01131.324,E Longitude 11 deg 31.324' E 6 1 Fix quality: 0 = invalid, 1 = GPS, 2 = DGPS, 3=PPS (Precise Position Service), 4=RTK (Real Time Kinematic) with fixed integers, 5=Float RTK, 6=Estimated, 7=Manual, 8=Simulator 7 08 Number of satellites being tracked 8 0.9 HDOP = Horizontal dilution of position 9,10 545.4,M Altitude, Metres above mean sea level 11,12 46.9,M Height of geoid (mean sea level) above WGS84 ellipsoid, in Meters
Now we've got X, Y, and Z…but T is even more damaged! You get a time of day, no month, no year, no century. No velocity report at all. We've got one number, HDOP, that tangles EDX and EDY together to give a circular horizontal error. And despite the fact that this sentence reports an altitude (Z), there's an EDX/EDY and no report of EDZ!
For some inexplicable reason, NMEA also describes a GPGLL sentence that has all the brain-damage of GPGGA, but without the altitude. And a GPVTG that gives only a velocity report – no position, and naturally no error bars. Do I need to add that both have missing or incomplete timestamps? And oh, yes, there are actually two different incompatible variants of GPVTG.
Remember I said GPS receivers emit bursts of NMEA packets once a second? Well, the bursts typically consist of a GPRMC, followed by a GGA, possibly followed by a GPGLL and/or GPVTG. Er, no, I'm lying, they could be in a different order. The sentences in the burst have overlapping, incomplete information. The NMEA standard doesn't specify even which ones must be sent, let alone the order they're sent in.
Some NMEA GPSes part-repair the timestamp damage by shipping a sentence called GPZDA that gives you a full UTC timestamp with century. But the standard doesn't require it, and most don't, so you can't count on it.
The first layer of suck was about what NMEA 0183 specifies. We are now passing into the second layer of suck, which is what it doesn't specify. Like, the minimum set of sentences that have to be sent per reporting cycle. Oh, and nothing in the standard stops a GPS from simply omitting fields it doesn't feel like reporting. It's fairly common, for example, for receivers to not report magnetic variation or geoid separation (the geoid is an imaginary surface representing the difference between mean sea level and local sea level, which varies because the earth's mass is not uniformly distributed.). GPS designers can save some absurdly tiny fraction of a penny per unit by not having these data tables in ROM, and they're generally more than willing to shaft their customers to do it.
A mob of crack-smoking rhesus monkeys could have designed a better standard than NMEA 0183. It means that if you want to assemble a proper TPV report from NMEA sentences, you actually need to wait until you've seen an entire reporting cycle. Only…you can't tell without knowing the type and firmware version of the GPS which sentences start and end the cycle! And even if you did know, buffering the partial data introduces latency that may be unacceptable for some applications.
A very practical way this manifests is that if you have a GPS client faithfully reporting the NMEA sentences coming over the wire, your altitude will typically flicker from known to unknown and back twice a second as it gets hit by alternating GPRMC and GPGGA sentences. That is, unless you buffer, in which case the altitude you see could be up to one second stale and associated with a previous fix.
The incomplete timestamps mean various sorts of lossage can bite you if you have a GPS client active at midnight. Unless your software is actually watching for the moment when the GGA timestamp goes to 00:00:00 and can compensate, it's going to look like you've dropped back in time 24 hours until the GPRMC next comes in. Human eyes can just reject this, but what if you're logging telemetry and try to graph against time? Similar anomalies lurk at the edges of years and centuries.
Yes, and if you want to report true altitude over ground correctly and consistently across devices, you better have your own geoidal separation table in software somewhere.
And I have nowhere near plumbed the stygian depths of the NMEA standard's top two layers of suck. To spare the reader's sanity, we shall lightly draw a veil over the spiky, vague, ill-documented horror that is NMEA error and status reporting and pass directly to the third layer of NMEA suck, the complete absence of any standardization of GPS control codes.
Here are some of the more important things there is no NMEA-standard way to tell a GPS to do:
- Report its vendor, model, and firmware version.
- Change the set of sentences it ships per cycle.
- Change the baud rate at which it reports.
- Change the number of samples it reports per second.
Of these, (1) is the most harmless-looking, but actually the deadliest. Many GPSes have vendor-defined commands to do (2) and (3), but it is far from trivial to figure out which set of vendor-defined commands might apply. If you are a GPS-using application, and you are handed the name of a port with a GPS on it, you have to either settle for the minimum common subset of GPS behaviors, or throw all the vendor-specific ID probes you know of at the device hoping it will respond to one of them. Hint: too often, it won't.
But wait. Things get worse!
There are, broadly speaking, three major different ways that GPS vendors could have responded to the admitted fact that NMEA 0183, as given, is a festering pile of rancid camel vomit.
- They could have pressured NMEA into cleaning up the damn standard.
- They could have de-facto standardized on a decent set of extensions using the NMEA sentence packet format – a sentence that reports all 14 location parameters, a probe-for-ID query, a standard baud-rate change, etc.
- Or…they could invent a dozen mutually incompatible and poorly documented proprietary binary protocols, all of which throw away the transparency advantages of the NMEA textual packet format and each one of which introduces unique and special brain-damage of its own!
Guess which alternative most of them chose. Just guess…
You are now in a twisty maze of GPS reporting protocols, all different. Many devices have two different operating modes, one in which they emit NMEA packets and one in which they emit a vendor binary protocol that looks like nothing so much as line noise. At least one major vendor has dropped NMEA support entirely. If your location-sensitive application is naively expecting NMEA, you lose.
To be fair, one things the vendor binary protocols generally get right that NMEA doesn't is shipping something close to a full TPV in one sentence per cycle. This at least avoids the nasty problems associated with integrating partial NMEA reports and worries about where the start of cycle is. However, I had to say "something close"; not one protocol ships the full and correct TPV 14-tuple. Usually one or more velocity components and error estimates are missing and have to be computed.
Let's back off at this point and consider how people who use GPS sensors would, ideally, like their GPS sensors to behave. You plug it in, your software figures out what protocol it's using, autoconfigures to match it, and starts collecting TPV reports and using them.
If "your software" is a GPSD-enabled application on a system with gpsd installed, it actually works this way. Those of you who have been following our descent into this fourth major layer of suck can be excused for wondering how in the flipping hell GPSD ever managed this trick in the twisty maze of vendor protocols, all different.
Certainly the vendors aren't being much help here. Many of them (I'm looking at you, Garmin!) are cheerfully willing to assume that you will never use anything but their one idiosyncratic piece of GPS hardware, and that it will only talk to a limited, vendor-controlled selection of closed-source binary blobs provided by them or their business partners. Hello, vendor lock-in; goodbye, customer choice.
There is an Ariadne's thread through this maze. It's this: All the vendor protocols, like NMEA 0183, use packets with checksums and fixed header/trailer bytes. The intention is that they're an integrity check so you don't get fooled by line-noise-induced glitches. The side effect is that, if you're sufficiently clever, you can do GPS protocol autodetection on the fly. It takes a fairly complex state machine that tangles together structural knowledge about every packet protocol in your supported set, but it can be done. In GPSD-land we call this piece of code the packet sniffer.
There's something else the packet-sniffer does: it autobauds. Again, this is only possible because packet checksumming gives you a way to know for sure when you're looking at valid data. When a serial GPS device is presented to gpsd, the packet sniffer doesn't have to be told the baud rate the device is shipping at – it cycles through all possible combinations of speed, parity and stop bits looking for a combination under which it sees valid packets of some type. Normally this takes less than a second.
The packet sniffer is the real reason for the existence of gpsd — and I'd add "other programs like it", except that there aren't any others that I know of. Long ago, all the gpsd daemon did was serve as a multiplexer that read and buffered TPV reports from a single serial device so that several GPSD-aware applications could get simultaneous access to them. That's all GPSD's closest competitors today, like Gypsy, can do; they're NMEA multiplexers. They typically can't cope with non-NMEA devices at all; no packet sniffer.
The gpsd daemon also copes with the data management problems surrounding NMEA partial TPV reports, doing everything from supplying missing geoidal separation for altitude to computing and reporting error estimates from the geometry of the satellite skyview if the GPS doesn't supply them.
Most of the suck surrounding GPSes can be summed up by "all this cleverness is actually necessary if you want to get clean TPV data out of more than one different kind of device", or even out of just one kind of device that fails to supply a complete TPV. And, as we've noted, all of them fail in a dizzying variety of ways.
It's true that in theory, every single GPS-aware application could include its own packet sniffer, the matrix algebra needed to compute missing error estimates, its own geoidal separation table, and all the other random logic needed to cope even with GPSes that are working nominally correctly. But have we mentioned yet that some…don't? We know of at least three circumstances under which popular GPS chipsets return un-obviously corrupted NMEA – detectable, but you actually have to know how. Then there's one chipset we know of that returns incorrect packet checksums when it doesn't have a fix.
And we're not done yet, because there at least two other sets of issues about extracting sense from these devices. One set is an artifact of the way USB GPSes are put together. Now, USB is generally a good thing in this context; unlike old-school serial ports, USB devices raise notification events on connect and disconnect, which clever GPS software can listen for and use to automatically hook up and sync to GPS sensors when they're available.
However…naked GPS chips report serial data at TTL levels. The standard way to build a USB GPS is to hook up your GPS chip with a serial-to-USB bridge; there's one in particular called a Prolific Logic 2303 that tends to show up on about 70% of the USB GPSes out there. There are two problems with this kind of design, one obvious and one subtle.
The subtle one is that both the bridge and the UART on the GPS chip have their own data buffers. Under most circumstances this doesn't matter because the introduced latency from both together is very small – but some control operations (notably the serial-speed changes you're going to be doing while you try to sync up with the device) need an amount of delay sufficient to flush both, otherwise you get odd race conditions that can result in garbage data coming back up the wire or your control operation silently failing.
The right combinations of OS-level buffer flushes and delays will avoid this problem, but clumsy ways to do it cause fix latency and application slowdown. The comment explaining these issues in the GPSD code leads off with "Serious black magic begins here." and continues for 48 lines — because it needs to.
(This isn't the worst thing you have to be careful of while hunting, though. Some Bluetooth GPSes with defective firmware will actually go so badly catatonic if you try to change their baud rate that you actually have to crack the case and unsolder the battery to unbrick them!).
Here's the more obvious USB problem: there is no USB device class for GPSes. A USB GPS will present the vendor/product ID of the serial-to-USB converter. This means that, even if you're fortunate enough to have an operating system that can do something reasonable with hotplug events, you can't just tell it to watch for GPS devices going live and connect them to your software; you have to know which bridge-chipset IDs are likely to have GPSes behind them, sniff the data, and let go of the device if it's not shipping GPS packets! Otherwise you might eat events from non-GPS serial devices that some other application badly needs to see.
And so on, and so on. Dealing with all this crap is further complicated by vendor documentation that is scanty if you can get it at all, and often written in rather broken English when you can. Part of of the problem is the structure of the GPS sensor market, which largely consists of dozens of tiny Pacific-Rim companies – each popping up out of nowhere, shipping the cheapest possible spin on one of about a half-dozen reference designs, and disappearing six to eighteen months later.
A friend who works in embedded systems tells me these little outfits aren't even intended to last long; they're actually run by giant electronics combines through several layers of shell companies as a way of providing deniability in case of lawsuits by patent trolls. They spin up, they ship, they funnel money back to daddy…and before there's time for a process-server to show up, they disappear. All the engineers get rehired by a different sock puppet a week later. Lather, rinse, repeat. And…er…product support? What's that?
It's messy. Really messy. Those who love the law, sausage, or GPS devices really shouldn't watch any of them being made.
Expecting GPS-aware applications to keep track of all this stuff would be just nuts. The best way to cope is to have a dedicated service layer that specializes in knowing about GPS idiosyncracies, hides all that ugliness, and presents a simple TPV-reporting interface to the application layer above. Ideally, the service layer should have a sharp crew of developers who are specialist GPS experts so that nobody else has to be.
And that's exactly what the GPSD project is. It looks like a simple job…but it's not.


text:
North Carolina Museum of Art
by Armistead Jones Maupin, 2006
See also: Mint Museum of Art; Museums
The North Carolina Museum of Art was established in Raleigh in 1947 when the General Assembly appropriated $1 million for the purchase of Old Master paintings. By that action, North Carolina became the first state in the nation to use public funds to create an art collection for its citizens. Although the State Art Society had begun in 1924 to promote the foundation of an art museum for the state, it was not until 1943 that Robert Lee Humber, international lawyer and state legislator, went to New York to search for sources of support. Through his efforts, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation matched the General Assembly's appropriation, and the purchase of paintings began.
In 1953 the General Assembly authorized the expenditure of additional funds to renovate the former State Highway Building in Raleigh as a facility for the display of the collection. The museum in 1961 separated from the State Art Society, and in 1967 the General Assembly authorized the creation of a State Art Museum Building Commission charged with the construction of a new museum building. In 1983 the museum left downtown Raleigh for new facilities on Blue Ridge Road in western Raleigh. The modern museum includes exhibition galleries, a conservation laboratory, educational facilities, an auditorium, technical workshops, offices, a reference library, and a gift shop.
The function of the North Carolina Museum of Art is to acquire, preserve, and exhibit works of art for the education and enjoyment of the people of the state and to conduct programs of education, research, and publication designed to encourage an interest in and an appreciation of art. The museum now houses a collection spanning more than 5,000 years of the history of art, from ancient Egypt to the present, making it a major cultural resource for the state and the region.
In the 1990s, officials began working to develop outdoor portions of the museum's 100-acre site, which now includes several art installations and the Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Theater in the Museum Park. The outdoor theater, opened in 1997 with seating for 500 and a large lawn that can accommodate 2,000 additional guests, hosts films and musical performances. A clever feature of the museum's grounds is a massive representation of the phrase "Picture This" in 80-foot-long letters built of natural and man-made materials, readable only from the air.
While continuing to build its contemporary art collection as well as one of the Southeast's finest collections of Old Master paintings, the museum in 1999 began a series of blockbuster shows highlighted by Monet to Moore: The Millennium Gift of Sara Lee Corporation, and Rodin: Sculpture from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collection and Additional Works. The Rodin show drew 300,000 visitors and was accompanied by a number of related events under the name Festival Rodin, which became the largest-ever marketing effort for the arts in North Carolina. A major renovation of the Museum's European Galleries was completed in 2002. In 2003-4 a major observance of the centennial of the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk took place at the museum, centered on the special exhibit Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight. Between October 2004 and January 2005 the museum hosted another hugely popular exhibit, Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris: Masterpieces from the Baltimore Museum of Art, which featured works by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Monet, Rodin, and Degas, as well as Matisse and Picasso.
Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., The North Carolina Museum of Art: Introduction to the Collections (1983).
Additional Resources:
North Carolina Museum of Art:http://www.ncartmuseum.org/
Circa, the NCMA blog: http://ncartmuseum.org/blog/
The North Carolina Museum of Art's Flickr photostream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ncma/
"Robert Lee Humber." North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program. https://www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/division-historical-resources/nc-highway-historical-marker-program/Markers.aspx?ct=ddl&sp=search&k=Markers&sv=F-60
"North Carolina Museum of Art." North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program. https://www.ncdcr.gov/about/history/division-historical-resources/nc-highway-historical-marker-program/Markers.aspx?sp=search&k=Markers&sv=H-76
Iovine, Julie V. "The North Carolina Museum of Art's New Wing, an Easily Accessible Pleasure." The Wall Street Journal. June 30, 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895204575321180296043778.html
Bowton, Edgar Peters, Editor. The North Carolina Museum of Art: Introduction to the Collection. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1983.
Kirby, Peggy Jo D. The North Carolina Museum of Art: The First Fifty Years, 1947-1997: A Selected Chronology. [Raleigh, N.C.]: North Carolina Museum of Art. 1997.
Paschal, Huston, editor. The Store of Joys: Writers Celebrate the North Carolina Museum of Art's Fiftieth Anniversary. Winston-Salem, N.C.: John F. Blair. 1997.
Nagy, Rebecca Martin, and Spence, June, editors. North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections. [Raleigh, N.C.]: North Carolina Museum of Art. 1998.
Image Credits:
"Exhibit areas of the North Carolina Museum of Art." Photograph courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh.
"Photograph, Accession #: H.1957.63.9." From the North Carolina Museum of History.
1 January 2006 | Maupin, Armistead J.