Each instrument (channel) in the AGO produces 2048 byte blocks of data on a scheduled basis. These blocks are placed sequentially on magneto-optical disks in the order received at the single Data Collection Unit. Each block consists of:
/* Science Channel Data Block */
struct ChBlock {
byte year;
/* last 2 digits of year (00-99) */
byte dayno1,dayno0; /* day number
within year (1-366) */
byte hour;
byte minute;
byte second;
byte hsecs;
/* hundredths of a second */
byte time_quality;
byte chan_id;
/* experiment channel ID */
byte data_rate;
/* 1-10 (0 = Synoptic) */
byte data_size;
/* bits per sample - 8, 12, or 16 */
byte data[Ndata];
};