MARS Materials Database Miller Advanced Research Solutions Center
Aaliyah Brooks, Student Intern
View as Research engineer Data administrator Student intern
Overview / Help and runbooks

Help and runbooks

Written for MARS staff and student interns who will run and extend the materials database after handover.

How the data flows

  1. Extract. An agent on or near each machine copies new or changed files into the landing container in Azure Blob Storage. Files are never edited.
  2. Bronze. Every landed file is recorded with its hash and version; text files are stored line by line exactly as written.
  3. Silver. Each source is parsed with a fixed schema. A value that fails its type check sends the row to quarantine with the reason.
  4. Gold. Parts are the spine. ION runs tie print jobs, oven and furnace cycles, inspection reports and images to each part.
  5. Checks. Corrupt files, missing reports, incomplete cycles and unlinked images raise alerts that clear themselves when fixed.

Runbooks

RunbookUse when
RB-01 Re-export a machine fileAn alert says a file is corrupt or cut off
RB-02 Add a new machine sourceBringing on a source from the scheduled list
RB-03 Map an unlinked sample IDAn image or report names a sample that is not in ION
RB-04 Rerun a pipeline runA run failed or a source was late
RB-05 Grant or remove accessNew staff, new interns, end of semester
RB-06 Change a column or tableA researcher needs a new field in gold

Training sessions

SessionAudienceMaterials
1. Finding a part's full historyResearchers, internsSlides, recording, exercise
2. Reading oven and furnace cyclesResearchers, techniciansSlides, recording
3. Alerts, quarantine and re-exportsData administratorsRunbooks RB-01, RB-04, recording
4. Adding a machine sourceData administrators, internsWalkthrough notebook, recording
5. Querying gold tables from notebooksResearchers, internsNotebook with worked queries

Definitions

Coverage %
Readings loaded for a cycle divided by the minutes between its ION start and completion.
Soak deviation
Largest difference between actual and setpoint while the program holds its peak temperature.
Mass gain
Mass after pyrolysis divided by mass before infiltration, minus one, from the values recorded in ION.
Quarantine
Rows that failed a type check. Held with the reason until a corrected file replaces them.
Unlinked image
An image whose sample ID does not match a part serial in ION.

Data as of pipeline run R-20261105-0200, finished 11/05/2026 02:00 Mountain. Tables: mars.gold and mars.ops.