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The Southern Great Basin Seismic Network (SGBSN) is a large 42 station network that monitors seismicity around the Yucca Mountain, Nevada large nuclear waste disposal area. It is operated by the University of Nevada, Reno. The geometrical concept for this network has been to deploy radio telemetry subnets with nodes (or hubs) that then forward the data to Reno via microwave. At Reno, the acquisition and processing is accomplished on SPARC workstations. Originally, when part of the network was first deployed by the US Geological Survey, the nodes transmitted via satellite (VSAT) to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado. This network emphasizes three relevant aspects: the hub concept, the use of a UNIX workstation in communication and acquisition, and satellite communication.

REF TEK was founded in 1975 to produce quality, niche products for the land, marine and oil exploration markets. In 1981, REF TEK supplied a digital telemetry system to the University of California, San Diego for use in the ANZA area. This network was the first digital telemetry system in the U.S.A. and is successfully operating to this day.

IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology), a consortium of 104 U.S.A. universities, was formed in 1984. IRIS focused on two research arenas: the Global Seismological Network (GSN) and the Program for Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere (PASSCAL).

One of the prime goals of PASSCAL was to procure a large pool of portable instruments to record reflection and refraction and passive broadband data for elucidation of the crust down to the mantle. Specifications were issued in a competitive bid, and the REF TEK approach was chosen. REF TEK has delivered more than 1000 digital acquisition stations to IRIS under this award.

In 1991, REF TEK adapted a Hewlett-Packard 24-bit digitizer to provide a high resolution digitizing and recording system for the International Deployment of Accelerometers (IDA) of the University of California, San Diego. IDA is now part of the IRIS/GSN program. Approximately 30% of all GSN stations use instruments supplied by REF TEK.