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ELF was the Extremely-Low-Frequency communication system that the U.S Navy developed starting in 1980 to communicate with deeply submerged submarines.
The Navy terminated the project in 2004.
Wikipedia provides a good overview of this project: see Project Sanguine.
Domenico joined the Chicago-based IIT Research Institute (IITRI) in 1972, the institute does not exist anymore.
Domenico worked briefly on the ELF project at IITRI in 1978 before then President Carter terminated the project.
The ELF project was restarted by President Regan in 1980; IITRI ran the interference mitigation part of the ELF project as a sole-source contractor to the Navy.
Domenico was one of the major contributors at IITRI during the life of this project from 1980 to 2003.
Domenico continued work on the ELF project as a consultant to UPPCo (Upper Peninsula Power Company) in 2004 at the end of which
the Navy terminated the ELF system opeation, and in 2005 organizing the utility ELF demitigation.
The following are documentation fragments salvaged in 2020 from his extensive involvement in the ELF project.
The review is naturally focused more on the later years of the project lifecycle, the 1990s mostly, because of the evolution in computer technology and applications
over that period. It started with mainframe computers in the late 1970s-early 1980s and ended with desk-top personal computers
and the web at the end of the ELF project in the early 2000s.
A further shortcoming is that most office documentation in the 1990s was based on Wordperfect and its suite of graphics and spradsheet apps (Quattro),
whch have been replaced and essentially made obsolete by Microsoft Office since the early 2000s. This has made it difficult to read much
of the legacy documentation on the ELF project that is based on the Wordperfect suite.
D. Lanera, March 2020.
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Stray Voltage
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A web-resource for the layman addressing the stray voltage issue at dairy farms.
The presentation was prepared circa 2002 at the height of the great debate and intense research on stray voltages.
Ground currents from the ELF system were the source of additional stray voltages in the areas of the two ELF transmitters
that affected a number of dairy farms.
The presentation was prepared from the knowledge and experience gained on the ELF project.
However, this work was not part of and was not funded by the ELF project.
File opens in new window.
Use Open/Close buttons to open and close the new Stray Voltage window.
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ELF Training 2004
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Tool developed to provide consulting services in 2004. The tool addresses primarily the ELF interference issue to power
utilities and the related mitigation measures. This web-based tool incorporates various file types and its use was
made more complicated to discourage unauthorized copying and use.
The review proceeds sequentially through the various sections
and through the folios listed in each section. Some additional resources are available in some sections by clicking the
unlabeled buttons at the bottom of the screen. The original animations were Flash files that have been replace with film clips
because the swf file types (Flash) are now considered a security risk and are restricted or blocked by browsers.
File opens in new window.
Use Open/Close buttons to open and close the new Stray Voltage window.
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Content Outline
Training T
ool 2004
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Outline of the material contained in the Training Tool 2004.
The outline provides easy and direct access to the content. This presentation gets around the complexity of navigating within
the training tool and the limitations of some browsers with downloading and displaying various types of files.
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ELF Scrapbook
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A 1998 scrapbook focused on interference mitigation subjects, devices, testing tools and means developed by D. Lanera.
Some of the early developments were later streamlined into mainstream instruments and setups
such as the test box, vehicle-housed testing instrumentation, the indoor-vehicle retractable test wire wheels, etc.
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ELF Interference Mitigation
Validation Program,
1988 Review
video 1
video 2
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ELF IM Validation Program -1988 Review
A video was prepared for presentation at the annual U.S. Navy review of the ELF project in May 1988.
the original video was on VHS tapes that have degraded somewhat over time and was digitized in 2020.
The video was a smashing success, based on the response from the Navy’s officials and IITRI’s management after the presentation.
It provides an overview of IITRI’s field testing operations to validate the interference mitigation measures implemented at the ELF facility in Michigan.
I had the idea of a movie on the status of the project in Michigan for the 1988 review.
The VP, Dr. Tony Valentino, approved my suggestion; however I had to do it with my own resources, my own video camera, tv, etc.
The Project Manager, Mr. Ralph Carlson, went along but withheld the purchasing of the needed video camera,
saying that such equipment was not within the realm of instrumentation approved by the Navy within the scope of the project.
I was allowed time on the project to work on this film with the support of my regular work group and field crew.
I used my personal camera that I had recently purchased for family use.
An amusing recollection is that I had to purchase a small portable TV from a store in Marquette, Wisconsin, so that
I could review and organize the film clips that I was collecting in the field, in the evening in my hotel room.
I returned the TV back to the store before returning home to Chicago a week later.
I set the time for the movie, calculated the dialog timing, prepared the dialog, and had an engineer on my team,
Mr. Bill Saylor, practice the narration; finally organized the film clips, recorded the narration by Bill, and mixed the media.
After the enthusiastic response, the floodgate opened and all kind and number of video equipment were approved for purchase on the project.
Eeverybody started to make movies; but none ever came close to this video.
It was a unique, trailblazing job that I am particularly found and proud of,
a reflection of my abilities and major contributions to the project that were recognized with a number of promotions over the years,
up to being named “Senior Engineering Advisor”, the highest engineering position at IITRI .
There are two versions recovered of this video:
Video 1 has the better video, but is missing some of the initial narration.
Video 2 has the complete narration but a poorer video.
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Video 1 - Better video, but missing some of the initial narration.
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Video 2 - Complete narration, but degraded video.
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Neutral Isolator
Mold
Neutral Isolator
Testing
(Video)
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Neutral Isolator Leakage Problem, Lab Testing and Solution in the mid 1990s.
It was realized in field testing that the neutral isolators were leaking voltages in some cases.
The problem was moisture condensation inside the isolator enclosure along the Bakelite strips that separated the electrodes of the Joslyn spark gap.
The lab investigation traced the problem to moisture ingress through the two electrical wire leads that were made of stranded conductors for flexibility.
The small interstices between the various strands allowed air exchange in and out of an enclosure that was otherwise sealed.
Over time, exposed to the elements, and under cycling meteorological conditions, moisture was trapped inside the enclosure, resulting in mold growth.
The moisture and the mold along the insulating Bakelite strips that separated the spark gap assembly caused the leakage.
Various solutions were experimented in the lab. One was coating the whole spark gap assembly with an insulating coat.
However, it was learned that a more effective way was to fill the neutral isolator enclosure with an insulating fluid, such as silicone.
The fluid increased the thermal capacity of the unit and served to extend the life of the spark gap during operation,
besides replacing the air inside the enclosure and thus preventing moisture condensation.
The video shows endurance testing of a neutral isolator filled with insulating liquid and the spark gap triggered into conduction.
The operation of the spark gap generates heat. Continuous operation of the spark gap results in sputtering of the electrodes, and eventual meltdown of the electrodes,
thus causing a shortening of the spark gap. The mass of the box filling material provvides a heat sink that extends considerably the integrity of the spark gap,
normanlly beyond the time of the transient that caused the spark gap to operate, thus preventing failure of the spark gap.
Mr. Linas Kustmanas worked with Domenico on this research. He did a superior job designing and building the control instrumentation for the endurance tests.
The new improved model of the neutral isolator actually used tar that was normally solid at ambient temperature, was not prone to leakage,
a problem that fluids may otherwise present, and had the highest thermal capacity among the filling materials tested.
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Video - Neutral solator testing.
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Touch Voltage Probe,
1989
(Video)
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Touch Voltage Probe
A video showing features of a probe Domenico designed for testing the ELF touch voltage at mitigated structures such as a telephone pedestal.
The probe features a flexible cushion that allows the probe to conform to the ground surface and a foot rest that
the operator would use to put greater pressure to ensure good contact of the probe with the earth.
This is one of many specialty tools and mitigation appurtenances and measures Domenico developed for ELF interference mitigation and testing,
see scrapbook for a sample.
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Video - Testing touch voltage probe.
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Transformer Leakage
Field Investigation,
1987
(Video)
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Transformer Leakage Field Investigation
All that remains is this video. Details as well as documentation are lost after 23 years and
the project has been dead for nearly two decades.
It seems that the leakage was traceable to a lightning arrester mounted on the transformer tank.
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Video - Utility transformer voltage leakage, field investigation, 1987.
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ELF Communications
Environmental
Compatibility
Assurance Program
1997
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The complete documentation of the presentation IITRI made to the Navy in 1997.
It is a sample of the annual review of the ELF Project
that IITRI ran for the Navyas as a sole-source subcontranctor for over two decades.
Domenico was responsible for the interference mitigation effort in Michigan from 1982 to 2003 and supervised a large group of engineers at the home office in Chicago,
as well as directing the interference mitigation field activities of the on-site office in Ishpeming, Michigan.
(Domenico led the restoration of the Wisconsin site mitigation from 1980 to 1983.
Domenico was the enginner that unified in 1978 code fragments from earlier research into a powerfull Fortran computer proramm called ELFIA,
running on mainframe. ELFIA used ELF electric field calculations near variuos parts of the ELF antenna, accumulated these signals
along the conductors of various utilities (power, telephone, cable, pipelins, etc.),
ran circuit analyses to estimate the interference voltages,
and also produced mitigation plans based on selected mitigation devices and measures.
ELFIA was the main tool that Domenico used to: (1) analyze the interfernce problem from the new ELF antenna being built
in Michigan in the early 1980s; (2) develop detailed mitigation plans for all affected utilites, systems and facilites;
(3) supervise the mitigation impementation that employed a large team split between the home office in Chicago
and a field group in Ishpeming, Michigan; and (4) supervise the testing and validation of the mitigation measure.
Domenico addressed the Michigan section of the presentation. He prepared the content material and all the slides.
He arranged for some subsections, such as specific utilities, to be presented by engineers on his team.
Domenico's presentation was the longest in time, because the Michigan opration was the largest part of the project by far.
The presentation was rich in graphics, which was Domenico's hallmark approach; using elaborate graphics for illustration and message impact.
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ELF-Wisconsin
1980-1983
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Domenico's work on the ELF Projets in Wisconsin from 1980 to 1982.
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Reserved
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Reserved
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