Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 21:06:03 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5 Content-type: text/html Last-modified: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 18:44:42 GMT Content-length: 13349 Integral Systems DRS

DRS


Remote Environmental Monitoring

Integral Systems provides a family of products and services to facilitate the collection, storage, and analysis of environmental data. Our DOMSAT Receive Station (DRS) is a mature product with over 50 installations in the United States and Canada enabling government and private organizations to receive environmental data from literally thousands of remote stations located throughout the western hemisphere. We have recently expanded our offerings with the addition of decoding/translation software, real-time database interfaces, and the integration of complete data analysis and response systems using off-the-shelf networking and application products.

Environmental monitoring is becoming increasingly important in today's world. There are many diverse applications that require real-time acquisition of environmental data. These include:

Meteorologic Applications & Research
Water Control (Water Supply & Flood Control)
Industrial (Remote Process Control)
Pollution Monitoring
Water Rights Administration
Seismographic Research
Water Quality Monitoring
Geomagnetic Research
Hydrologic Research
Recreational Applications

Integral Systems' suite of products is flexible enough to meet the needs of all of these diverse applications.


Data Collection via Satellite

The Domestic Satellite Receive Station (DRS) is a proven product which provides many federal, state, local, and private organizations with the ability to collect remote environmental data in real-time. The DRS forms the final segment of the GOES Data Collection System or DCS.

The DCS is government-funded and provides for the collection and distribution of data from up to 100,000 remote Data Collection Platforms (DCPs). Currently there are approximately 7,500 DCPs throughout the western hemisphere. Each one typically contains several sensors monitoring various aspects of the environment.

The hub of this network is the DCS Automated Processing System or 'DAPS', which resides in Wallops, VA. Built and installed by Integral Systems, the DAPS became operational in September 1989 and now serves the DCS user community.

To use the DCS, an organization will typically purchase and maintain several platforms. The government assigns frequencies and times for message transmission. The DOMSAT Receive Station then provides a low-cost method of receiving data from any or all platforms in the DCS. Among its features are:

Fully automated receipt and storage of environmental data
Disk storage for several days' worth of data
The ability to forward data to another computer via ethernet or serial line in real-time (as data are received) or from disk storage
Data browser program to select data based on a wide variety of message and platform attributes
Multi-user system allowing simultaneous queries from serial or ethernet ports

Environmental Message Interpreter Translator (EMIT)

Environmental information can be collected from many different types of remote devices. These include satellite-based DCPs, electronic data loggers, line-of-sight radio and microwave links, and manual data collection. There are many manufacturers of such devices, and even identical devices can be configured in different ways depending on the sensors installed and the method of data collection. Consequently, any software that receives and processes this data must be capable of handling a multitude of different formats.

The Environmental Message Interpreter Translator (EMIT) simplifies the process of data collection by translating incoming data into a unified stream of time-tagged samples. EMIT is a PC-based software package which can run on the DOMSAT Receive Station (or other UNIX system) to provide:

Real-time data decoding
Units conversion
Calculation of derived parameters
Translation into standard formats
Database ingest

Easy-to-use menus enable you to maintain a database of decoding and processing information. This information tells EMIT how to extract time-tagged samples from the incoming raw messages, as well as how to perform unit conversions, derive new parameters, and where to send the resulting data stream.

EMIT contains an Equation Processor with a flexible mathematical language allowing you to compute derived parameters from the raw values reported by your sensors. For example, you can convert stream-stage to flow, compute water salinity as a function of temperature and conductance, compute periodic averages, rates of change, etc. You can also extend the equation language by adding your own C-language functions.


Database Interfaces

After environmental data is collected and converted to engineering units, it will most likely be stored in a time-series database. EMIT is available with the following output interfaces:

ORACLE Relational Database
SHEF (Standard Hydrometeorologic Exchange Format)
HEC-DSS (Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center Data Storage System)
ASCII Time-Tagged Sample List

The ORACLE Output Module converts the time-tagged data into a series of SQL (Structured Query Language) statements, which are then executed across a network. The result is that incoming data is placed in the database in real-time and is immediately available for processing, display, or graphical analysis.

There are many advantages to storing environmental data in an ORACLE database:

ORACLE runs on practically any machine, giving you freedom to mix hardware and OS software from different vendors.
A wealth of third-party software with interfaces to ORACLE is available for statistical analysis, graphics, data-form/tabular displays, GIS, etc.
Working over a LAN, the server machine handles the extraction of just the data desired for a given analysis program, thus reducing the processing and storage requirements on other workstations.

SHEF is a National Weather Service standard used for the transmission and storage of hydrologic and meteorologic data. Many databases currently in use for these applications are capable of ingesting data in SHEF. Such systems can directly interface with EMIT.


Putting the Pieces Together

Networking and communications have long been specialties at Integral Systems. We are an authorized reseller/integrator for Novell, ORACLE, FTP, and SCO, as well as a wide variety of hardware platforms and products. Through a local area network we can integrate MS-DOS PCs, Macintosh computers, UNIX Workstations, and minicomputers to provide a seamless environment for automated data analysis.

The DOMSAT Receive Station, combined with the Environmental Message Interpreter Translator and a database server, can provide you with a complete solution for data collection and storage. We can then integrate commercial off-the-shelf software for:

Statistical Analysis
GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
Alarm Generation
Report Generation
Graphical Analysis
Historical Archiving

Photos of Data Collection Sites

Geomagnetic Observatory on King George Island, Antarctica (Photo courtesy of National Geomagnetic Information Center)

Stream gauge near Kenosha Pass, Colorado, operated by the City of Colorado Springs

Precipitation and temperature sensor in Blue River, Colorado

Meteorologic sensors used by the National Weather Service in Denver, Colorado


Additional Information

For further information on DRS and EMIT features, prices, and support, contact Steve Carchedi at the address below, or email him directly.


Integral Systems, Inc.* 5000 Philadelphia Way* Suite A* Lanham MD 20706-4417 USA
Phone: (301) 731-4233* Fax: (301) 731-9606
contact sales * contact webmaster


The following are trademarks or registered trademarks:

DRS - Integral Systems, Inc.
EMIT - Integral Systems, Inc.
NOVELL - Novell Corporation
ORACLE - Oracle Corporation
SCO - The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.