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SensorServer--A Tool for Real-time In-situ Sensor Data
This project will help web-enable sensor networks. The project aims to develop an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard-compliant interface that can be used with generic sensor networks to provide real-time data through the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI). The proposed system will use standard OGC specifications to access and control in-situ sensors and sensor networks over the web.
Digital technology advances have made it increasingly possible to collect data from remote sensors and control them from afar. These sensors include flood gauges, air pollution monitors, stress gauges on bridges, mobile heart monitors, webcams, and satellite-borne Earth imaging devices to name a few. The OGC has set an objective to make repositories of sensor data, and all web-resident sensors, instruments, and imaging devices discoverable, accessible, and, where applicable, controllable via the Internet. The goal is to enable the creation of web-based sensor networks.
Using the CGDI to deliver real-time sensor data
Today, however, creating web-enabling sensor networks is a time-consuming effort and is often completed in an ad-hoc manner. Many organizations provide data acquisition systems, but few provide interfaces, and none offer generic standards-based web tools.
Addressing these shortcomings, this project will develop SensorServer and a SensorML wizard. By providing the interfaces to readily web-enable new sensor networks, SensorServer will create a framework that enables clients to obtain observations from one or more sensors or platforms. SensorML wizard will help users describe their sensor networks and produce a SensorML-compliant document. (SensorML is the Extensible Markup Language used to describe a sensor's capabilities, location, and interfaces.) SensorServer and SensorML wizard will significantly reduce the time to web-enable sensor networks by providing an infrastructure upon which developers and users can rely to connect their own systems.
At present, users of in-situ data who also wish to use the CGDI have to manage both tasks independently. SensorServer will fill this gap and link the in-situ data acquisition functionality directly into the CGDI framework. Introducing this capability will bring about a completely new dimension to the CGDI and give it world-class sensor-network functionality.
Giving Canadians a better handle on their world
Canadians will benefit by gaining the ability to continuously gauge their environment and effectively communicate information between organizations. For instance, Parks Canada could potentially better protect a marine habitat if the department had access to water-quality readings from another organization's upstream sensors. In this case, Parks Canada could be alerted immediately should critical levels of toxins enter the water upstream, potentially allowing the department to mitigate damage to the downstream marine habitat.
Primary Partner:
ACG Space Technologies Corp.
Ottawa,
Ontario;
Partners: Natural Resources Canada - Earth Sciences Sector
Funding From GeoConnections: $147,122.00 ( 44.0 %)
Estimated Inception Date: April, 2004
Estimated Completion Date: March, 2005