CV Data Acquisition

The basis for environmental research is the observation and measurement of environmental phenomena. The archetypical environmental research infrastructure provides access to data harvested from an extended network of sensors, instruments and other contributors deployed in the field. The following examples present the acquisition of data from instruments and from external data sources.

Data acquisition from sensors

The diagram shows the organisation of five CV objects as part of an RI which are used for collecting data from an instrument. The instrument controller could be a simple device collecting data from a single sensor or a complex device managing the collection of data for a sensor network.

Acquisition is manipulated via CV Presentation Objects#field_laboratory, community proxies by which authorised agents can add and remove instruments from the network (by registering and de-registering instrument controllers) as well as calibrate instrument readings where applicable in accordance with current community best-practice.

Data acquisition is computationally described as a set of CV Component Objects#instrument_controller (encapsulating the accessible functionalities of instruments and other raw data sources out in the field), monitored and managed by one or more CV Service Objects#acquisition_service (responsible for ensuring that any data is delivered into the infrastructure in accordance with current policies).

CV Service Objects#acquisition_service invoke   data transfer services which instantiate the appropriate CV Component Objects#raw_data_collector which retrieves data from the instrument controller. The four unlinked interfaces of the raw data collector will be linked to appropriate objects of the CV Data Curation subsystem.

Data acquisition from external resources

The diagram shows the organisation of six CV objects which are used for collecting data from an external resource. The external resource could be another RI, user uploaded data, or a public data store. The external resource could also be an interface for user observations provided by the RI, for instance for citizen observers

The six components used to model data acquisition from external resources. The external resource is a data source, not necessarily  integrated into the infrastructure, providing data to data stores.

Acquisition is manipulated via a CV Presentation Objects#virtual_laboratory, a community proxy, by which authorised agents can submit data to the RI. The CV Presentation Objects#virtual_laboratory invokes a CV Service Objects#aaai_service  to retrieve the appropriate credentials for accessing the external resource's CV Component Objects#data_exporter and the internal CV Component Objects#data_importer. After obtaining the credentials, the CV Presentation Objects#virtual_laboratory invokes a CV Component Objects#data_broker which in turn contacts a   data transfer services which instantiates the appropriate CV Component Objects#data_exporter and CV Component Objects#data_importer objects and coordinates the transfer of data.

The four unlinked interfaces of the  CV Component Objects#data_importer will be linked to appropriate objects of the CV Data Curation subsystem.