A
Proposal for the Establishment of a Real-time Display and Coordination Center (RDCC) Service for NSF Sponsored LAOF
Field Projects
Introduction
As early as 1981, NCAR/EOL scientists have requested the ability to display data from the wide array of research and operational platforms in real-time during the critical data collection phase of field projects. With several hundred thousand dollars of equipment and important science discoveries at stake, it has been proven critical to have real-time access to operational and research data in order to facilitate immediate analysis of atmospheric conditions and to make the most effective deployment decisions. Today, advances in computing and networking and the prevalence of operational networks, model data and advanced communications bring our accuracies in prediction and analysis to a more comprehensive level. Toward that end, this paper describes a proposal for support and funding of a center for the coordination of integrated real-time displays, advanced communications and computing systems support during NSF LAOF field operations. In the past 11 years, over a dozen ad hoc operations centers have been assembled which have served the following functions:
- Integrated displays of streaming field project instrument data, satellite and model output in near real-time for coordination of instruments, validation of data sources and field data analysis
- Broadband
communication networks to the various field sites
and instruments
- Deployment of the RDCC chat system for live interactions among
field particpants, whether they are back at their home universities,
aboard aircraft or within portable instrumentation trailers
- Video conferencing and collaborative software use at remote field sites
A Description of the RDCC Components
Integrated Displays
In 1991, the Convection and Participation Experiment (CaPE) demonstrated the usefulness of a real-time display package called Zebra. This software, developed using over ten person-years by the Research Data Program in NCAR/ATD was clearly ahead of its time. Researchers continue to find its capability invaluable both in the field control and data analysis phases of research. Zebra has the ability to display and process data from the wide array of platforms from satellite to radar, aircraft, met station time series, model data and soundings. The prevalence of new operational networks like the real-time NEXRAD data from the Collaborative Radar Acquisition Field Test (CRAFT), statewide mesonet networks, satellite data feeds and many others now allow access to an even wider array of observational data.
More recently, the EOL/Computing
Data and Software (CDS) Facility has partnered with the UNIDATA Program Center in
the use of a new multi-platform display tool based on Java architecture and the powerful VisAD
data model during field projects. This software, UNIDATA's Integrated
Data Viewer (IDV), offers the ability to display and analyze these
data in
three dimensions and interactively calculate new fields on the fly from
all
data sources. So-called "bundles" allow exact IDV case-studies to be
replicated for use in the classrooms. Further software devlopment
to
bring current and new LAOF data sources into the IDV is necessary,
however. For examples of the RDCC displays used during the IHOP
2002
project, please click an image below to see an animation.
Zebra animation
(10Mb):
IDV animation (30Mb):
Wide Area Networking
Computer networking provides the backbone upon which all field project data, communication and information flows. Advances in the computer networking field now allow us to deploy reliable networks worldwide since these wide area networks have become ubiquitous. Communications with airborne platforms have been problematic in the past due to the limitations of line-of-sight radio connections. Today, satcomm provides us with a very reliable means of aircraft communications, both voice and data. Ground based satellite communications also allow computer networking to be deployed in very remote locations. We propose that the RDCC team take responsibility for continued exploration and deployment of new networking technologies for use in RDCC field project operations. This research will also greatly assist the emerging computer networking needs of every EOL observing facility when they are deployed individually on smaller projects.
Data Distribution and Access
As part of an overall EOL Data Management
strategy, we are
implementing widely used data service layer software to interface with
a
variety of new data access tools and software applications rather than
developing this technology ourselves. Data transport technologies such
as UNIDATA’s Local
Data
Manager (LDM) and data access services such as THREDDS
and the Distributed
Oceanographic Data System (DODS)/OPeNDAP permit constant data
access and
flow of field data across the Internet by using established protocols.
By
leveraging these technologies, a relatively small staff can offer
advanced capabilities
to a variety of web and Internet based applications in a very cost
effective
manner. Offering these services both during deployment and post project
phases
will allow seamless access to NSF datasets for quality control and
analysis
purposes over the course of the data's lifetime.
Video Conferencing, Electronic Whiteboards and Collaborative
Technologies
Field project operations are often complicated
because of
the various satellite locations that are participating in the project
over a
wide geographic area. By using collaborative tools to facilitate
advanced
communications with all locations, project operations can be
significantly
improved and researchers can participate in a virtual laboratory for
the field
experiment. Technologies such as shared web browsers, video
conferencing, IRC chat and web cams (click here for a view from the
live EOL
web cam) have all been used with success. Rather than develop these
tools
ourselves, we propose to use commercially available off the shelf
components or
open source software. In addition, we can explore more integrated and
advanced
community, content, collaborative management system (C3MS) tools such
as PostNuke or the Simple Machines Forum (SMF)
or commercial web conferencing tools such as webex or Elluminate. The Access Grid is a way of packaging
many of these separate technologies into a common framework.
Deploying
these tools requires computing systems support and software engineering
assistance in the field for setup and installation.
Click the image below
to see an animation of a chat session taken during the BAMEX
project
in June, 2003 and the use of PostNuke in IDEAS3 during September, 2003:
BAMEX chat session (35Mb):
IDEAS
3 use of PostNuke:
General Computing Systems Support
For the last several years, field staff access to the Internet for file transfers, email and web access has been commonplace during NSF field projects. Like the desk phone or FAX machine of the past, connections to computing facilities is now, of course, part of everyday work life. Yet even today, providing user support for these services in the field projects has often not been considered during initial planning. Due to the complexities of field project operations, we believe the planning, design and deployment of these networks requires the work of an experienced computing system administration staff with a knowledge of the unique computing demands of LAOF facilities and their staff. Systems support staff must be available for handling general computing issues in the field, just as they occur in an office environment.
Conclusion
The need for these services will most certainly grow in the future and it is time to support and consider cyber-infrastructure facilities at the same level as other NSF LAOF facilities. We invite discussions with our Scientific Community to guide and direct the development and support staff to implementing those RDCC components which are most desired for field project deployments. At the same time, the RDCC staff must give briefings and updates as to what technologies are emerging and/or currently available. We propose that the RDCC be offered as a menu of capabilities that adapt to the particular field project’s requirements in a manner similar to an aircraft or ISS facility. The future quality of NSF datasets depends on these technologies and the complexities of these centers demand ongoing support and funding in order to remain effective and serve NSF Science and Research goals into the data-rich decades ahead.