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| Press Release Test Data Management Systems |
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| Secure Data Handling for Research Aircraft
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Lueneburg, 13 December 2011 - Research for climate protection: To ensure that the measuring data collected by the new Polar 6 research aircraft will be efficiently managed and securely archived, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) will use the data management system from Werum Software & Systems AG.
During the measurement flights over the Arctic and Antarctic, which can last up to eight hours, special frontend modules record the signals measured by scientific instruments and sensors directly at the point of measurement. National Instruments provided the CompactRIO systems which are the central part of the modules, and S. E. A. Datentechnik, a partner company of Werum, adjusted and integrated all hardware components.
In the frontend modules the data are digitized, provided with a time stamp and passed on to the central data management system (DMS) from Werum via network. DMS server processes pick up the data packets and distribute them in real time in the onboard network. At the same time, pace-keeping storage of the data is carried out on solid state disks (SSD). These can quickly record large amounts of information and can withstand the heavy vibrations which occur in flight and when landing. Real-time distribution means the data is sent to the connected visualization clients so that the scientists can already check the correct recording of the signals during the flight. The visualization clients also enable privileged users to control measuring instruments via a configurable command interface.
Once the aircraft has landed, the team removes the solid state disks from the onboard system and extracts the measurement data stored in archive sets in the onboard system using the web-based Werum solution. At the end of a campaign the collected archive sets are delivered to the central archives of the AWI in Bremerhaven and, after consulting the researchers, are released for scientific use. The system from Werum is once again available for data extraction from the central archives.
"The open, modular architecture of the Werum solution makes us extremely flexible," says Peter Gerchow of the Alfred Wegener Institute, who is responsible for mass data management and IT systems. "We can easily adapt to new applications and are capable of recording, processing and evaluating virtually any sensor signals."
In the future the data recorded by the Polar 6 are also to be linked to measurement data from other sources, for example from research vessels, which are also equipped with the Werum data management system. This will enhance data evaluation options and contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between oceans, ice and atmosphere.
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