A Meteorological Data Distribution System Using Remote Method Invocation Technology

Abstract

A meteorological data distribution system (MDDS) is presented. The system was implemented in the Spanish Juan Carlos I Antarctic station during the 2002-2003 campaign. Meteorological data are distributed to any point of the base using the LAN, which allows distributing data up to a 3.3-km radius from the acquisition point. The acquisition control procedures are also integrated in the same system. A wide range of difficulties have been overcome during the development of the MDDS, including the integration of heterogeneous components, the integrity of the message system, the future extension and scalability of the system, fault tolerance, process concurrency, and the temporary synchronization of all the applications involved. These have been achieved through three steps, namely 1) design of a complete object-oriented model of the system; 2) implementation of this model using a scalable and portable development environment, such as Java; and 3) use of an intercommunication application technology that fits all the system requirements (high level of abstraction and easy to program and to deploy) as the remote method invocation technology from Java. This development is part of a more ambitious project, called LabVir, that is devoted to implement distributed measurements in Spanish oceanographic vessels and in the Antarctic base using Web technology interfaces. In a more general framework, the LabVir project will make the experimentation tools accessible from any existing navigator, creating a distributed research environment, that is accessible and user friendly from any place with hypertext transfer protocol connectivity