Reconstruction Model of Ocean Observing Complex Virtual Instrument

Abstract

With the newly proposed Global Ocean Observing Integration, ocean observing scope has been expanded from the region to the global, therefore the need of large-scale ocean observing system integration has become more and more urgent. Currently, ocean observing systems enabled ocean sensor networks are commonly developed by different organizations using specific technologies and platforms, which brings several challenges in ocean observing instrument (OOI) access and ocean observing system seamless integration. Furthermore, the development of ocean observing systems often suffers from low efficiency due to the complex programming and debugging process. To solve these problems, a novel model, Complex Virtual Instrument (CVI) Model, is proposed. The model provides formal definitions on observing instrument description file, CVI description file, model calculation method, development model and interaction standard. In addition, this model establishes mathematical expressions of two model calculation operations, meanwhile builds the mapping relationship between observing instrument description file and CVI description file. The CVI based on the new model can achieve automatic access to different OOIs, seamless integration and communication for heterogeneous environments, and further implement standardized data access and management for the global unified ocean observing network. Throughout the development, integration and application of such CVI, the rationality and feasibility of the model have been evaluated. The results confirm that the proposed model can effectively implement heterogeneous system integration, improve development efficiency, make full usage of reusable components, reduce development cost, and enhance overall software system quality. We believe that our new model has great significance to promote the large-scale ocean observing system integration.