Geotechnical News March 2011
37
GEOTECHNICAL INSTRUMENTATION NEWS
iSiteCentral Web-based Data
Management Software
Rob Nyren, Allen Marr and Don Jacobs,
Geocomp Corporation
Geocomp’s
iSiteCentral
TM
service
shown in Figure 1 has been operational
since 1998 and provides integrated
data collection, reporting and alerting
capabilities for a wide variety of sensor
inputs, data loggers and applications.
The system provides a single data
delivery interface for traditional
data loggers, robotic total stations,
seismographs, cameras and many other
non-standard data feeds/sources.
Operations:
The
iSiteCentral
TM
software and hardware reside in Geo-
comp’s offices in Massachusetts.
These systems operate continuously to
monitor data from sensors all over the
world. The data are stored into a secure
Microsoft SQL database. Some fea-
tures include:
• Automatic backups of the database
every 30 minutes
• Automatic rollover to second server
if primary server fails
• Separate modules for data exchange
and data storage to protect integrity
of the database
• SQL database structure enables to
poll the data from outside the iSite-
Central system
• Extended data records permits stor-
age of information about quality of
each data point
• Device pollers handle data upload
from most commonly used data
loggers; website facilities to en-
ter data manually and via direct
spreadsheet upload.
A client version of
iSiteCentral
TM
is
also available for installation at a cli-
ent’s facility. Configuration is based on
client’s specific needs for redundancy,
mirroring and backup.
User Interface and Reporting
Tools
All interactions between the customer
and
iSiteCentral
TM
are through
password-controlled WEB browser
interface that allows clients and users
to view and report data whenever he/
she desires.
iSiteCentral
TM
contains
reporting elements that permit users
to create charts, graphs and tables
to meet a specific project needs and
requirements. Graphical forms include
time history, x-y and multiple y axes.
Links to plots, tables and sub-plans can
be placed onto images at the website
to show users both their location and
current readings. The instrument
symbols can be color coded to indicate
sensors in an alarm state.
Interpretation aids:
The
iSite-
Central
TM
system utilizes the concept
of virtual sensors to allow advanced
numerical manipulation of measured
data. A virtual sensor is built using
the data from one or more sensors and
mathematical equations that relate the
measured data to the quantity desired.
Examples range from simple pressure
transducer corrections for atmospheric
pressures or tilt from deformation mon-
itoring points (see Figure 1) to more
complex calculations of bending strain
from multiple gages, to linear and non-
linear trend calculations that may be
used for evaluating rates of change and
for predicting future values. A scripting
language is used inside
iSiteCentral
TM
via the website to set up these virtual
sensor calculations. This capability
also allows users to create complex
alerts based on multiple sensor inputs
to give automated early warnings and
to perform cross-evaluation of data
sources in real-time.
Alerting services:
The Alarm Ser-
vice option of
iSiteCentral
TM
monitors
all readings to determine if a sensor
reading has exceeded a present alarm
value. Each sensor can have multiple
alarm levels up to 15. Each alarm level
can be programmed to cause
iSiteCen-
tral
TM
to take specific notification ac-
tions. These include sending emails,
text messages and synthesized voice
messages to “call lists”. An alarm ac-
knowledgement feature allows a user
to acknowledge receipt and deactivate
an alarm via the WEB.
Dr. Rob Nyren,
Senior Project Manager;
Dr. Allen Marr,
CEO;
Don Jacobs,
Director of Marketing;
Geocomp Corporation,
125 Nagog Park, Acton, MA 01720
Figure 1.
