Geotechnical News March 2011
39
GEOTECHNICAL INSTRUMENTATION NEWS
ARGUS Web-based Data Management
Software
Hai-Tien Yu, ITM-Soil
Product Overview
ARGUS is named after ‘Argus
Panoptes’ a giant in Greek mythology.
He was famous in legend for having
100 eyes that made him a perfect
watchman. ARGUS was originally
developed in 2004 by Interfels in
Germany, becoming an ITM-Soil
product when ITM-Soil acquired
Interfels in 2007.
ARGUS has been developed for the
open-source LAMP system (Linux,
Apache, MySQL & PHP). It is 100%
web-based software. Users interact
with ARGUS using industry standard
web-browsers, there is no need to in-
stall any software or plug-ins on their
PC. Working with ARGUS is platform-
independent and can be accomplished
in a local network or over the Internet
from any location in the world. Multi-
ple users can access the system simul-
taneously. There is no license to pay for
each user.
Since its introduction, ARGUS has
been used in many small as well as
major projects around the world with
a well proven track record including
a number of underground projects in-
cluding the Crossrail project in London
and several Subway projects in New
York.
ARGUS is under constant develop-
ment to satisfy new user requirements
including GIS (Geographical Informa-
tion System) functionalities, construc-
tion progress information management
and is compliant to AGS (The Associa-
tion of Geotechnical and Geoenviron-
mental Specialists) data format.
ARGUS Features
In addition to all the standard functions
of a web-based instrumentation data
management system, such as storage,
calculations, graphical presentation
(Figure 1), alarm messaging, and
reporting, ARGUS also has some
unique features as follows:
• Users have the option to purchase
ARGUS to run on their own server,
or rent web spaces on ITM-Soil se-
cured and fault-tolerant servers.
• Support for multiple languages cur-
rently including Dutch, German,
English, French, Chinese, Spanish,
Swedish and Finnish. Additional
new languages can be added as re-
quired.
• User definable formula with refer-
ences to any sensor in the project.
• Support for dual Y-axis allowing
you to present two different engi-
neering units in one plot
• Watchdog function to generate an
email alarm if “no data received
since x minutes’
• ‘Virtual sensors’ can be created to
calculate specific values such as
averages, absolute or relative mea-
surements, corrected and uncor-
rected data etc.
• Automatic generation of PDF re-
ports and distribution via e-mail.
Reports can be customized by the
user to include sensor plots, sensor
values, alarms and other relevant
information.
• Built-in functions allowing users
to create backups & archives from
data and configuration settings in
the database to the user’s PC.
• Built-in FileManager and LogBook
functions for user to input addition-
al project information.
• The latest version incorporates GIS
functionalities (Fig 2), TBM (tun-
nel boring machine) data, multi-
media records (videos and pho-
tographs) and permission group
management.
Hai-Tien Yu,
ARGUS Web-based Data Management
Software by ITM-Soil,
ITM-Soil,
Bell Lane, Uckfield, East Sussex,
TN22 1QL, UK,
Tel: +44 1825 765044,
email:
Figure 1. Typical ARGUS project view.
Figure 2. ARGUS with GIS interface.
