NeXOS smart electronic interface for sensor interoperability

This paper introduces the Smart Electronic Interface for Web Enabled Ocean Sensor Systems of the NeXOS project as example how interoperable standards help, to facilitate the creation of an infrastructure for sharing oceanographic observation data and the integration of sensor into marine installations. A given kind of sensor may be deployed on various platforms such as floats, gliders or moorings, and thus must be integrated with different data acquisition systems. Simplifying the integration process in existing or newly established observing systems would have benefit system operators and is important for the broader application of different sensors. Several sensor systems will be developed in NeXOS project for specific technologies and monitoring strategies such as: ocean passive acoustics, ocean optics, and EAF monitoring (Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries), that will provide an integrated, technologically coherent system for multi-scale, multi-parameter monitoring of the oceans. For all these sensors system, the Smart Electronic Interface for Sensors and Instruments (SEISI) is developed, which is a set of standards and functionalities to enable Web-based sharing, discovery, exchange and processing of sensor observations, and operation of sensor systems. The architecture will satisfy international standards, defined by ISO, OGC, and the INSPIRE directive, to enable integration of marine sensors with existing observing systems. The SEISI will provide a multifunctional interface for many types of current sensors and instruments as well as the new multi-parameter sensor systems, and a standard interface for existing observing systems platforms such as: cabled observatories, buoys, gliders or Ferryboxes on ship or vessel of opportunity. To achieve the compatibility with all these platforms, the sensor systems developed in NeXOS based on SEISI will be designed to accomplish two main requirements of these platforms regarding the communication bandwidth and the power consumption.