Interactive graphics on large datasets drives remote condition monitoring on a cloud
We demonstrate a new system for condition monitoring using the cloud. The system combines state of the art pattern search capability with youShare, a platform that allows people to run compute-intensive research in an ordered manner over the internet. Data from sensors distributed across one or more assets at one or more sites are uploaded to the cloud compute resource. The uploading triggers the deployment of a range of pattern search services, and is capable of rapidly detecting novel patterns in the data. The outputs of these processes are archived as a matter of course, but are also sent to a further service which processes the data for remote visualisation on a web browser. The system is built in Java, using GWT and RaphaelGWT for graphics rendering. The design of these systems must satisfy conflicting requirements of data currency and data throughput. We present an evaluation of our system that involves processing data at a range of frequencies and bandwidths that are commensurate with commercial requirements. We show that our system has the potential to satisfy a range of processing requirements with minimal latency, and that the user experience is easily sufficient for rapid interpretation of complex condition monitoring data.
Conclusion
Cloud computing offers an opportunity to make the results of condition monitoring readily available to a range of stakeholders responsible for the maintenance of an asset. In this document, we have detailed the main challenges to be faced when implementing such a service. The main innovation has been to find a reliable means of rendering large volumes of data across the key modern browsers with sufficient resolution and speed.
Having developed the core technology, we intend to investigate a range of usability issues in remote browsing. Some principles are well known, for example Edward Tufte’s sparklines [9], but the way these principles are used in new media is an active area of research. CMAC provides a rich and varied source of CM data to develop these ideas in an interactive setting.
We are approaching a future in which process control systems will involve the linking of personnel, data and site sensors together in a more distributed manner [10]. Whilst the use of the internet for exchanging expertise and knowledge is widely known, the development of systems such as CMAC offers the provision of applied site monitoring as the basis for the rapid connection of real data with distributed expertise on a large scale.
Simon Hickinbotham, James Austin and John McAvoy. Interactive graphics on large datasets drives remote condition monitoring on a cloud. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. Volume 364. 2012 [doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/364/1/012056] [Free PDF]
Category: Articles, Computer Science, Physical Science
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