SeisNetWatch System Information Sheet

Free and Open Source Software! - Also Commercially supported! - Free Client and Free Server and Agents

SeisNetWatch - A data-collection network monitoring and control tool for seismic networks.

SeisNetWatch allows seismic network operators to monitor and control the state of health of their networks or other networks distributed across the Internet. If you are worried about monitoring data quality and data flow, this is the tool for you. This technology is easily customizable to your network's hardware and SCADA systems. Cut to the chase and see the detailed bullet points of SeisNetWatch.

NEW GIS MAP FEATURE! SeisNetWatch now has a OpenMAP GIS engine in the application version. This new feature allows operators to have a MAP VIEW of the status of the network.


Some of our SeisNetWatch clients include:

• California Institute of Technology
• INGV - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia
  
• British Geological Survey
• Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, NOAA
• Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Management Center
• Seismic Data Analysis Center, Bundesanstalt f�r Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover Germany
• United States Geological Survey at Golden, Colorado
• United States Geological Survey at Menlo Park, California
• University of California at Berkeley
• University of Utah in Salt Lake City
• University of Washington Seattle
• University of Memphis, Tennessee
  
• Boston College, New England Seismic Network
• Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Lamont Cooperative Seismic Network
• Cayman Islands Seismic Network
• University of Reno, Nevada
• University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus
  
• An organization that cannot be named
• Earthscope ANF

Join these prestigious institutions and improve the data quality of your network.


SeisNetWatch is a three-tiered development consisting of layers of CORBA components to allow distribution of the system; layer 1 is the Collection and Control Agents, that provide information and process control of the network, layer 2 is the NetworkStationInfo server (NSIserver), and layer 3 is the end-user GUI interface and reporting client programs. Each of these layers is described below.


Graphical User Interface (GUI) client
The SeisNetWatch GUI allows the operator to view the performance of the data acquisition for a network in a single glance (Figure 1) and then drill down to details when a problem is discovered (Figure 2). New features allow graphs of any parameter's data to be easily constructed and have the data graph dynamically update as new data arrive at the client (Figure 3). The GUI also allows operators to remotely and securely control the data acquistion processes. This Java tool operates as an Applet within a browser or as a standalone application. It is a light-weight client and relies heavily on the NSI for its on-the-fly



Network Station Information (NSI) server
The SeisNetWatch elements are depicted in the figure below:

































Collection & Control Agents
The SeisNetWatch Agents are distributed state-of-health monitoring and control processes. Each Collection Agent reports to the NSIserver the data which it collects from the station (or stations) that it monitors. Control Agents provide fine grained control over the data acquisition processes allowing users to stop, restart, or reconfigure acquisition remotely.

Emailer Report and Alert ClientThe SeisNetWatch Emailer provides daily or hourly reports on the performance of your network via email. A highly customized report allows network operators or data collection centers to make sure data are correct and flowing properly. The Emailer has a handy alert email feature that provides a condensed PDA/Cell phone report when particular events occur.

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The SeisNetWatch bullet points:

• MultiPlatform Capable (Win, Unix, Linux, Mac)
• Network Distributed
• Fully Configurable System
• Centralized Rule-based Decision Making
• Fully Scalable to N clients and N agents
• Persistent Data in Server
• CORBA-based Agents (Java, C, C++)
• Fine-Grained Data Collection and Control
• Easy to use GUI/Web Client
• GIS Mapping in GUI Client
• Email Reporting Client Available
• Email ALERT Feature
• Nanometrics SOH Agent Available
• Reftek RT130 SOH Agent Available
• K2 Earthworm Agents Available
• Basalt KMI Earthworm Agent Available
  
• Guralp SCREAM and ISTI GCF UNIX Agents Available
• Antelope and IRIS Orb Agents Available
• COMSERV Agents Available
• Q330 Agents Available
  
• Earthworm Agents Available
• New Agents Under Development
• Scriptable Agents available - Socket Agent! Our number one tool for getting state of health information into SNW
  
• Open Source and Open Interfaces (CORBA)

Multi-Platform Capable
The SeisNetWatch system is coded in Java and hence runs on any platform supporting JVM 1.2.2 (i.e., Netscape, Internet Explorer,Windows, Unix, Linux, & Mac) and since it uses CORBA it can interface with any data acquisition system. The GUI client runs as either a Java Application or can be web enabled as an Applet.

Network Distributed
Each SeisNetWatch component may reside on a different host computer as all communications between components is handled via CORBA.

Fully Configurable
Each SeisNetWatch component is customizable via configuration files and is easily adaptable to any new requirements placed upon it. Our staff of programmers can adapt or modify any component to suit your needs if it is not already built in. Contact ISTI today to find out what this system can do for you!

Rule Based Decision Making
The NSIserver is the heart of the SeisNetWatch system and allows managers to centralize decision making. Rules are configured within the server to make intelligent decisions on the state of health of the network.

Fully Scalable
The SeisNetWatch system is fully scalable in that it can accomodate any number of agents and clients to interact with the system. The NSI Server itself is highly threaded to offload work to additional CPU's and improve effciency.

CORBA-based Agents
Collection and Control Agents are written using CORBA IDL and hence allow agents to interface with any data acquisition system libraries written in C, Java, or C++.

Persistent Data in Server
The latest version of the NSI Server allows parametric data to be stored persistently in memory. Warehousing of parametric data to a persistent database allows review of parameters over a weeks or a month's time. View plots of the performance of your stations!

Fine-Grained Data Collection and Control
The SeisNetWatch System allows network operators to tune the collection of data which they are interested in and control the data acquisition processes at any level. The design of the system allows an infinite possibility of configurations.

Easy to use GUI/Web Client
The GUI client is an applet or an application depending upon the deployment needs of the network and it is very easy to use. New features include saving of state from run to run and improved graphing and sorting features. Please try the demo at the top of the page to see the latest version of the GUI in an Applet form.

GIS mapping available in Client
The GUI client application now allows a map view of the performance of the stations in your network. Now operators can easily spot outages geographically and make easier assessment of overal network capability at any given moment. The GIS engine used allows any map layers to be introduced for operators to use in navigating to stations or for establishing communications links.

Email Reporting Client
An email reporting client is available for nightly summary reports on the state of health of your network. This client is highly configurable so as to report only on the incidents you care about. Forget about tons of useless email from individual stations and programs and get one summary per day (or any time span you desire).

Email ALERT feature
A new feature of our Emailer Reporting Client is the ALERT email capability which can send you an email of significant events in addition to summary status reports. The ALERT email feature allows small emails to be directed to a different email address that may be linked to mobile phones or pagers.

NEW: K2 Earthworm UNIX Agents
ISTI releases (July 18, 2003) a new k2ewagent to monitor the status packets of K2 instruments that feed an Earthworm ring buffer. The new agent allows monitoring of any parameter found in the K2 status and extended packets, including battery voltages, time since last GPS lock, disk problems, or hardware problems.

NEW: Reftek SOH Agent
ISTI released (November 30, 2004) a new reftekagent to monitor the state of health packets of all Reftek RT130 instruments. The agent attaches to an rtpd server and polls for specific SOH packets upon demand. The new agent allows monitoring of many parameters found in the SOH packets, including battery voltages, time since last GPS lock, PLL problems or other hardware problems.

NEW: Nanometrics SOH Agent
ISTI released (February 13, 2005) a new nmxwagent to monitor the state of health packets of all Nanometrics instruments. The nmxagent connects to a NAQS server and requests SOH packets from all types of instruments. The new agent allows monitoring of any parameter found in the SOH packets, including battery voltages, time since last GPS lock, PLL problems Satellite transmission problems, or other hardware problems.

NEW: Guralp SCREAM and ISTI GCF UNIX Agents
ISTI releases (April 9, 2002) a new gcfagent to monitor the flow of data sources through the GSL SCREAM and GCF UNIX data acquisition systems. The gcfagent provides a view of data flowing from SCREAM, the data latency on the channels, and if any of the channels stop sending data. Time quality and data gaps will also be monitored by this agent.

NEW: Antelope and IRIS Orb Agents
ISTI recently (October 26, 2001) developed orbagents that monitor the flow of data sources through the BRTT Antelope ORB and its earlier predecessor, the IRIS Orb. The orbagent provides a view of sources in the orb, the data latency on the sources, and if any of the sources stop sending data. An orbgapagent is in the works which will monitor gaps and overlaps in the orb and can be used to spot potential timing problems.

COMSERV Agents
The agents available for the system are designed to communicate with COMSERV (used by CalTech to talk to K2's, Analog systems, and Quanterras). The datalog and csagents are capable of monitoring COMSERV data acquisition systems under both Linux and Solaris and are currently deployed at several customer's sites. Other, custom agents can be ordered from ISTI.com.

Earthworm Agents
The agents currently available for the system are designed to communicate with Earthworm WAVE rings and measure data flow. This is a development currently being deployed by the USGS. The ewagent measures data latency and observes if trace packets are not showing up in the RING at all.

NEW: The ewgapagent is now available which detects gaps and overlaps in Earthworm WAVE rings.

Other, custom agents can be ordered from ISTI.com.

New Agents Under Development
ISTI has been contracted to write new agents that will increase the versatility of SeisNetWatch (SCADA). Contact us for details.

Open Source & Open Interfaces - ISTI has developed this software with funding from CalTech's TriNet network and all of the source code is available upon request to Academic Institutions. Non-academic entities may license the software from ISTI and also receive the source code. Please note that this tool uses commercial CORBA libraries, which are also open source, but which require a license to run if you are not an academic institution (we can point out the licensing terms for non-academics). ISTI is available to develop new Collection and Control agents to meet your network's requirements. ISTI is also available to configure the SeisNetWatch System for your network. Please contact ISTI to find out more information and see a live demo of the system.

Obtain the latest distribution of code from our sister web-site.

Please contact ISTI for support.

May 1, 2011