Design and Development of a Secondary Receiver Terminal for Xiaoqushan Seafloor Observatory in the East China Sea

This study introduces a Secondary Receiver Terminal for Xiaoqushan Seafloor Observatory (XSOSRT) in the East China Sea, which enables testing users acquire and process in situ data from their own sensors. The framework of XSOSRT is described containing four components achieving data transmission from situ sensors to testing users. Based on C/S architecture, XSOSRT is designed and developed using socket class, component, CrystalReportViewer and other programming technologies, which enables data receiving, processing, storing, displaying, statistics and event warning. This system has been applied to the Xiaoqushan Seafloor Observatory in August, 2013 and satisfied the basic requirements laid for the project. Given this successful trial in data distribution, this proposed design of XSOSRT could be a useful reference for a test platform in seafloor observatories.

I. Introduction

Since the mid-1990s, scientists hoped to observe the ocean from the seafloor which supported real-time, longterm and continuous observation. Seafloor observatories now have been acknowledged as the third observation platform for earth system after ground/sea surface and remote sensing [1]. In 1978, a number of seismographs connected by cable were laid by the Japan Meteorological Agency to monitor seismicity, which can be recognized as the prototype of seafloor observatories [2]. In recent decades, many countries have developed their own seafloor observation systems. Especially the Neptune Canada, the first regional seafloor observatory in the world [3] was successfully established in December, 2009 [4]. And the OOI (Ocean Observatories Initiative) conducted by USA is a networked infrastructure of science-driven sensor systems that measure the physical, chemical, geological, and biological variables in the ocean and seafloor on coastal, regional, and global scales [5].