An IT Architecture for Web-Based Geotechnical Monitoring

Described is the architecture of WebDACS, a web-based data acquisition and control system for geotechnical and environmental monitoring instrumentation. WebDACS automatically collects data from field instrumentation and delivers it to a central data store for visualization and reporting though a standard web browser. The system’s flexible architecture enables facile support for a variety of instrument protocols. Three main components of the system are a field data manager, a web-based relational database, and server-based data access layer that interfaces with the Flash user interface component. A flexible synchronization framework facilitates remote control of acquisition parameters and asynchronous reconciliation between multiple field agents and the data store. Userspecific privileges control data visibility and access to acquisition control parameters via password protection.