A Web Service for Data Visualization in Distributed Automation and Information Systems

This paper is an attempt to continue development of the multi-tier model for dis- tributed automation systems proposed in previous work. It suggests the use of an open-source Web service application for generation of graphical plots from given data series. The implemen- tation of the service uses the popular open-source tool Gnuplot with capability to generate 2-D and 3-D graphics. The suggested Web service - WebPlotter, is intended to work on the Service tier of the multi-tier model and to offer its services to the applications working on the same tier or the tier above (Presentation tier). The data series should come from the controller networks working on the tier below - Data tier. On the upper tiers a Web based interface for configuration of the various Gnuplot parameters is working. The WebPlotter service is supposed to provide a more convenient and user-friendly view of the various collected measurement parameters from the controller networks. Keywords: Multi-tier Architecture, Web Services, XML encoded binary, Charting, Attach- ments, Data Acquisition.