ACME (Acoustic Communication Network for Monitoring of
Underwater Environment in Coastal Areas)
Data Management of ACME trials – Final report
Réf. : TMSI/IDM/SISMER/SIS05-012
C.Maillard, F. Le Hingrat, V. Tosello
Date : January 2005
January 2005
sommaire
1.
Introduction.............................................................................. 3
2.
ACME cruises .......................................................................... 3
2.1.
First ACME cruise : Westerschelde, June 2001 .......................................... 3
2.1.1.
Objectives ....................................................................................... 3
2.1.2.
Data types ...................................................................................... 4
2.2.
Second ACME cruise : Bay of Douarnenez, September 2002 .................... 4
2.2.1.
Objectives ....................................................................................... 4
2.2.2.
Data types ...................................................................................... 5
3.
Data Archiving ......................................................................... 5
4.
Data dissemination .................................................................. 6
5.
WWW server ............................................................................. 6
Data Management of ACME trials – Final report
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1. Introduction
The EU fifth-framework project ACME concerns the continuous monitoring of
the coastal underwater environment in areas such as shipping lanes and fishing
areas. ACME aims at the design of robust communication and protocol
algorithms, which will be implemented and tested in a prototype of a shallowwater acoustic communication network capable of conveying data from several
underwater sensors to a central node. Such a non-invasive fully acoustic
network will be new in Europe.
A major interest in ACME will be to produce data sets of good quality and well
organised for evaluating the progresses made in underwater communication in
coastal areas.
The data management objective is to insure safeguarding and easy but
controlled access to the data collected. The methodologoly is to safegard the
data sets in a perennial system with indexation in WWW catalogue.
2. ACME cruises
The project observations strategy includes two cruises: one in the Wester
Schelde and one in the Bay of Douarnenez. Acoustic data will be collected and
accompanied by classical environmental observations.
2.1. First ACME cruise : Westerschelde, June 2001
2.1.1. Objectives
The first ACME sea trials took place in Westerschelde, in an early phase of the
project. The initial idea of such early trials was to get a feeling for the
difficulties one can expect with underwater communication in shipping lanes.
As part of the trial an assessment of the performance of the standard modems
(ORCA MATS 200) would be made. The results of the trial would guide in the
further development of suitable signal processing schemes and necessary
adaptations of the hardware, and would provide valuable experience for further
sea trials.
This trial had a fourfold purpose, described in the Measurement Plan :
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1. To determine characteristics of the environment in the Westerschelde
shipping lane that influence the performance of an Underwater
Acoustic Communication link (noise spectra, frequency shifts and
spreading, time spreading).
2. To collect environmental data (sound speed profiles, bathymetry) for
sound propagation modelling in the laboratory.
3. To determine the usability and limitations of the existing modems in the
Westerschelde.
4. To transmit and record a set of new communication signals for
laboratory analysis after the trial.
2.1.2. Data types
The data types of this cruise are:
-
Single-beam echosounding,
-
CTD stations,
-
Subsurface meas. underway (T,S),
-
Other physical oceanographic meas,
-
Routine standard measurements.
The data of this cruise are described in the on line catalogue on the website
http://www.ifremer.fr/sismer/program/acme/.
2.2. Second ACME cruise : Bay of Douarnenez, September 2002
2.2.1. Objectives
The second ACME sea trial was carried out halfway the ACME project, in the
Bay of Douarnenez, France. Whereas the first ACME trials focussed on pointto-point communication schemes and the ORCA modem performance in
crowded shipping lanes, the second sea trials specifically aimed at the network
aspects.
The minimum objectives for these trials were:
1. To verify the functioning of network protocols with broadcast and
simultaneous CDMA experiments.
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2. To verify the functioning of protocols involving a relay node.
Moreover, desirable extra objectives were:
3. The establishment of a high data rate (BPSK) point-to-point
communication link.
4. To determine characteristics of the Bay that affect the quality of an
underwater acoustic communication link, e.g. timespreading, frequency
spreading, ambient noise.
5. To collect environmental data such as sound speed profiles,
bathymetries etc. for sound propagation modelling in the laboratory.
2.2.2. Data types
The data types of this cruise are:
-
Single-beam echosounding,
-
CTD stations,
-
Other physical oceanographic meas,
-
Routine standard measurements.
The data of this cruise are described in the on line catalogue on the website
http://www.ifremer.fr/sismer/program/acme/.
3. Data Archiving
The data and meta data of the first ACME cruise in Westerschelde (North Sea)
and of the second ACME cruise in Bay of Douarnenez (Brittany, France) have
been safeguarded and loaded in the ACME data management server on
internet. The cruise summary reports (ROSCOP/CSR meta-data) and the data
summary report (EDMED meta-data) are loaded in the SISMER RDBS server
and edited on line through the dynamic editor.
The CTD data have been safeguarded, reformatted at the international
MEDATLAS (auto descriptive ASCII), checked for quality according to the
IOC methodology and integrated for final archiving in the SISMER CTD
database.
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The other data : acoustic data, bathymetry, sound speed profiles, weather
report, figures (tide, configurations) and photographs are safeguarded at the
original format.
The metadata have been also safeguarded at the original format : word
documents relevant to the ACME sea trials (cruise report, formats description,
overview of environmental data collected, measurement plan, logbook for the
bridge, logbook for the acoustic experiments performed).
4. Data dissemination
TNO, as data management coordinator, agreed that :
1) all the documentation transmitted to IFREMER, including format
description is published on the internet ACME data server, but only
the cruise summary reports (ROSCOP/CSR) and EDMED data
summaries are on the free directory, the others request password.
2) The meta-data associated to the data files which is managed in the
RDBS SISMER server and includes:
-
cruise summary report (ROSCOP/CSR)
-
data set description (EDMED)
-
location and date of the observations
can be published on the internet via dynamic links with the RDBS system.
3) Access to data and other documentation than the cruise summary
reports and the EDMED data summaries request the project
coordinator permission.
5. WWW server
A data server (Fig. 1) has been developed to facilitate the access to information
and data and contribute to the visibility of the data collected during the ACME
project. The address is:
http://www.ifremer.fr/sismer/program/acme/
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Fig.1: ACME Data server home page
This site will include a brief summary of the project with links to the cruise
information, the data catalogue, formats description, other data management
related documentation and meetings information.
The sections “Data”, “Cruises” and “Documents” have been updated to take
into account the data and meta data of the second ACME sea trials.
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The cruise catalogue includes the following clikable items which describe the
twoACME cruises (Westerschelde (2001), Bay of Douarnenez (2002)):
- ACME,
- ACME 2.
The data catalogue includes the following clickable items:
Acoustic data
- Position List – First cruise
- Position List – Second cruise
- File List
- Format
- Archive summary
CTD
- Archive summary and stations Positions
- Format
- Quality Control Methodology
Surface temperature & Salinity
- File list
- Archive summary
Bathymetry
- File list
- Archive summary
Marine Meteorology
Documentation
The documentation can be downloaded from the WWW page. The data request
form allows to enter on line information on the requester and transfer
eventually the request to the project coordinator.
Data Management of ACME trials – Final report