Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01T—MEASUREMENT OF NUCLEAR OR X-RADIATION
  • G01T7/00—Details of radiation-measuring instruments
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
  • G05B23/00—Testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof
  • G05B23/02—Electric testing or monitoring
  • G05B23/0205—Electric testing or monitoring by means of a monitoring system capable of detecting and responding to faults
  • G05B23/0218—Electric testing or monitoring by means of a monitoring system capable of detecting and responding to faults characterised by the fault detection method dealing with either existing or incipient faults
  • G05B23/0224—Process history based detection method, e.g. whereby history implies the availability of large amounts of data
  • G05B23/0227—Qualitative history assessment, whereby the type of data acted upon, e.g. waveforms, images or patterns, is not relevant, e.g. rule based assessment; if-then decisions
  • G05B23/0235—Qualitative history assessment, whereby the type of data acted upon, e.g. waveforms, images or patterns, is not relevant, e.g. rule based assessment; if-then decisions based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
  • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
  • G05B23/00—Testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof
  • G05B23/02—Electric testing or monitoring
  • G05B23/0205—Electric testing or monitoring by means of a monitoring system capable of detecting and responding to faults
  • G05B23/0259—Electric testing or monitoring by means of a monitoring system capable of detecting and responding to faults characterized by the response to fault detection
  • G05B23/0267—Fault communication, e.g. human machine interface [HMI]

Definitions

• Conventional environmental monitoring systems provide the ability to monitor various types of environmental instruments in order to detect changes in environmental conditions.
• environmental monitoring systems designers have created systems that include a plurality of remotely operable radiation detection instruments that individually sense radiation levels in a relative vicinity and report detected radiation levels to a centralized computer system for display to a human operator.
• the centralized computer system might contain, for example, a graphical user interface that identifies each individual radiation detection instrument within the system along with an associated radiation level sensed by that instrument.
• Such conventional systems provide the ability for an operator to set alarm thresholds that allow the system to identify situations in which the radiation level sensed by a particular radiation detection instrument exceeds a certain value and in response, provide an alarm indication to a human operator.
• Conventional environmental monitoring systems suffer from a variety of deficiencies.
• such conventional environmental data processing systems lack a modular design that provides for easy adaptability and expandability for the addition of alternative types of environmental monitoring devices or instruments to be integrated into such systems.
• conventional environmental monitoring systems such as those described above are typically limited or restricted to processing certain types of data that must conform to certain formats for device data collection.
• an environmental monitoring system produced from vendor A might only efficiently operate using vendor A's environmental detection instruments or with other vendor's measurement instruments that conform to Vendor A's communications protocol. It is often difficult or impossible to integrate environmental detection instruments from other vendors into such a system if those devices do not communicate using on of the accepted protocols.
• the vendor of the conventional systems typically collets customer request for new features (e.g., new processing operations or calculations on collected data) and releases a new version of the environmental monitoring system, such as a new release of the software program, that is capable of communicating with existing devices as well as new devices integrated into the new release of the software.
• the new release may also support some of the requested processing operations. This is problematic since it requires upgrading from an earlier release to a new version of the environmental monitoring computer system and software in order to obtain the desired processing features and device compatibility and can often be challenging task.
• conventional systems do not provide an open modular software design, adding new processing features is often not worth the trouble.
• Embodiments of the invention significantly overcome such deficiencies and provide a flexible, dynamic and expandable environmental monitoring system that provides an open and modular architecture that is fully expandable to accommodate different types of devices and monitoring instruments, data formats, instrumentation protocols, processing operations and operator views.
• embodiments of the invention provide a software-based design that supports the use of modular plug- ins for various processing tasks that include communication with environmental monitoring instruments, processing and conversion of raw data into measurement data, and storage and presentation of such raw data and measurement data within, for example, a database or upon a graphical user interface for viewing by a human operator of the environmental monitoring system provided in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
• embodiments of the invention provide a system that is expandable and adaptable for different types of environmental monitoring instruments estimated using different formats and/or different communications protocols.
• the environment monitoring software application and process referred to herein include a data engine core that coordinates the exchange and processing of information between the various plug-ins that operates as part of the application.
• one implementation of a system configured in accordance with the invention provides plug-ins responsible for communicating with individual radiation detection instruments deployed in the field, for example, using wireless communications protocols.
• the radiation data collection plug-ins collect and forward raw radiation data to the data engine core where this raw radiation detection data is routed via a route manager, for example, to a radiation conversion plug-in that can convert the raw radiation detection data into measurement data. Once converted to measurement data, the radiation data conversion plug-in then forwards this measurement data back to the data engine core.
• the system of the invention routes raw data collected from environmental monitoring instruments between plug-ins using a routing mechanism defined within the data engine core.
• the data engine core configured in accordance with embodiments of the invention provides the ability to define view definitions.
• View definitions generally identify measurement data of interest to specific plug-ins that have registered an "interest" with a particular view definition.
• the measurement data is returned to the data engine core which then tests each view definition to see if any defined view definitions identify the radiation measurement data as being applicable to that view definitions.
• view definitions define filters for measurement data of interest to plug-ins that have registered to have an association or interest in that view definitions. If measurement data matches any view definitions, the data engine core transports, forwards or otherwise provides that measurement data to all plug-ins that have registered an interest in that view definition. In this manner, the radiation measurement data is disseminated to each plug-in for subsequent processing.
• Plug-in processing can include operations such as data collection from instruments and partial conversion of raw data to measurement data.
• Conversion plug-ins can receive a stream of raw data routed from the data engine core (i.e., the raw data being previously collected and forwarded from a data collection plug-in to the data engine core) and can perform conversion of the raw data to measurement data.
• Display plug- ins can control operation of graphical user interfaces and display plug-in processing can include, for example, displaying the measurement data in a graphical user interface for viewing by human operator or any other type of processing.
• Plug-ins are capable of defining custom view definitions and are also capable of registering for existing view definitions defined by other plug-ins.
• the architecture of the environmental monitoring system provided in accordance with embodiments of the invention implements a flexible approach to the processing and routing of raw instrument data between plug-ins and conversion of raw data into measurement data and for post-processing of the measurement data for logging, alarm processing or display purposes.
• Other aspects of the system of the invention including the dynamic ability to detect the presence of newly added plug-ins during operation of the system of the invention. In this manner, additional devices can be brought into operation in the system without having to shutdown or manually reconfigure the system to accommodate operation of the new instruments.
• Embodiments of the invention can be implemented as software, hardware or a combination thereof.
• One example embodiment of the invention provides an environment monitoring computer system that includes a memory, a processor, a display, a communications interface and an interconnection mechanism coupling the memory, the processor, the display and the communications interface.
• the memory is configured with a set of plug-ins and a data engine core (e.g., as a software application and a set of dynamically linked libraries, one or more for each plug-in) that are collectively operable (e.g., executable) on the processor to produce an environment monitoring application program.
• the environment monitoring application executes on the environment monitoring computer system to monitor ands control instruments for collection of environmental data by performing steps or operations that include operating a data collection plug-in to collect raw data associated with a measurement instrument.
• the raw data may be, for example, streaming device data available from a field deployed device such as a radiation detection instrument.
• the environment monitoring application receives, at a data engine core, the raw data from the data collection plug-in and routes the raw data to a conversion plug-in.
• the conversion plug-in operates to convert the raw data into measurement data and provides the measurement data back to the data engine core for application to view definitions.
• Such raw measurement data conversion can include, for example, streaming conversion of character data into numeric values or numerical processing of such data such as, for example, providing an average of collected values of radiation levels over time or other processing. It is to be understood that any other type of data processing may be applied to raw data to convert the raw data into measurement data.
• the data engine core receives the measurement data from the conversion plug- in.
• the data engine core also receives a view definition that identifies measurement data to be received by a destination plug-in.
• View definitions can be configured at any time using a view definition protocol.
• the data engine core processes the measurement data by providing measurement data that matches the view definition to each destination plug-in that registers an interest in the view definition. As noted in the above example, this can be done, for example, by testing the measurement data against view definitions and for each view definition to which the measurement data applies, transmitting that measurement data to any plug-ins that have registered an interest in that view definition.
• measurement instruments are radiation detection instruments that can include mobile radiation monitors that operate to detect radiation levels of radiation sources while moving (e.g., on a person, or on or in a vehicle) and that provide raw data that includes a radiation level and specific location information associated with a radiation source producing the radiation level (e.g., the location of the moving detector at the time of detecting the radiation level).
• at least one destination plug-in is a display mapping plug-in that defines a view definition that registers an interest on behalf of that display mapping plug-in and identifies measurement data indicating the radiation level and specific location information associated with a radiation source detected by a radiation detection instrument.
• the display mapping plug-in is capable of producing a graphical user interface that includes a geographical map (e.g., a map of a city or a section of a city, building, or other geographical area) that identifies a location of the radiation detection instrument along with a radiation level detected at that location upon a geographical map for viewing by an operator of the environmental monitoring system.
• a geographical map e.g., a map of a city or a section of a city, building, or other geographical area
• the collection plug-ins associated with such instruments can provide this data to the system of the invention. Measurement data produced as a result in this information is then applied to a view defined by the display plug-in that receives this measurement data and can provide a geographical map.
• the display plug-in controls a graphical user interface, in conjunction with the map, to indicate the specific location and detected radiation level of the instrument as the instrument moves within a geographical area represented by the map.
• the system of the invention can identify sources of radiation at specific geographical locations as well as radiation levels produced by those sources.
• the radiation detection instruments employ a natural background radiation (NBR) discrimination technique to distinguish between man-made radiation sources and natural background radiation levels in order to detect man-made radiation sources and produce raw data indicating the radiation level of the man-made radiation source(s) as well as a specific location of the radiation detection instrument at the time of detection of the man-made radiation source.
• NBR natural background radiation
• such a system can be used, for example, to identify man-made radiation sources (as opposed to naturally occurring radiation sources) as the system of the invention provides NBR discriminatory radiation detection instruments that move through a geographical region.
• Other arrangements of embodiments of the invention that are disclosed herein include software programs and computer systems to perform the method embodiment steps and operations summarized above and disclosed in detail herein. More particularly, a computer program product is disclosed which has a computer-readable medium including computer program logic encoded thereon that, when executed on at least one processor with a computing system, causes the processor to perform the operations (e.g., the methods) indicated herein as embodiments of the invention.
• Such arrangements of the invention are typically provided as software, code and/or other data (e.g., data structures) arranged or encoded on a computer readable medium such as an optical medium (e.g., CD-ROM), floppy or hard disk, magnetic medium or another medium such as firmware or microcode in one or more Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM) or Programmable-ROM (PROM) chips or as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).
• a computer readable medium such as an optical medium (e.g., CD-ROM), floppy or hard disk, magnetic medium or another medium such as firmware or microcode in one or more Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM) or Programmable-ROM (PROM) chips or as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).
• RAM Random Access Memory
• ROM Read Only Memory
• PROM Programmable-ROM
• ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
• system of the invention can be embodied strictly as a software program, as software and hardware, or as hardware or circuitry alone and may be a combination of such elements in a single device or distributed within a system that uses a wireless or physical network or an equivalent communications system to perform environmental monitoring and instrument control.
• Example commercial products that will be manufactured and sold that implement certain embodiments of the invention are the Mobile Detection System (MDS) and the "Viewpoint" data processing system manufactured by Thermo Electron Corporation of Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.
• MDS Mobile Detection System
• Viewpoint data processing system manufactured by Thermo Electron Corporation of Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.
• Figure 1 illustrates an example configuration of an environmental monitoring system configured in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 2 is a flow chart of high-level processing steps performed by an environmental monitoring application operating in an environmental monitoring computer system configured in accordance with one example embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 3 is a flow chart of processing steps performed by the environmental monitoring application to operate a data collection plug-in to collect raw data associated with a measurement instrument in accordance with one example embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 4 is a flow chart of processing steps performed by the environmental monitoring application to receive the raw data from the data collection plug-in and to route the raw data to a data conversion plug-in in accordance with one example embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 5 is a flow chart of processing steps performed by the environmental monitoring application to operate a data conversion plug-in to convert the raw data into measurement data in accordance with one example embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 6 is a flow chart of processing steps performed by the environmental monitoring application to receive the measurement data from the data conversion plug-in in accordance with one example embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 7 is a flow chart of processing steps performed by the environmental monitoring application to receive a view definition that identifies measurement data to be received by a destination plug-in in accordance with one example embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 8 is a flow chart of processing steps performed by the environmental monitoring application to provide measurement data that matches the view definition to each destination plug-in that registers an interest in the view definition in accordance with one example embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 1 illustrates an example environmental monitoring system 100 configured in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
• the environmental monitoring system 100 in this example includes an environmental monitoring computer system 110 that operates as explained here in to collect data from, and to control, a plurality of measurement instruments 190-1 through 190-N deployed within an environment or geographical region to be monitored.
• the measurement instruments 190 may be radiation detection instruments that can be either mobile (e.g., 190-1 mounted on or within a vehicle or carried by a person) or stationary.
• the measurement instruments 190 collect and transmit (either wirelessly or via a physical data communications link) raw radiation level and location data 192 concerning the environment which they monitor for receipt by a communications interface 185 coupled to the environment monitoring computer system 110.
• the system can include a respective communications instrument coupled to each remotely operating measurement instrument.
• Each communications instrument can be, for example, a radio for transmission of radio signal and can include programmable logic operable to collect and forward the raw data, in a format obtainable from the measurement instrument (e.g., the vendor specific data format) from the remotely operating measurement instrument for transmission to the central environment monitoring computer system in the form of raw data 192.
• the environment monitoring computer system 110 processes the raw data 192 and presents information concerning the processed raw data to an operator 105 by presentation, for example, within a graphical user interface 119 displayed on a monitor or other display 118 coupled to the environment monitoring computer system 110.
• the environment monitoring computer system 1 10 in this example includes an interconnection mechanism 1 16 that couples the communications interface 185, a memory 112, a processor 114 and the display 118.
• the memory 112 is encoded with an environmental monitoring application 120 configured in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
• the environmental monitoring application 120 in this example represents software code (e.g., executable object code) that may be executed upon the processor 114 to carry out the processing operations of embodiments of the invention as explained herein.
• the environmental monitoring application 120 includes a plurality of plug- ins 150 that are, for example, dynamically loadable and linkable software libraries for software processes that are capable of performing a variety of processing tasks as explained here in.
• the plug-ins 150 communicate with a data engine core 130 that coordinates the processing operations of embodiments of the invention.
• the data engine for 130 in this example includes sub-processes that include a route manager 132, a view manager 134 and a device or instrument manager 136. Specific functionality of these components will be explained in detail within this disclosure.
• the environmental monitoring computer system 110 and its associated environmental monitoring application 120 provide a dynamic, adaptable and expandable environmental monitoring system that uses the plug-ins 150 to create an open and modular architecture that is fully expandable to accommodate different types of instruments 190 that communicate raw data 192 using a variety of data formats and instrumentation control and communications protocols.
• the modular plug-ins 150 support various processing tasks that include communication with the environmental monitoring instruments 190 to receive commands, collect the raw data 192, process and convert the raw data 192 into measurement data 194, and storage and/or presentation of such raw data 192 and measurement data 194 within, for example, a database or upon the graphical user interface 1 19 for viewing by the human operator 105.
• the monitoring instruments 190 include a respective communications instruments 191 or device (e.g., that may be a communications card, device, board, circuit or the like built-in to the instrument, or that may be a separate radio like device that couple to the measurement instrument 190 and that operate together in the field), different monitoring instruments 190 from different vendors can be used in the system 100.
• the communications instrument 191, that operates in the field with the measurement instrument 190 can include programmable logic, such as firmware, that can be programmed to properly obtain the raw data 192 from the monitoring instrument 190 and can transmit this raw data 192 to the central environment monitoring computer system for receipt by the communications interface 185.
• the programmable communications instrument 191 provide a mechanism to interface many different types of vendor supplied measurement instruments 190 from different vendors and each can include a coupling to a respective communications instrument 191 that provides a programmable technique to obtain the data form its respective measurement instruments 190.
• a different plug-in 150 can be created to handle that type of communicates protocol to obtain raw data form measurement devices 190.
• embodiments of the invention provide a system that is expandable and adaptable for different types of environmental monitoring measurement and communications instruments 190, 191 and the data engine core coordinates the exchange or "routing" and processing of raw data and conversion to measurement data between the various plug-ins 150.
• a data collection plug-in 150-1 responsible for communicating with individual radiation detection instruments 190 deployed in the field, for example, operates wireless communications protocols to collect the raw data 192.
• Different plug-ins can be provided to communicate with different radiation detection instruments manufactured by different vendors.
• the data collection plug- in 150-1 forwards the raw data 192 to the data engine core 130 where this raw radiation detection data 192 is routed, using the route manager 132, for example, to a radiation data conversion plug-in 150-1 that converts and processes the raw radiation detection data 192 into measurement data 194 by applying conversion processing.
• conversion processing can include, for example, conversion of string data to numeric data, or more complex processing such as signal analysis processing.
• the radiation data conversion plug-in 150-2 then forwards this measurement data 194 back to the data engine core 130.
• the data engine core 130 operating as part of the application 120 can test a set of view definitions 140 to determine if the measurement data 194 matches any view definitions 140.
• Plug-ins can register and create new view definitions 140 or register an interest in existing view definitions 140 to indicate to the view manager that that plug-in wants to receive the measurement data defined in that view. Once defined, other plug-ins can subscribe to existing view definitions, or create view definitions defining views of their own.
• the view manager 134 manages the view definitions 140.
• the data engine core 130 can test newly received measurement data 194 (received, for example, from a conversion plug-in 150) against each view definition 140 to see if any view definitions identify the radiation measurement data that has been produced from the conversion plug-in 150. If any measurement data 194 matches any view definitions 140, the data engine core 130 transports or otherwise provides that measurement data 194 to all plug- ins in the set of plug-ins 150-1 through 150-M that have registered an interest in that view definition. In this manner, the radiation measurement data 194 is disseminated to each plug-in for subsequent processing.
• Alarms can be detected by have a plug-in define a view definition 140 that indicates measurement data 194 must be of a certain value or threshold before the view manger 134 is to forward that measurement data 194 to plug-ins that have registered an interest in that view 140.
• the architecture of the environmental monitoring system 100 provided in accordance with embodiments of the invention implements a flexible approach to the processing of raw instrument data into processed measurement data and for routing of the raw data and for proper presentation of the measurement data to plug-ins that have an interest in such measurement data. Further details of operation of the system of the invention will now be explained with respect to a series of flow charts that defined processing performed by the environmental monitoring computer system 110 configured with an environmental application 120.
• Figure 2 is a flow chart of processing steps performed by the application 120 during execution to provide a method for monitoring environmental data in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Details of processing steps shown in Figure 2 will be provided by subsequent flow charts that show sub-steps of such processing.
• step 200 the application 120 initializes the plug-ins 150 for operation with the data engine core 130.
• Initialization in one configuration takes place by operating a control plug-in 150 (e.g., 150-M) that can query each other plug-in 150-1 through 150-(M-I) to identify the protocol(s) that the plug-in uses to communicate with the data engine core 130 and to identify the type of device or instrument to which that plug-in 150 is associated.
• a control plug-in 150 e.g., 150-M
• 150-M can query each other plug-in 150-1 through 150-(M-I) to identify the protocol(s) that the plug-in uses to communicate with the data engine core 130 and to identify the type of device or instrument to which that plug-in 150 is associated.
• device data structures can be established (e.g., creation of a device file to act as a repository or mailbox for data being sent to and/or from the plug-in 150) and the data engine core 130 can enter a processing loop in a shared or time sliced manner that provides a tick or signal to each data collection plug-in to "service" that plug-in by operating its specified protocol.
• a plug-in tick mechanism or loop operates, for example, in a round robin or other sequential manner (or in a manner that is non-sequential, such as in a pattern based on time in which some plug-ins are serviced more often than others) to cycle through operation of plug-ins according to their defined protocols.
• a protocol defined by a plug-in 150 may indicate it has a read call (an application programming interface or function call) to read raw data from the plug-in, and a write call to receive a command from the data engine core 130 for transport to an instrument 190 under control of that plug-in, thus allowing two way communication, via the plug-in, to instruments 190.
• the read call would allow the data engine core to obtain the raw data from that plug-in (e.g., via the device file created during plug-in initialization), and would also allow any awaiting commands to be provided to that plug-in for transmission to the instrument. It is to be understood that this is a simple example and more complex protocols are supported.
• the application 120 operates a data collection plug-in 150 to collect raw data 192 associated with a measurement instrument 190.
• Collection of raw data 192 can be performed using a communications protocol between the plug-in 150 and the environmental instrument 190. This protocol can be bi-directional and can be based upon a standardized communications protocols such as TCP/IP or can be a proprietary or customized protocol.
• Devices files can be used as communication repositories for data awaiting processing either from the plug-in to the data engine core, or from the data engine core to the plug-in.
• Raw data 192 may be continuously streamed from the measurement instrument 190 to the data collection plug- in 150 (and maintained temporarily in a device file until the tick for that plug-in is performed by the data engine core 130 to obtain the current collected streamed data.
• the plug- in 150 receives its tick from the data engine core and in response queries the instrument(s) 190 in real-time for raw data received as a packet, frame or other portion of data that is returned from the measurement instrument 190 in response to the query.
• the application 120 receives, at the data engine core 130, the raw data 192 from the data collection plug-in 150 and in this example, routes the raw data to a conversion plug-in 150 via the route manager J32.
• a data collection plug-in 150 can collect and convert, in whole or in part, the raw data 192 obtained from the measurement instrument 190 into the measurement data 194.
• the raw data 192 can be passed or routed in its native or un-converted (i.e., unprocessed) form from the data collection plug-in 150 to a conversion plug-in for conversion of the raw data to measurement data 194 by a separate plug-in (or a series of application of multiple plug-ins).
• the route manager 132 performs routing of raw data and details of this processing will be explained shortly.
• the route manager 132 can be configured with routing information 142 describing routes for the transfer of raw data between sourcing destination plug-ins for processing purposes.
• routing information 142 describing routes for the transfer of raw data between sourcing destination plug-ins for processing purposes.
• raw data received from a particular source plug-in can be routed to one or more destination plug-ins and specified by routing information 142 maintained by the route manager 132.
• the application 120 operates the conversion plug-in 150 (i.e., to which raw data 192 was routed) to convert the raw data 192 into measurement data 194.
• Some plug-ins 150 operates strictly as conversion plug-ins to convert one form of data to another such as raw data 192 to measurement data 194.
• Such conversion processing includes, for example, converting alphanumeric strings representing values to numeric data, or more complex data processing functionality such as performing transformations on the data.
• embodiment of the invention provide a flexible data processing system that can be expanded and enhanced via the addition of newly defined plug-ins that provide enhanced data processing capabilities.
• step 204 the application 120 receives the measurement data 194 from the conversion plug-in at the data engine core 130.
• the data conversion plug- in 150 can return the measurement data 194 back to the data engine core 130 and for application to view definitions 140 as will be explained.
• this example embodiment of the invention distinguishes between raw data 192 that is data collected from measurement instruments 190 and is relatively unprocessed versus measurement data 194 which represents raw data 192 to which plug-in processing has been applied to convert all or a portion of the raw data 192 into measurement data 194 in a format usable by application level processing, such as display or storage within a database 198.
• the application 120 receives a view definition 140 that identifies measurement data to be received by a destination plug-in 150.
• the environment monitoring application 120 at any time allows creation of view definitions 140 that define views or filters indicating measurement data 194 of interest to one or more plug-ins 150 using the processing of step 205.
• a plug-in 150 can operate a view definition protocol to define the particular view definition that indicates measurement data of interest that plug-in 150.
• a system operator 105 can manually define view definitions 140 for use by plug-ins 150.
• any plug-in 150 is capable of registering an interest in view definition.
• the plug-in 150 will receive updates or changes to take place to any measurement data 194 defined within that view definition upon receipt of that measurement data 194 by the data engine core 130.
• the view manager 134 handles receipt of the measurement data 194 and application of the measurement data to any existing view definitions 140 by testing whether that measurement data 194 matches any view definitions 140.
• the application 120 provides the measurement data 194 that matches the view defmition(s) 140 to each destination plug-in 150 that registers an interest in the view definition 140.
• the term "destination" plug-in 150 as used herein indicates any plug-in that has registered interest in a view definition 140 and is a destination for receipt of a view defined by that view definition 140 upon occurrence measurement data 194 that the view manager 134 matches against the view defmition(s) 140.
• a display plug-in 150 can define a view definition 140 that indicates measurement data 194 to be shown to the operator 105 via a graphical user interface 119 in situations in which the measurement data value exceeds a predetermined threshold.
• the view manager 134 provides that measurement data 194 (i.e., that exceeds the predetermined value) to the display plug-in 150 that has registered an interest in that view definition 140.
• the display plug-in 150 can then produce an image such as a hypertext markup language (HTML) document or other display (text, graphic or audio/visual) to the operator 105 of the graphical user interface 119 of the display 118 of the environment monitoring computer system 110.
• HTML hypertext markup language
• embodiments of the invention provide an environment management and monitoring application architecture that provides an underlying data processing infrastructure including the route manager functionality 132 to route raw data between plug-ins and view definition capabilities provided by the view manager 134 to allow post-processing of raw data received as measurement data 194 to be distributed to plug-ins, when appropriate (i.e., when the data 194 matches testing conditions defined in the view), for output to a user or for other processing purposes such as storage within a database 198.
• a database plug-in 150 can define a view definition that identifies specific data to be stored within a database 198, such as occurrences of high values of measurement data (e.g., high radiation levels of interest at specific locations). Upon occurrence of measurement data 194 matching a view definition testing conditions, that measurement data 194 is provided to the database plug-in 150 for storage within the database 198.
• example embodiments of the invention can be configured for use in the area of radiation detection, measurement and monitoring.
• operating a data collection plug-in to collect raw data 192 in step 201 operates, for example, a wireless communication protocol to communicate with the radiation detection instruments 190 to obtain radiation detection levels detected by the radiation detection devices 190 for display on a graphical user interface 119.
• the radiation detection instruments 190 can include mobile radiation monitors that may be mounted on or in vehicles or on a person, such as personal dosimeters.
• Such instruments 190 operate to detect radiation levels of radiation sources while moving and provide raw data 192 that includes a radiation level and, in one specific configuration, specific location information (e.g., an address or a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate location) associated with a radiation source producing the detected radiation level.
• specific location information e.g., an address or a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate location
• one destination plug-in is a display mapping plug-in that defines a view definition 140 that registers an interest on behalf of that display mapping plug-in in the radiation level and location measurement data 194 (e.g., for any radiation levels detected above a certain threshold value).
• Measurement data 194 converted from raw data 192 indicates the radiation level and specific location information associated with the radiation source detected by the radiation detection instrument and when that level 194 is equal to or exceeds the threshold defined in the view 140, the view manager transmits that measurement data 194 to the display mapping plug-in 150.
• the display mapping plug-in 150 is capable of producing a graphical user interface 119 that includes a geographical map (e.g., as a detailed graphical image or a topology or layout of a region) that identifies a specific location of the radiation detection instrument 190 (i.e., based on the location information such as GPS data) along with the radiation level detected at that location.
• An operator 105 of the environmental monitoring system 100 views this information as the plug-in display this dynamically upon a geographical map.
• the map is displayed and an indicator of the location of a radiation source is provided on the map, such as with an icon, pointer or other indicator along with the detected level of radiation at that location.
• an indicator of the location of a radiation source is provided on the map, such as with an icon, pointer or other indicator along with the detected level of radiation at that location.
• the view manager causes transfer of the location and corresponding radiation level information (i.e., measurement data 194 converted to map coordinates) to the display plug-in 150 capable of superimposing or rendering a graphical image that indicates the specific location and strength of the detected radiation level upon a geographical map along the operator 105 to pinpoint particular sources radiation with an environmental area.
• the location and corresponding radiation level information i.e., measurement data 194 converted to map coordinates
• the raw data 192 and in the measurement data 194 can include a digital photograph or video taken at the time of peak detection.
• the video data can show the terrain and objects present in the detected radiation region just before and after the detection process to help an operator assess what might be the particular object containing the radiation source.
• the type of radiation source detected can also be displayed (e.g., gamma, X-ray, beta, specific wavelengths, decay rates, etc.) and processing can be performed by a plug-in to assist in identifying a supposed object or compound producing or containing the radioactive material.
• the radiation detection instruments 190 employ a natural background radiation (NBR) discrimination technique to distinguish between man-made radiation sources and natural background radiation levels in order to primarily detect man-made radiation sources.
• the NBR discrimination detection instruments 190 produce raw data 192 indicating the radiation level of the man-made radiation sources, as well as a specific location of the radiation detection instrument at the time of detection of the man-made radiation source. Details of application and operation of a natural background radiation discrimination technique that may be used within radiation detection system of the present invention are described in the following co-pending U.S. patent applications:
• FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing processing steps performed by the application
• the data engine core 130 is extendable with data collection plug-ins operable to collect and process raw data for different types of environmental instruments 190.
• the application 120 identifies the existence of a new environmental instrument 190 by dynamically detecting the presence of a new data collection plug-in 150 operable in conjunction with the data engine core 130 for that type of environmental instrument 190.
• the system of the invention allows plug-ins to begin operating in a dynamic manner without requiring shutdown or disruption of a currently operational system.
• the system of the invention allows the introduction of new environmental instruments 190 that communicate using protocols different than the currently operating the plug-ins 150.
• the data engine core 130 can be made aware of such plug-ins, for example, by dynamically and periodically querying a plug-in configuration file that identifies the set plug-ins that are ready for operation within the environment monitoring application 120. By periodically querying such a file, newly added plug-ins to the system can be identified within the file (e.g., by an operator adding the plug-in identification into the configuration file).
• the application 120 thus checks this file and when plug-ins are detected, they are loaded and executed according to the processing operations explained here in to allow the dynamic introduction of such plug-ins into the operational system.
• a command plug-in can be responsible for identifying each plug-in that is to operate with the system 100. In response to detecting the presence of a new data collection plug-in, the application 120 performs the processing steps 221 through 223.
• the application 120 communicates with the data collection plug-in to identify the type of environmental instrument 190 for which the new data collection plug-in 150 collects raw data 192.
• the application 120 communicates with a plug-in 150 to identify the type of data conversion that can be performed by the plug-in (in the case of data conversion plug-ins) and to identify the plug-in as either a source or destination of a route for raw data received by the data engine core 130.
• any routing information associated with the plug-in can be configured within the route manager 132. Is to be understood that routes may also manually be configured by the operator 105 during initial installation and set up of the environment monitoring application 120. Additionally at this time, plug-ins can define view definitions 140.
• step 222 the application 120 communicates with the data collection plug-in to identify a plug-in protocol by which to collect at least one of raw data and/or measurement data from a type of environmental instrument.
• This example thus illustrates operation in relation to a data collection plug-in 150. It is to be understood that in step 222 in an alternative configuration, the application 120 communicates with a plug-in 150 to identify a plug-in protocol to use for transfer of data to and from that plug-in for conversion to measurement data and receipt of instrument commands.
• step 223 the application 120 establishes a route within the data engine core 130 (via operation with the route manager 132) that indicates source and destination plug-ins 150 between which raw data 192 is to be transferred.
• the plug-in can identify routing information to be used by the route manager 132 to establish that plug-in as either a source or destination plug- in (or both) for a route of raw data 192.
• the operator 105 may manually configure the route manager 132 when certain plug-ins become available (i.e., are installed for use by the system 100 after placement of an instrument 190 in the field) for operation within the environment monitoring application 120.
• step 223 is an optional step and is not intended to limit embodiments of the invention.
• Figure 4 is a flow chart showing processing steps performed by the application 120 during execution to operate data collection plug-ins 150 to collect raw data 180 associated with measurement instruments 190.
• the application 120 operates the data collection plug-ins 150 according to specified plug-in protocol(s) to collect raw data (and to optionally convert some or all of the raw data to measurement data) from that type of environmental instrument 190.
• the application 120 performs a conversion of at least a portion of the raw data 192 collected from the environmental instrument into measurement data 194.
• this conversion can include complex measurement conversion, data conversion, protocol conversions or any other type of data processing operation required to convert data from one format to another for use by the environmental monitoring application 120.
• step 232 once the raw data 192 has been converted to measurement data 194, the application 120 provides the converted measurement data 194 to the data engine core 130.
• a plug-in 150 can perform partial conversion of raw data 192 to measurement data 194 and the remaining un-converted portions of raw data 192 can be routed back to the data engine core 130 for receipt by the route manager 132 for forwarding to successive data conversion plug-ins 150 for further processing and conversion to measurement data 194.
• some plug-ins may perform protocol conversion and if data packets contain several "layers" or different portions of data encoded in different protocols, and each plug-in can perform conversion of data related to its specific protocol.
• the data collection plug-in 150 may perform no conversion of the raw data 192 into measurement data 194 but may simply operate to collect raw data from an instrument (and possibly receive commands from the data engine core as raw data to be forwarded to the instrument, according to the protocol specified by that plug-in). In such cases, conversion of raw data to measurement data is left up to the route manager 132 to route the data to one or more dedicated data conversion plug-ins 150 that operate in conjunction with each other, such as in a sequence, to perform the conversion of the collected raw data 192 to measurement data 194.
• step 233 A variation of this is illustrated in step 233, in which the application 120 provides raw data 192 to the data engine core 130 in addition to the converted measurement data 194.
• the data collection plug-in 150 also operates in part as a data conversion plug-in and can perform partial conversion of the raw data 192 and provide both those portions of the raw data 192 that were on converted as well as providing measurement data 194 representing those portions of the raw data 192 that the plug-in converted into the measurement data 194 to the data engine core 130.
• Figure 5 is a flow chart showing processing steps performed by the application 120 during execution to receive, at a data engine core, the raw data 192 from the data collection plug-in 150 and to route the raw data 192 to a data conversion plug-in 150.
• the application 120 establishes a route within the data engine core 130 (e.g., within the routing information 142 maintained by the route manager 132) that indicates source and destination plug-ins 150 between which raw data 192 is to be transferred.
• the destination plug-ins 150 are typically data conversion or display plug-ins 150 that operate to convert the raw data (or at least a portion of the raw data) into measurement data 194 or to display the data on an interface (e.g., 119) or log the data 194 into a database 198.
• Each plug-in 150 has a plug-in identity and routing information maintained by the route manager 132 indicates, in one configuration, plug-in identity pairs to indicate that raw data from one plug- in is to be routed to the plug-in associated with the other plug-in identity of the plug-in identity pair stored in the routing information 142.
• more complex routing schemes can be provided that include an identity or type indication of the type of raw data being routed along with an indication of destination plug-in identity(s) that are to receive the raw data 192. Thus routing is performed in this example based on data type, as well as plug-in identity.
• Still other configurations can provide selective routing in which raw data can be segmented into portions that are routed to the same or to different destination plug-ins based on the content of the data itself.
• the route manager can implement content routing mechanisms such as point-to-point routing in which raw data is routed between one source plug-in and one destination plug-in if it contains certain values, and between other plug-ins if the data contains other values.
• the route manager 132 can provide more robust routing such as multicast routing in which raw data received from a source plug-in is transferred to multiple destination plug-ins.
• Bifurcation routing configurations are also possible in which raw data that has identifiable or distinct segments, packets or frames can be routed to respective different plug-ins 150 to provide parallel processing of raw data 192 into measurement data 194 in cases of large raw data segments.
• Examples of such application include applying signal processing operations within a set of conversion plug-ins to a large segment of raw data in which each plug-in processes a respective segment of the raw data portion 192. Details of an example routing operation are shown in sub-steps 241 in 242.
• step 241 the application 120 receives raw data 192 at the data engine core 130 from a source plug-in 150.
• the route manager 132 operating in the data engine core 130 receives the stream of raw data 192.
• the application 120 i.e., the route manager 132 operating as part of the data engine core 130
• transfers i.e., routes according to establish routing information 142
• the raw data 192 from a source plug-in that provided the raw data 192 to a destination plug- in that is to receive the raw data 192 as specified by applying the raw data to the routing information 142 maintained within the data engine core 130 that specifies the route for the raw data between source and destination plug-ins.
• routing information 142 maintained within the data engine core 130 that specifies the route for the raw data between source and destination plug-ins.
• Figure 6 is a flow chart showing processing steps performed by the application 120 during execution to operate a data conversion plug-in to convert the raw data 192 into measurement data 194.
• the processing shown in Figure 6 shows details of step 203 from Figure 2.
• the data engine core 130 is extendable with conversion plug-ins 150 operable to convert raw data 192 into measurement data 194.
• step 250 the application 120 receives (i.e., routes) the raw data at (i.e., to) the conversion plug-in 150 as a result of application of the raw data to routing information in the data engine core 130 that specifies the conversion plug-in 150 as a destination plug-in in a route for the raw data 192.
• step 251 the application 120 (i.e., the plug-in 150 operating as part of the application 120) applies data conversion processing to the raw data 192 to convert the raw data 192 to measurement data 194. As noted above, such conversion can include any type of data processing operations
• step 252 the application 120 (i.e., the plug-in performing the conversion) returns the measurement data 194 to the data engine core 130.
• step 253 the application 120, via a plug-in 150, also receives and outputs data to an instrument 190, thus providing two-way control and communications to and from the instrument 190.
• the modular plug-in design allows two-way communication with instruments 190.
• instruments 190 that provide for remote control are accommodated in the system of the invention.
• Figure 7 is a flow chart showing processing steps performed by the application 120 during execution to receive a view definition 140 that identifies measurement data 194 to be received by (i.e. provided to) a destination plug-in (i.e., details of step 205 in Figure 2).
• step 260 the application 120 operates a view definition protocol between the destination plug-in 150 and the data engine core 130 (i.e., the view manager 134) to allow that destination plug-in to perform the operations of defining a new view definition 140 and registering an interest in the new view definition 140.
• Step 261 through 264 show further details of this processing.
• the application 120 defines, within the data engine core 130, a new view definition 140 that specifies a set of measurement data of interest.
• a plug- in 150 can use a view definition protocol for this purpose that allows transfer of a view definition (e.g., a data record definition or other data structure, or a set of rules indicating what measurement data values 194 that plug-in desires to obtain if certain conditions are met, such as the measurement data exceeding (or being below) a certain value) to the view manager 134.
• a view definition can be a simple list of measurement values, or a more complex arrangement of if-tem rules, case statements, or other logic defining what situations or data conditions must be met for a plug-in to be the recipient of a portion of measurement data 194.
• the view manager can obtain measurement data 194 from a plug-in and can apply this to each view definition (e.g., to each rule, list, case statement, etc.) to see if that measurement data 194 (or a calculation based on that value) meets the prescribed rules defined in the view definition 140.
• each view definition e.g., to each rule, list, case statement, etc.
• step 262 the application 120 adds the new view definition 140 to a set of defined view definitions (shown collectively as 140 in Figure 1).
• the application 120 receives, from destination plug-ins 150, plug- in registrations for view definitions 140 within the set of defined view definitions that indicate, for a particular destination plug-in 150 providing a plug-in registration, that the destination plug-in 150 has an interest in the measurement data 194 specified within the view definition for which that plug-in 150 registers an interest.
• each view definition can have an identify and the view manager can keep a list of plug-in identities that are associated with each view definition identity to be able to track which plug-ins have an interest in which views 140.
• a display plug-in can register a view definition 140.
• the application 120 receives, from the display plug-in 150, a display view definition 140 that identifies measurement data 194 associated with devices (i.e., a collection of measurement data converted from one or more instruments) that is to be displayed upon the graphical user interface 119 for viewing by the human operator 105 that is of interest to the display plug-in 150.
• a view definition can be used as a filter such that the display plug-in can indicate, in its view definition 140 (i.e. that it registers), that the measurement data 194 is only to be provided to the display plug-in in situations in which the measurement value is equal to or exceeds a predetermined threshold.
• Any other characteristic can be used for testing to determine if the measurement data 194 matches a view definition. This is useful for alarm purposes where a display plug-in only wishes to inform an operator 105 (via the GUI 1 19) if a measurement data value 194 is within a certain range, or exceeds or is below a certain value or range.
• Figure 8 is a flow chart showing processing steps performed by the application 120 during execution to provide measurement data 194 that matches the view definition to each destination plug-in 150 that registers an interest in the view definition 140.
• the application 120 tests measurement data 194 received at the data engine core 130 (by the view manager 134) against view definitions 140 within the set of defined view definitions to determine if the measurement data 194 matches the view definition 140.
• the view definitions 140 thus operate as filters to allow the view manager 134 to identify or select certain measurement data 194 of interest to any plug-ins that register for receipt of the measurement data 194 defined in that view definition (e.g., that register an interest in that view definition).
• step 271 for any measurement data that matches the view definition 140, the application 120 provides that measurement data 194 to any destination plug-in 150 which has registered an interest in that view definition 140.
• At least one destination plug-in 150 is a display plug-in for controlling presentation of measurement data 194 upon a graphical user interface 119.
• the operations of receiving the measurement data and providing the measurement data that matches the display view definition 140 are performed dynamically by the environment monitoring application 120 in a real-time manner such that measurement data associated with the display view definition 140 defined by the display plug-in 150 is provided to the display plug-in 150 for presentation on a graphical user interface 119 to allow a human operator 105 viewing the graphical user interface to identify dynamic real-time changes in the measurement data 194.
• the application 120 tests the measurement data 194 received at the data engine core 130 to determine if portions of the measurement data 194 match the display view definition 140 that identifies measurement data 194 associated with devices (i.e., instruments) that are to be displayed upon the graphical user interface. If the portions of the measurement data 194 match the display view definition 140, the application 120 provides those portions of the measurement data 194 in accordance with the display view definition 140 to the display plug-in 150 for presentation upon the graphical user interface 1 19 of the environment monitoring computer system 110.
• devices i.e., instruments
• the view definition 140 defined by the display plug-in 150 identifies measurement data 194 of interest to the display plug-in 150 for only a subset (e.g., 190-1, 190-2) of all environment monitoring instruments 190 operational within the environment monitoring system 100, such that the human operator 105 viewing the graphical user interface 119 sees measurement data 194 for only a subset of environmental monitoring instruments 190 that are operational in the system 100.
• the system 100 of the invention can display data for only those devices of interest to the user 105, as opposed to having to display all device data for all devices as is done in conventional systems.
• the view definitions 140 thus allow system developer to define completely custom views of only selected data from some or only a portion of operating instruments 190.
• a computer usable medium can include a computer readable memory device, such as a hard drive device, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or any type of computer diskette, having computer readable program code segments stored or encoded thereon.
• Examples of the computer readable medium can also include a communications link, either optical, wired, or wireless, having program code segments as propagated signals carried thereon as digital or analog signals. Accordingly, the invention should not be limited to the described embodiments.

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• 2005
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