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The NOAA CSC Data Transport Laboratory

The Data Transport Laboratory Mission

The Data Transport Laboratory (DTL) supports the employment of data management and communications (DMAC) transport technologies at the local and regional level by identifying, evaluating, and documenting relevant data transport technology candidates. The DTL will also contribute to federal-level efforts in machine-to-machine interoperability, collaborating with the DMAC steering and expert teams and other federal offices and centers.

Purpose

Providers of integrated ocean observing system (IOOS) data operate in a highly heterogeneous computing environment. These providers also follow the Ocean.US data management and communications (DMAC) strategy with the aim of enhancing interoperability and delivering effective data transport. The "on-the-ground" possibilities for implementing DMAC transport strategies are broad, and each provider may implement them differently. Consequently, in some cases redundant research and development efforts exist. In other cases, a candidate solution cannot be tested and deployed, because it is new or different from the existing environment. Strengthening and focusing the transport implementation practices among IOOS partners requires a development and testing facility that is persistent and objective. To further this aim, the DTL will allow data providers to participate in implementing solutions and will also provide direct technical assistance on the implementation of studied solutions.

Description

The DTL collaborates with local and regional observing systems, federal offices, and the IOOS DMAC expert teams to identify relevant data-sharing technologies. The goals of the DTL include:

  • Maintaining a stable, current, and well-documented system configuration, including multiple operating systems, storage environments, and application servers for prototype testing.

  • Directing technical development efforts using community-based best management practices and DMAC expert and caucus team strategies.

  • Developing and maintaining "template-grade" application servers in multiple languages. These application servers utilize the data transport standards of simple object access protocol (SOAP), open GIS consortium (OGC), and open-source project for a network data access protocol (OPeNDAP).

  • Providing well-documented reference examples of Web-based data services. These examples provide nationally significant data feeds to support local and remote developers.

  • Developing application programming interfaces, scripts, procedures, tutorials, and demonstrations of data transport alternatives using common client tools such as Excel, ArcGIS, and MatLab.

  • Assisting regional IOOS developers in deploying candidate data transport services within their specific environments.