Modular application server design for AUV data network access and distributed processing

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) collect a large volume of scientific data in every mission, using the onboard sensors, and store them in log files. The accessibility of these data is limited. Specific tools are required to extract the data to be processed on the user workstation with the installed analysis tools and scripts. The objective is to standardize and simplify the way data can be retrieved and processed from anywhere by anybody. The design of a server that manages the access to the data and to the applications that process them has been considered. Everything can then be done through the use of a single Java client executed on any Java compliant computer. Analysis tools are downloaded on the fly when needed and do not require any installation. New tools can be integrated into the application server in the form of plugins developed with an appropriate Java Library.