PHAROS System Architecture – Draft (D2.8)

This deliverable presents the first version of the high level description of the multi-hazard open service platform to be designed, implemented and tested during the PHAROS project. The description is presented from a functional perspective, identifying the building modules (sub-systems), describing their functionalities and proposing a series of interfaces to allow communication between them and with external actors and agents.

The deliverable documents the middle term outcomes of Task 2.4: Overall System Architecture, whose main objectives are:

• To identify the system elements based on the functional architecture
• To specify the system and network architecture, identifying also the interfaces between system elements and also with external agents [1].

The deliverable presents the first version (draft) of the system architecture which will be later refined, completed and documented in deliverable D2.9 (PHAROS System Architecture – Final), according to the evolution of the works carried out until the end of Task 2.4. In particular, the next issue of the deliverable shall be extended to tackle the possible deployment architectures taking into account the adoption of the system by entities using different organisational structures and present the system architecture which is meant to be used for the development and integration phases. The system architecture presented in this issue of the deliverable describes the system in a generic way to keep it agnostic from the real tools and solutions to be used in the implemented version of the system. The inputs used in order to define the system architecture have been: (1) the application scenarios and service concept specification defined within Task 2.1 (Service Concept Specification [2]) and (2) the collection of user (UR) and system requirements (SR) defined within Task 2.3 (Requirements and System Engineering [3]). The outcome of this deliverable and its final version will be used as input for the design and implementation tasks to be carried out within WP 3 (Situation Assessment, Decision Support and Earth Observation), WP 4 (Satellite Communication, Navigation and Alerting), WP 5 (Integrated Service Platform) and WP 6 (System Integration, Testing and Validation).

It must be pointed out that, unlike stated in the PHAROS DoW [1], the corresponding works to derive the system functional architecture have been carried out in Task 2.4 and not Task 2.3, as originally planned. The main reason for this modification has been to try to separate the process of gathering and defining the requirements, which has been carried out in Task

2.3 from the process of identifying the functional and system architecture. The two tasks have been carried out in parallel, allowing communication between the tasks and benefitting from the synergies between them. The system architecture has been derived from the analysis of the user and system requirements (collected in [2]), but for documentation purposes, it has been considered that it would be clearer for the reader to keep all the information related to the PHAROS architecture grouped together in the present deliverable.

Taking into account the integrative approach of the PHAROS system, the overall system architecture is defined in terms of modules (or sub-systems) that, when integrated, build up the whole PHAROS concept. Using this approach provides several degrees of freedom during the design and implementation phases, fostering flexibility and scalability of the system. Furthermore, the description of the overall architecture is done in a first step, being as general as possible. The objective is to highlight the multi-hazard characteristics of the system and ensure that, even if the implementation will be focused on the forest fire case which is going to be used during the pilot phase, the system architecture does not impose any limitation to extend the system to handle other types of hazards. Therefore, all the descriptions and discussion presented in the document, use generic terminology for referring to the different system modules (sub-systems) and not the particular names of the tools that might be used during the implementation phase. Those names are used as particular examples of the different modules, if necessary.

The document introduces first of all the approach that has been taken into consideration while defining the overall system architecture. This approach takes into account several aspects, such as system scalability, flexibility and integration within other already existing systems. Thereafter, the system architecture is described, identifying the different modules from a functional perspective and the interfaces between them. Interfaces with external actors, such as the different types of users, stakeholders and already existing (or future) systems, are also presented in the deliverable. This will serve as a basis for the detailed design and implementation to be carried out in WPs from 3 to 6. Given the fact that the present document is a draft, the outcome of WPs from 3 to 6, which run in parallel with Task 2.4, will be further used as an input for the works carried out in Task 2.4, allowing the refinement of the system architecture until reaching the final version to be presented as the main outcome of the task.