An extensible open encapsulated protocol for quality-assured wind engineering time-series

A protocol for acquiring and archiving wind engineering time-series data is proposed that takes all the reference data of the experiment, descriptions of processes performed on the data and the results of quality assurance au dits and binds these tightly together with the experimental data as a singl e entity. This paper demonstrates using this protocol for data acquisition, quality assurance audits, analysis acid reporting. The protocol is capable of extension and evolution to accommodate changing requirements. It is cur rently implemented in Delphi, a Pascal-based language, but will eventually be developed into an "ActiveX" object to extend its use to any other langua ge, such as BASIC, C or Java, that complies with the ActiveX common object model. The definition of the protocol is "open", i.e., it is freely availab le. It is the hope that the source code of all programs that implement the protocol will also be made freely available by their authors, under the com monly accepted copyright terms for open-source applications. Further, it is hoped that this protocol may become internationally accredited for the pur pose of quality assurance. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserv ed.