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Real Time Monitoring and Reporting

Real time is a pattern that expresses how fast it can react to an event and it can be summarize as occurrence of an event. Computers in environmental science; they can sample programs, devices, environments and give results in real time. Real-time monitoring can be qualitative, such as detecting the presence or absence of a particular material, or it can be quantitative like measuring the amount of an available particular material. Information obtained in real-time monitoring can be transmitted to users by phone, a signal sent to the satellite or by the Internet as real time.

This technology enables detecting and monitoring of developing or potentially hazardous air systems over time. It also makes it easy for scientists or people to monitor environments that are difficult or too dangerous to reach (such as a cloud of explosion above a volcano). In addition, the devices can operate independently and maintenance-free for weeks, months, and in some cases, decades. Real-time monitoring and reporting can be done by manually positioning the probes in the sampled environment or with installed sensors. They can also be positioned for analysis with robotic probes to automatically sample and transfer information.

The Evolution of Real Time Monitoring

Real time reporting of environmental conditions is based on the invention of the telegraph in the 1830's. Until then, weather reports and forecasts could only be transmitted manually and were usually carried by train travel from one location to another. With the use of telegraph, it was provided that weather reports and warnings were sent almost immediately. In the past, many real time measurements were made using sensors as in today. The first sensor developed in 1934 was an instrument that measures the quality of hydrogen ions in the solution tested, called pH meter.

The principle of a pH meter is similar to sensors that measure other chemicals. The pH meter measures the electrical potential between the section, separated from the outside by a membrane. This measurement requires comparison with a reference section; current pH meters can incorporate measuring and reference electrodes into the same probe.

Also, pH meters can take measurements from a small amount of liquid from now on, which means that they can be used efficiently on pH measurement in damp ground or concrete.

To measure the difference between indoor and outdoor environments, probes are used that detect parameters containing ions such as lysed oxygen, temperature, ammonium, bromide, calcium, chloride and fluoride.

Modern probes used for environmental monitoring are robust and difficult to break, do not require frequent checks to ensure measurement accuracy is acceptable. It is the right solution to position the probes in environments that do not require control, where they can be left for a long time and not easily accessible.

Effects and Problems: Real time monitoring of the environment allows measurement of river flow, air and water temperature, ocean chemistry and biology, wind speed and direction, and many other parameters for weeks and months. These individual measurements can be combined into a single probe and displayed simultaneously as different windows in various software programs developed. This allows more precise monitoring of environmental conditions and real time monitoring of different environmental aspects (e.g. wind speed and temperature) easily.

To send and receive real time information with using mobile devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants, have increased the ability to monitor environmental conditions. Today, with the improvements in fiber optic technology, multiple measuring devices allows communication between fiber optic cables and other probes.

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