COTS Control Centre Decision Support Tool Android application (NESP TWQ 5.1, CSIRO)

This dataset contains the code for the Android application “COTS Control Centre Decision Support Tool” (CCC-DST). The CCC-DST is one part of the “COTS Control Centre Decision Support System” (CCC-DSS) which is a hardware and software solution, comprising 32 Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2 tablets. The tablets run a kiosk operating system and provide three data collection apps, developed for GBRMPA by ThinkSpatial, and three decision support components developed by CSIRO as part of the NESP COTS IPM Research Program.
The CCC-DST application is an implementation of the principles outlined in “An ecologically-based operational strategy for COTS Control” (Fletcher, et al., 2020).

Methods:

The COTS Control Centre Decision Support Tool (CCC-DST) is part of the COTS Control Centre Decision Support System (CCC-DSS). The CCC-DSS is a combined hardware and software solution developed by CSIRO as part of the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) Research Program to help guide on-water decision making and implement the ecologically-informed management program outlined in the report “An ecologically-based operational strategy for COTS Control: Integrated decision making from the site to the regional scale” (Fletcher, Bonin, & Westcott, 2020).

The COTS Control Centre DSS is built around a fleet of 32 ruggedised Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2 Android tablets, along with a suite of three data collection apps, developed for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) by ThinkSpatial, and three decision support components developed by CSIRO as part of the NESP COTS IPM Research Program. The fleet of tablets are able to be managed remotely, including locating hardware and updating software, using the Samsung Knox Manage Enterprise Mobility Management platform, and run a custom kiosk launcher. Data is shared between the apps that make up the CCC-DSS within a tablet using the Android file system, between tablets on a vessel independent of cellular connectivity with the Android Nearby Communications protocol, and with GBRMPA’s Eye on the Reef Database when cellular networking is available.

In addition to designing and implementing the overarching CCC-DSS system, CSIRO has developed a suite of three software components, consisting of the main Decision Support Tool (CCC-DST), a Data Explorer functionality, which is currently implemented as part of the CCC-DST but may, in future, be separated into a second app, and a utility Data Sync Tool for sharing data between tablets when internet connectivity is not available.

Details of the underlying philosophy and implementation notes of the CCC-DST can be found in the technical report:
Fletcher C. S. and Westcott D. A. (2021) The COTS Control Centre: Supporting ecologically-informed decision making when and where the decisions need to be made. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (189pp.).

Architecture:
In general, Android applications are designed to require minimal memory footprint by cycling data out of their sqlite database on the fly as required. This is an efficient method of designing lightweight apps coexisting on mobile hardware will limited memory and processing capacity. It works well for some of the tasks required of the NESP COTS Control Centre apps, but is not intuitively suited to all the functionality required. This is especially the case for situations where data must be compared longitudinally through time or across many Sites or Reefs in order to guide decision making. On the other hand, because the COTS Control Centre is run on dedicated hardware of known specification and containing only the suite of apps necessary to guide on-water actions, we can bias the design of our system towards functionality within the hardware being used, rather than optimising for universal efficiency.

As a result, the COTS Control Centre apps were developed with a hybrid philosophy that aims to target the data loaded into memory to that required to inform a decision, and which structures the data in memory using custom classes that reflect the actual data being analysed. This approach puts an emphasis on both logical database design and well-structured custom types to support the functionality of the apps, each of which are described in further detail in the sections that follow.

The apps were developed in stages, starting with prototypes early in 2016. As a result, they retain some legacy functionality, such as the use of loaders rather than the ViewModel and Room functionality introduced in Android after this time. They also include components, such as a ContentProvider framework, that were expected to be important at one stage in app development, but which are not deeply leveraged in the current configuration. The structure of the apps also reflects the fact that their development will continue to incorporate feedback from on-water operators, as well as scientific advances in biological understanding, field measurements, and management strategies. As a result, in some places a more general programming approach has been favoured over more optimised code in order to maintain or provide flexibility to incorporate new functionality in future.

Note: The database file has been omitted from the source files. The details of the database layout can be found in the technical report (section 2.2):
Fletcher C. S. and Westcott D. A. (2021) The COTS Control Centre: Supporting ecologically-informed decision making when and where the decisions need to be made. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (189pp.)

Format:

Java application (Android)

References:

Fletcher C. S. and Westcott D. A. (2021) The COTS Control Centre: Supporting ecologically-informed decision making when and where the decisions need to be made. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (189pp.)

Fletcher C. S., Bonin M. C, Westcott D. A.. (2020) An ecologically-based operational strategy for COTS Control: Integrated decision making from the site to the regional scale. Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Limited, Cairns (65pp.).

Data Location:

This dataset is filed in the eAtlas enduring data repository at: data\custodian\2019-2022-NESP-TWQ-5\5.1_COTS-pest-management