A flexible streaming software architecture for scientific instruments

The recently completed prototyping efforts for a new type of riometer, the Advanced Rio-Imaging Experiment in Scandinavia (ARIES), required the development of a uniquely flexible software architecture to deal with what in software engineering terms is referred to as a ‘Wicked System:’ Source, volume and type of data as well as required processing are only very loosely defined at the outset of the project. Speed, reconfigurability, remote control and data provenance are of major importance for the success of the project both during development and during operation of the deployed prototype. Details of the Advanced Riometer Components (ARCOM) component-based software architecture are presented. The software architecture is not specific to ARIES, and ARCOM components can readily be re-used in other, similar instruments.