OpenDCS

Overview

The Open Data Collection System (OpenDCS) is an open-source software platform used primarily by water resource management agencies for collecting, decoding, storing, and distributing environmental time-series data. It was originally developed by a combination of federal agencies and contractors to support operations like water control, reservoir management, and flood forecasting. OpenDCS is widely used within the USACE and by other federal, state, and local agencies involved in water and environmental data management.

Key Features of OpenDCS include:

• Data Collection: Ingests data from remote sensors, such as stream gauges, weather stations, and other environmental monitoring systems.
• Decoding and Processing: Decodes raw data (often in formats from GOES satellite transmissions or other telemetry sources) into usable time-series datasets.
• Database Integration: Stores data in structured databases.
• Data Distribution: Shares data with other systems or users via APIs or file exports.
• Open-Source: Freely available under an open-source license, enabling customization and collaboration across agencies.

Additional information can be found here.

Accomplishments

Update and Improve Documentation

Various minor updates were completed:

• https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1261
• https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1127
• https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1010

Host Webinars and Workshops

Bi-weekly coordination meetings were held with USACE OpenDCS Users throughout the year.

Fix Bugs as Reported

The following issues were fixed:

• OpenDCS now handles multiple-offices correctly
• Additional TLS trust available to configure for web retrievals
• Corrected Iridium Header Parsing
• Improved sorting of information in the GUI

Improve Performance and Stability

The following improvements were completed:

• Logging updates
• Query updates
• Various changes
  • https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/681
  • Multiple updates for logging system replacement
  • https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1199
  • https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1172
  • https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1170
  • https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1166
  • https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1059
  • https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/pull/1033

Update Queries

Queries identified by Dave Portin as having the most performance problems were updated throughout the year. As time permitted, additional, less used queries sets were updated to follow the proper guidelines. 

Cloud Migration

A massive overhaul of logging was started in FY25 and will be completed in FY26. Another advancement is the Flyway Schema Migration scripts can now be used in CWBI-dev and CWBI-test.

Production OpenDCS in CWBI

The primary infrastructure in place. The same scripts used for CWBI-Test will be used for CWBI-Prod.

District Control of Configurations

The initial work on the REST API/Web UI tool was completed.