BioComm · Data Lab
The BioComm Data Lab
Simulation – calculated values, real data processingNo BioComm measurement nodes are running in the field yet. So that you can already see today how OpenMycoNet will handle measurement data, there is the Data Lab: six simulated scenarios run through exactly the database, checks and analyses that are planned for the real measurements. The Data Lab is open to all registered members free of charge.
What is calculated, what is real?
Calculated (simulation)
- The values themselves: the bioelectric signal, soil and air values, the battery level.
- The “response” to a stimulation: a freely chosen demo assumption, not a measured response.
- The sites: four invented locations between the far north and the southern hemisphere.
Real (as in later operation)
- The database structure in which the real BioComm measurements will be stored.
- The origin of every value: device, probe, measurement channel and calibration.
- The recording plan with scheduled pauses, for example during the conductivity measurement.
- A checksum chain across the data packets within a measurement run that makes later changes detectable.
- Quality flags for disturbances, and gaps that appear as gaps, never as zero values.
- The levels of aggregation: daily values are calculated from the stored hourly values when displayed. In the simulation, minute and hourly values are generated directly; in field operation the server calculates them from the raw data. The simulation generates 250 values per second; the data architecture is designed for up to 1000 values per second per measurement channel. Real measurements are planned at 250 values per second.
The path of a reading
In the simulation, the starting point is not a real measurement node but a computational model. It generates the simulated values in whatever time resolution is needed. Raw data are additionally generated for selected periods. Storage, checksum chain, quality flags, gap handling and display, on the other hand, already match the planned field operation.
Six scenarios
Each scenario covers one simulated year (2025): hourly values for the whole year, one week of minute values per season and one hour of raw data.
Baseline without stimulation
Four sites (central Europe, far north, southern hemisphere, near the equator) show the daily and yearly course of signal and environmental values.
Electrical stimulation
A short electrical stimulus every day at 10:15, next to a control series without stimulation.
Optical stimulation
A pulsed blue light stimulus (470 nm) every day, also with a control series.
Electrical + optical, synchronous
Both stimuli at the same time, stored as a sequence, just like real experiment protocols later on.
Electrical + optical, staggered
First electrical, five minutes later optical: this is how a sequence in time is recorded.
Technical data quality
A node with typical disturbances (restart, missing days, overload, clock jump, sensor fault) and how they become visible.
Data basis of the simulation
- 6 scenarios · 13 measurement series · 4 synthetic sites · simulated year 2025
- 51.1 million simulated raw values, 46.2 million of them bioelectrical (250 values per second, one hour per season)
- 1.55 million aggregated values (minute and hourly values)
The simulation is based on a computational model. From it, the minute and hourly values for the entire year are calculated directly. In addition, the model generates individual raw values for one hour per season, 250 per second. This makes it possible to show the raw data level by way of example without having to generate a full year of raw data. In future field operation the process is different: there, the minute and hourly values are produced exclusively by aggregating the raw data actually recorded.
What you can do in the Data Lab
- View time spans from 24 hours up to a whole year.
- Overlay the stimulation and control series directly.
- Look into the raw data: ten seconds of individual samples (250 per second in the simulation, one hour per season).
- Compare the seasons in the northern and southern hemisphere.
- Trace disturbances, quality flags and gaps.
Important: no proof of effect
The difference between the stimulation and control series is an assumption we chose freely for this demonstration, not a measured response of a fungal network. The Data Lab shows how OpenMycoNet records, checks and displays data, not what fungal networks do. Real measurements will later be stored separately from the simulation and never mixed with it.
You can go down to the individual simulated raw values and see how raw data as well as minute, hourly and daily values are displayed with quality flags and gaps. In the simulation, raw data are available by way of example (see “Data basis of the simulation”).
Frequently asked questions
Why do I have to register?
The Data Lab goes beyond a public preview: once registered, you can explore the simulated measurement series yourself, switch time spans, compare control and stimulation series, look at raw data and trace quality flags and data gaps. Registration is free. After confirming your email address, you log in without a password via a sign-in link. It also lets us gather feedback from people who take a closer look at BioComm and its data architecture.
Where do I find the Data Lab after logging in?
At the top of your dashboard under “BioComm-Datenlabor”.
Where are the sites?
The four sites are invented. As with real measurement nodes later, only a 10 × 10 km grid cell is shown, never the exact location.
When will there be real measurement data?
As soon as the first BioComm measurement nodes are in use. There is no fixed date yet; you can find the current status on the hardware and software pages.
Curious?
Register for free and confirm your email address. After that, the Data Lab is open to you.