--- title: "Acceptance: Design and integration | Nexus Observatory" description: "Acceptance, inside Design and integration: instrument and control commissioning, site and integration acceptance testing…" url: https://observatory.global/integration/acceptance/ publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc. updated: 2026-11-07 --- [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) / [Design and integration](https://observatory.global/integration/) / **Acceptance** # Tested against the plan, signed off on evidence. Acceptance, inside Design and integration: instrument and control commissioning, site and integration acceptance testing, sensor acceptance and intercomparison, evidence chain of custody and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from IEC 62337 (commissioning of electrical, instrumentation and control systems) to IEC 62381 (SAT and SIT), and runs on the open Observatory Protocol. [Plan with us](https://observatory.global/contact/) Architecture [The protocol](https://observatory.global/protocol/specification/) **Technologies**: 5 **At the frontier**: 0 **Protocol functions**: 4 of 12 **Industries served**: 4 At a glance ## Instrument and control commissioning Loop checks, configuration and function tests of instruments and controllers. In acceptance, part of Design and integration, the installation, commissioning and acceptance layer holds instrument and control commissioning, drawn against IEC 62337 and used beside sensor acceptance and intercomparison on the same sites. The problem ### Tested against the plan, signed off on evidence Large observing programmes buy from many suppliers. Without one design and one interface contract, every boundary becomes a dispute and every site a one-off. Programmes slip at the interfaces, not in the components, and nobody can say where the delay comes from. Key facts **Specification**: IEC 62337 (commissioning of electrical, instrumentation and control systems) **Specification**: WMO instrument intercomparisons · ISO/IEC 17025:2017 **Specification**: IEC 62381 (SAT and SIT) **Specification**: ISO/IEC 17020 (inspection bodies) **Specification**: ISO/IEC 27037 · W3C PROV-O Components - Environmental test bay with climatic chamber and shaker - Overhead line sensor on a distribution span - Automatic weather station (AWS) to WMO siting practice - Distribution pole transformer and meter cabinet - Private LTE mast on a solar skid - "AI tower in a box" - Data hall row pair with cold-aisle containment - Operations console with a video wall Interfaces **Radio**: Ethernet Where it works - Sensor acceptance and intercomparison - Inspection records In the story below 1. The system, part by part 2. Assembly 3. Installation 4. Deployment 5. Connections 6. Operation 7. Failure and recovery 8. Scale and federation 9. What you get Scenes · 13 Next steps [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/integration/contact/deployment/) [Open the Field Deployment Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) [See Design and integration](https://observatory.global/integration/) [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) 1. Design and integration · Acceptance Tested against the plan, signed off on evidence Large observing programmes buy from many suppliers. Without one design and one interface contract, every boundary becomes a dispute and every site a one-off. Programmes slip at the interfaces, not in the components, and nobody can say where the delay comes from. 2. What it does Instrument and control commissioning Loop checks, configuration and function tests of instruments and controllers. In acceptance, part of Design and integration, the installation, commissioning and acceptance layer holds instrument and control commissioning, drawn against IEC 62337 and used beside sensor acceptance and intercomparison on the same sites. SpecificationIEC 62337 (commissioning of electrical, instrumentation and control systems) 3. Installation Sensor acceptance and intercomparison Comparing new instruments with a travelling or reference standard before data is published. In acceptance, part of Design and integration, the installation, commissioning and acceptance layer holds sensor acceptance and intercomparison, drawn against WMO instrument intercomparisons and ISO/IEC 17025:2017. We build it into every site for acceptance against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record. SpecificationWMO instrument intercomparisons · ISO/IEC 17025:2017 4. Installation Site and integration acceptance testing Agreed tests on site and end to end, signed off against acceptance criteria. In acceptance, part of Design and integration, the installation, commissioning and acceptance layer holds site and integration acceptance testing, drawn against IEC 62381. We build it into every site for acceptance against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record. SpecificationIEC 62381 (SAT and SIT) 5. Health, safety and evidence records Inspection records Structured inspection reports with findings, photos and sign-off. In acceptance, part of Design and integration, the health, safety and evidence records layer holds inspection records, drawn against ISO/IEC 17020. We build it into every site for acceptance against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record. SpecificationISO/IEC 17020 (inspection bodies) 6. Time and place When and where, on every record Every record made for acceptance carries its time, from a clock disciplined by satellite time or a PTP grandmaster, with the position and siting record of the station that made it. When time or position degrades, the record for acceptance says so, and every user downstream sees the same warning. 7. Health, safety and evidence records Evidence chain of custody Recording who handled field data, samples and devices and when. In acceptance, part of Design and integration, the health, safety and evidence records layer holds evidence chain of custody, drawn against ISO/IEC 27037 and W3C PROV-O. We build it into every site for acceptance against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record. SpecificationISO/IEC 27037 · W3C PROV-O 8. Trust Proved before it is trusted A node joins a network for acceptance only after its hardware root of trust answers an attestation challenge. Its keys stay in secure hardware, its software arrives signed and every record it makes for acceptance carries a signature, so anyone downstream can check where a value came from. 9. Evidence Traced to its specifications We trace each part of acceptance to its specification: IEC 62337, ISO/IEC 27037 and W3C PROV-O. We keep the versions, configurations and test results of acceptance as signed records, so a buyer or an auditor can check what was delivered against what was specified. StandardsIEC 62337 · ISO/IEC 27037 · W3C PROV-O · IEC 62381 10. Failure and recovery When a node fails, the fleet knows first When a node for acceptance goes silent or a sensor drifts, the node buffers its data and fails over to a second link where the site has one. The alert carries the evidence a responder needs, and the record for acceptance loses nothing and counts nothing twice. 11. Field service One crew, from survey to repair One crew surveys, installs, commissions, calibrates and repairs the sites for acceptance, working from each site’s own record. Each visit updates that record, so the next crew knows what is on a site for acceptance, when it was last checked and why it changed, and plans spares from that history. 12. What you get Programmes, integration and management The reference architecture and interface contracts are open. National observing network programmes, systems integration and programme management are contracted. Pricing follows the programme's scale and phases, with one point of accountability from design to acceptance; the documentation, models and records stay yours at the end. [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) 13. Next step Acceptance, planned with you Tell us the sites, the systems acceptance must work with and the outcome you need, with a map or a list of addresses if you have one. An engineer replies with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for acceptance, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/integration/contact/deployment/) [Open the Field Deployment Studio](https://observatory.global/studio/) [See Design and integration](https://observatory.global/integration/) More presentations ## See it from every side. Each opens as a full-screen presentation: deeper pages on the same subject, explainers, stories, guided tours of the places, network scenes and the observatories that came before. [All presentations](https://observatory.global/presentations/) ### In depth [Use case **Utility grid-edge private LTE and wildfire weather**](https://observatory.global/use-cases/utility-grid-edge/) [Use case **Street flood observatory**](https://observatory.global/use-cases/street-flood/) [ISIC section · ISIC O **Public administration and defence; compulsory social security**](https://observatory.global/industries/o-public-administration-and-defence-compulsory-social-security/) [Use case **GBON gap-filler station**](https://observatory.global/use-cases/gbon-gap-filler/) ### Explainers [Explainer · Government and public safety **Government and public safety** Wildfire cameras on real terrain, GBON station density, street-flood alert thresholds, CAP alerting with the authority in the loop and the radio horizon of a deployable cell.](https://observatory.global/industries/public-safety/explainer/) [Explainer · Industrial **Industrial** Blast vibration at the pit, fire weather at the grid edge, methane at the fenceline and tailings movement from GNSS.](https://observatory.global/industries/infrastructure/explainer/) [Platform **Design and integration** Many suppliers, nobody accountable](https://observatory.global/integration/) [Platform **Field services** Sites fail between contractors](https://observatory.global/field-services/) ### Stories [Story · Federation across agencies **Many agencies, one picture** No single agency observes everything it needs. Federation lets each keep its own systems and still share: common interfaces, common catalogues and common…](https://observatory.global/stories/federation/) [Story · Resilient operations **When the links fail** Observing systems matter most on the days infrastructure fails. Designing for that day means local autonomy, stored power, store-and-forward delivery and…](https://observatory.global/stories/resilient-ops/) [Story · Airspace and drones **A shared sky below 120 metres** Flying beyond visual line of sight turns a drone from a camera on a stick into infrastructure. It needs a command link that holds, an identity others can…](https://observatory.global/stories/airspace-drones/) ### Places and networks [Guided tour · Guided 3D tour **Transmission corridor** Lattice towers carry a line across open country; conductor sensors report temperature and sag, and the substation edge brings them into the grid operator’s systems.](https://observatory.global/environments/transmission-corridor/) [Guided tour · Guided 3D tour **Open-pit mine** GNSS slope monitors on the benches, a blast seismograph at the boundary and a private cell for the fleet, around a benched pit cut into the ground.](https://observatory.global/environments/open-pit-mine/) [Guided tour · Guided 3D tour **Mountain valley site** A private 5G tower, an automatic weather station, a compact radar and a seismic vault on real alpine terrain, joined to an edge data centre that admits, times and publishes every…](https://observatory.global/environments/mountain-valley/) [Network scene · Private 5G · Mining **Private 5G in an open-pit mine** A private network for haul trucks, drills and slope radar: a mast on the rim, a cell in the pit, the core at the plant, and coverage computed over the benches themselves.](https://observatory.global/environments/networks/private5g-mine/) [Network scene · Backhaul · Fresnel zone **Microwave backhaul across a river valley** An 18 GHz hop from the church tower to a mast on the far side of the flood plain: its first Fresnel zone, clearance over the town and trees, and what a new building in the path…](https://observatory.global/environments/networks/backhaul-fresnel/) ### Heritage observatories [Heritage observatory · United States · 1921 **Caltech Seismological Laboratory** A laboratory in Pasadena that gave earthquakes a number. The Richter magnitude scale of 1935 depended on one instrument type in many places, a lesson as relevant to networks today…](https://observatory.global/observatories/caltech-seismo-lab/) [Heritage observatory · Global network of about 150 stations; USGS and EarthScope (formerly IRIS) partnership · 1984 **Global Seismographic Network** About 150 digital broadband seismic stations in some 80 countries, sending data to open archives within minutes.](https://observatory.global/observatories/iris-gsn/) ### Interactive tools [Interactive tool · Configure a station **Station Builder** Configure a station part by part in 3D, check the rules as you go and request a quote for the assembly.](https://observatory.global/studio/builder/) **01** What it is ## Installation, commissioning and acceptance. Everything that happens on the ground across a site's life: survey, permits, design packs, logistics, installation, acceptance, training, operations, maintenance, upgrades, decommission and recycling, done safely and recorded as evidence. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against. Field operations and lifecycle ### Instrument and control commissioning Loop checks, configuration and function tests of instruments and controllers. We deploy and maintain. IEC 62337 (commissioning of electrical, instrumentation and control systems) Field operations and lifecycle ### Site and integration acceptance testing Agreed tests on site and end to end, signed off against acceptance criteria. We deploy and operate. IEC 62381 (SAT and SIT) Field operations and lifecycle ### Sensor acceptance and intercomparison Comparing new instruments with a travelling or reference standard before data is published. We deploy and operate. WMO instrument intercomparisons · ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Field operations and lifecycle ### Evidence chain of custody Recording who handled field data, samples and devices and when. We design, operate and maintain. ISO/IEC 27037 · W3C PROV-O Field operations and lifecycle ### Inspection records Structured inspection reports with findings, photos and sign-off. We deploy, operate and maintain. ISO/IEC 17020 (inspection bodies) **02** Architecture ## Where it sits, and what it speaks. Acceptance draws on the spectrum below; the highlighted layers carry this area, and the protocol functions it speaks are marked. 5G core functions 10 Network slicing, edge UPF and local breakout 8 IMS, voice and mission-critical services 6 Fronthaul, midhaul and backhaul 8 Fibre and optical transport 8 IP/MPLS, segment routing, SD-WAN and IPv6 8 Network automation and intent 7 Core security and resilience 5 Generation 9 Storage 9 Microgrids and distribution 9 Energy management and monitoring 7 Thermal design and ingress 8 Environmental and EMC testing 7 Lightning, grounding and structures 8 Safety and transport 7 01**Join** Identity, attestation quote, signed policy. 02**Admit** Admitted for a stated scope, nothing wider. 03**Describe** What, where, how and by whom, with calibration. 04**Time** One clock across the grid, with its error bound. 05**Observe** Every value with quality and provenance. 06**Qualify** Tested against the specification, state on record. 07**Federate** Signed exchange across grids and trust domains. 08**Orchestrate** Software and configuration by signed plan. 09**Correct** A correction marks what depends on it and publishes a new version. 10**Exchange** Products reach people and applications through versioned interfaces. 11**Prove** Signed proof receipts that an independent verifier can check. 12**Exit and decommission** An open exit path, and a record that closes. **03** On the grid ## Every site joins one observing grid. The open networks on the grid today, over real relief and the geodesic cells we count them into. A site built here enrols into the same grid. ## The observing grid 1. Open instruments on the observing grid. **04** In the field ## Where this runs, sector by sector. Deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on acceptance. [Government and public safety National GBON surface and upper-air network WMO-grade stations reporting through WIS 2.0, funded through the systematic-observations financing pathway.](https://observatory.global/sectors/public-safety/) [Government and public safety Alerting integration with the Common Alerting Protocol and cell broadcast Software-heavy: sensor triggers feed an alert origination tool; the alert authority keeps every decision.](https://observatory.global/sectors/public-safety/) [Communities and rural Interim public-safety broadband where no national network exists Private LTE or 5G for fire and medical services in territories without a national public-safety network.](https://observatory.global/sectors/communities/) [Scientific Stream gauges A low-cost tier beside national gauge networks.](https://observatory.global/sectors/scientific/) [Scientific Ocean and coastal low-cost buoy arrays Satellite-backhauled wave buoys accepted in a national programme trial.](https://observatory.global/sectors/scientific/) [Defence-adjacent (civil dual-use) Civil observatories supporting northern infrastructure Weather and ionospheric observatories, communications and power at remote sites that surveillance programmes may share.](https://observatory.global/sectors/defence-adjacent/) **05** Open and enterprise ## Open by default. Enterprise by contract. The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract. Open, on the main site - Reference architecture - Interface contracts Enterprise, on this site - National observing network programmes - Systems integration - Programme management **06** The rest of the line ## Design and integration, area by area. [Design and integration System design Requirements to architecture, drawn against the standards.](https://observatory.global/integration/system-design/) [Design and integration Engineering Design packs, bills of materials and drawings.](https://observatory.global/integration/engineering/) [Design and integration Multi-vendor integration Many suppliers, one interface contract.](https://observatory.global/integration/multi-vendor-integration/) [Design and integration Programme delivery Many sites, one plan and one schedule.](https://observatory.global/integration/programme-delivery/) ## Bring us the site. Survey, design, deployment and operation for acceptance. The form names who receives your details. [Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/) [Ask for a quote](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) **Design and integration** . One accountable integrator, site to grid. 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