--- title: "Design and integration platform | Nexus Observatory" description: "Systems integration: equipment from many makers assembled and tested as one system. Parts from many vendors on one bench." url: https://observatory.global/integration/ publisher: Nexus Observatory Inc. updated: 2026-11-07 --- Systems integration: equipment from many makers assembled and tested as one system. The loop, step by step: 1. Parts from many vendors on one bench. 2. The chain from source to console stands ready. 3. The integration rack powers up each part. 4. Each reading is stamped with time and place. 5. Interfaces are connected one at a time. 6. Relays carry the packets without reading them. 7. Signatures are checked before any model runs. 8. Each interface is tested against the design. 9. The edge releases confirmed results only. 10. One interface fails its timing test. 11. The fault is traced and the setting fixed. 12. Sensors check that the response worked. 13. The system passes its end-to-end test. 14. The console shows the evidence with the alert. 15. Record, proof and action are archived together. 16. Everything settles back to idle. 01 / 16 Parts from many vendors on one bench Nexus Observatory / **Design and integration** # One accountable integrator, site to grid. System design against the reference architecture, engineering packs a contractor can build from, multi-vendor integration on typed interfaces, and programme delivery across many sites with one plan, one schedule and one evidence record. [Plan with us](https://observatory.global/contact/) Reference architecture [The open protocol](https://observatory.global/protocol/) At a glance ## One accountable integrator, site to grid Design and integration delivers system design against the reference architecture, engineering packs a contractor can build from, multi-vendor integration on typed interfaces and programme delivery with one plan, one schedule and one evidence record. Every site of a type is built the same way, by whichever contractor builds it. The problem ### Many suppliers, nobody accountable 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 **Interfaces**: OPC UA · IEC 61850 · DNP3 · MQTT · OGC SensorThings Components - Pole-mounted edge gateway node - 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 **Instruments**: SDI-12 · RS-485 / Modbus RTU · 4–20 mA **Radio**: Ethernet · LTE-M / NB-IoT · LoRaWAN **Time and position**: GNSS 1PPS **Security**: TPM 2.0 **Publishing**: MQTT Where it works - Many suppliers, one interface contract 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 · 17 Next steps [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/integration/contact/deployment/) [Read the specification](https://observatory.global/protocol/specification/) [Talk to sales](https://observatory.global/contact/sales-enquiry/) [See Programme delivery](https://observatory.global/integration/programme-delivery/) 1. The problem Many suppliers, nobody accountable 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 One accountable integrator, site to grid Design and integration delivers system design against the reference architecture, engineering packs a contractor can build from, multi-vendor integration on typed interfaces and programme delivery with one plan, one schedule and one evidence record. Every site of a type is built the same way, by whichever contractor builds it. 3. Engineering Design packs a contractor can build from Drawings, bills of materials, cable schedules and configuration are delivered as one pack per site type, so the hundredth site is built like the first. Each pack is versioned, so a change is made once, reviewed once and applied to every site of that type. [See Engineering](https://observatory.global/integration/engineering/) 4. The system One station, part by part Before anything is installed, the station is laid out as its parts: instrument, logger and edge compute, secure element, GNSS timing, radio, power, enclosure, wiring, earthing, mast and foundation. 5. Assembly Built and tested before it ships Each part is fitted to the pole and the enclosure, wired through surge protection to one earth, powered and bench-tested until it signs its first reading. 6. Deployment Site after site, one design The same station goes in at every site on the plan, each commissioned against the same checklist, until the field is covered. 7. Wiring Signal, power and time, wired Inside one site the instrument’s signal pair runs to the logger, solar charges the battery that feeds the load, GNSS time reaches the clock and the logger hands its records to the radio. 8. Multi-vendor integration Many suppliers, one interface contract Each interface is written as a typed contract: OPC UA or IEC 61850 into control systems, MQTT and SensorThings into the observing network. Suppliers are tested against the contract, not against each other. A supplier change is a test run against the contract, not a redesign. InterfacesOPC UA · IEC 61850 · DNP3 · MQTT · OGC SensorThings [See Multi-vendor integration](https://observatory.global/integration/multi-vendor-integration/) 9. Connections Backhaul, time and power The relay carries every site to the edge over a point-to-point link, the grandmaster’s time reaches every clock, and each site keeps its power through the night. 10. Time and records One clock, one record across suppliers Every supplier's equipment is timed from the same traceable source and writes into the same record, so faults that cross a boundary can be followed from end to end. Interface tests check timing as well as content, because a correct value at the wrong time is still a failure. 11. System design Requirements to architecture Requirements are traced to an architecture drawn against the standards, so every component has a reason, an interface and a test. Each decision is recorded with its reason, so a change later in the programme starts from the original intent. [See System design](https://observatory.global/integration/system-design/) 12. Boundaries Safe connection to operational systems Where observation meets control, the boundary is designed first: zones, conduits, read-only defaults and a firewall whose rules are part of the design pack. No plant system takes commands from the observing network unless the design explicitly allows it and the owner signs that off. 13. Acceptance Tested against the plan, signed off on evidence Each site is accepted against written criteria with measured results; the programme is accepted when every site's evidence is complete. Failures found at acceptance are fixed and retested, and the evidence of both is kept with the site record. Nothing is accepted without evidence. [See Acceptance](https://observatory.global/integration/acceptance/) 14. Installation Built and wired to the pack Crews build each site to its pack, with deviations recorded and approved, so the as-built record matches what is in the ground. Crews photograph and test as they go, so the record is built during installation, not reconstructed afterwards. Every deviation is approved and kept. 15. Programme delivery Many sites, one plan and one schedule Site types are repeated across the programme; crews, supply and acceptance are scheduled together, and progress is reported from the evidence record. Risks and dependencies are tracked across the programme, and every site's status comes from its own evidence. Progress is never reported from opinion. [See Programme delivery](https://observatory.global/integration/programme-delivery/) 16. 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/) 17. Next step Share your requirements Send us the programme's requirements and constraints, and the sites you have in mind. We return an architecture, a site typology, the interface contracts and a delivery plan with its milestones. The plan scales from a pilot site to a national programme. [Plan a deployment](https://observatory.global/integration/contact/deployment/) [Read the specification](https://observatory.global/protocol/specification/) 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 · Scientific **Scientific, explained**](https://observatory.global/industries/research/explainer/) ### 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 · End to end **An observation grid, end to end** An observation is not a reading. It is a reading with a place, a time, a calibration and a path that anyone can follow back. An observing grid is the…](https://observatory.global/stories/observation-grid/) ### Places and networks [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/) [Guided tour · Guided 3D tour **River basin** Water-level gauges along a river valley floor, a weather station and an edge node: the red isoline is the ground that lies within a few metres of the lowest point of the reach.](https://observatory.global/environments/river-basin/) [Guided tour · Guided 3D tour **Wildfire forest** Camera masts on the ridges, a weather station in the stand and a private cell: the red ground is what the ridge camera can see.](https://observatory.global/environments/wildfire-forest/) [Network scene · NTN · Satellite **Satellite direct to device in a mountain valley** Where the valley cell cannot reach, phones on the pass road connect straight to a low-orbit satellite, which relays through its feeder link to a gateway.](https://observatory.global/environments/networks/ntn-d2d/) [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 · China · 132 **Zhang Heng's seismoscope** In 132 CE a court astronomer presented a bronze urn that, it was recorded, told the capital of an earthquake no one in Luoyang had felt. No original survives.](https://observatory.global/observatories/zhang-heng-seismoscope/) [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/) ### 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 this platform covers ## Design and integration, area by area. Choose an area for its systems, standards, the industries it serves and how we deliver it. [01 System design Requirements to architecture, drawn against the standards.](https://observatory.global/integration/system-design/) [02 Engineering Design packs, bills of materials and drawings.](https://observatory.global/integration/engineering/) [03 Multi-vendor integration Many suppliers, one interface contract.](https://observatory.global/integration/multi-vendor-integration/) [04 Programme delivery Many sites, one plan and one schedule.](https://observatory.global/integration/programme-delivery/) [05 Acceptance Tested against the plan, signed off on evidence.](https://observatory.global/integration/acceptance/) **02** · Built on the open protocol ## One protocol under every platform. Marked: the functions this platform leans on hardest. The protocol itself is open, so what you build here runs anywhere the protocol runs. 01 JOIN 02 ADMIT 03 DESCRIBE 04 TIME 05 OBSERVE 06 QUALIFY 07 FEDERATE 08 ORCHESTRATE **03** · Open and enterprise ## Open by default. Enterprise by contract. The open layer lives on the main site, free to use and build on. Enterprise services are delivered under contract by Nexus Observatory Inc. Open, on the main site - Reference architecture - Interface contracts Enterprise, on this site - National observing network programmes - Systems integration - Programme management **04** · Industries served ## The industries that build on design and integration. Each industry has its own site: its use cases, its community and the enterprise path, with this platform among the systems behind it. [Industry **Public safety** Warning time, gained at the sensor.](https://observatory.global/industries/public-safety/) [Industry **Government** National observing infrastructure, delivered as one programme.](https://observatory.global/industries/government/) [Industry **Humanitarian** Observation where the need is greatest and the grid is thinnest.](https://observatory.global/industries/humanitarian/) [Industry **Infrastructure** Assets that report their own condition.](https://observatory.global/industries/infrastructure/) **05** · Every platform ## Every platform, one architecture. One platform for each technical area of our work, on the same protocol, the same data and the same design. [Protocol & Grid](https://observatory.global/grid-services/) [Software](https://observatory.global/software/) [Hardware & power](https://observatory.global/hardware/) [Sensors & instruments](https://observatory.global/sensors/) [Connectivity](https://observatory.global/connectivity/) [Edge compute & AI](https://observatory.global/edge-ai/) [Earth observation & GeoAI](https://observatory.global/earth-observation/) [Field services](https://observatory.global/field-services/) [Data & licensing](https://observatory.global/data-products/) [Space and satellite systems](https://observatory.global/space/) [Positioning, navigation and timing](https://observatory.global/pnt/) [Security and trust](https://observatory.global/security-trust/) [Digital twins and simulation](https://observatory.global/digital-twins/) [Design and integration](https://observatory.global/integration/) [Test and qualification](https://observatory.global/qualification/) [Operations centre](https://observatory.global/operations/) [Training and enablement](https://observatory.global/training/) [Frontier labs](https://observatory.global/labs/) ## Bring us the site. We bring the survey, the design and the crew. Nexus Observatory Inc. The form names who receives your details. [Talk to us](https://observatory.global/contact/) [Create account](https://observatory.global/register/) [Nexus Observatory](https://observatory.global/) **Design and integration** . One accountable integrator, site to grid. 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