Integrated measurement and information system for radioactivity in the environment
IMIS is an IT system to aid early warning and decision-making, which is operated by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection throughout Germany and which analyses and forecasts radioactivity in the environment. Data on radioactivity in the soil, in the air, in foodstuffs, animal feed, drinking water and sewage, in rain etc. are recorded, processed, visualised and distributed, and archived in the form of situation reports. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety uses this information as the basis for making decisions to protect the population. An integrated configurable process component automates relevant processes such as the provision of situation reports for the public on the Internet. The system also supports and automates the international exchange of data.
IMIS integrates 72 sites and the data from more than 2000 measuring stations throughout the country as well as information from the measurement networks of the public authorities and laboratory samples.
Benefit of solution
- Extremely short response time
- The system allows the vigorous growth of the volume of data and the number of interfaces to other internal and external systems
- Future safety through a high degree of openness – later changes and enhancements can be carried out with little effort
- Minimisation of the costs for communication as well as the care and maintenance of the system
Best Practice
Customer: Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Institute for Radiation Hygiene
The IMIS (Integrated Measurement and Information System for environmental radioactivity), newly developed by order of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) makes an important contribution to civil protection and civil defence as an early warning and decision-making support system. It completely replaces the previous system. IMIS is an information system that is distributed throughout Germany, which continuously collects measured data from an automatic measuring network (2,000 stations) and data about radioactive pollution in environmental areas such as precipitation, water, foodstuffs and animal feed from federal and regional public institutions. To optimise the processes and reduce potential error sources due to manual interaction, the entire system has a component for workflow automation. One central aspect, and the first of its kind to be implemented in a Germany-wide early warning system, is the observance of the data quality. In the manual entry of data and the automatic import, the data consistency is checked using corresponding regulations. Depending on their scope, violations lead to warnings which prohibit a further use of the date (e.g. in a situation description). The comprehensive configurability of almost all functional aspects of the system is one of the main features of the IMIS.