Real-time measurement technologies provide information quickly enough to support dynamic work strategies.
Real-time measurement technologies refer to any data generation and data processing mechanisms that support real-time decision-making (i.e., a dynamic work strategy), including rapid sample turn-around from a fixed laboratory or field-based measurement technologies and software that rapidly manipulate, display, and share data. Some geophysical techniques may also provide site data rapidly enough to facilitate refinement of the CSM in real-time. Real-time measurement technologies present results quickly enough to influence work progress conducted as part of a dynamic work strategy. When combined with traditional fixed-laboratory results, real-time measurement technologies contribute to collaborative data sets that collectively manage both sampling and analytical uncertainties. Collaborative data sets include data from two or three analytical/measurement sources that, taken together, produce effective or decision quality data. Real-time measurement technology details important from a project manager's perspective are described in the section entitled Real-Time Measurement Technologies.