Arshdeep Bahga

A Cloud-based Approach for Interoperable Electronic Health Records (EHRs)

We present a cloud-based approach for the design of interoperable electronic health record (EHR) systems. Cloud computing environments provide several benefits to all the stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem (patients, providers, payers, etc.). Lack of data interoperability standards and solutions has been a major obstacle in the exchange of healthcare data between different stakeholders. We propose an EHR system - cloud health information systems technology architecture (CHISTAR) that achieves semantic interoperability through the use of a generic design methodology which uses a reference model that defines a general purpose set of data structures and an archetype model that defines the clinical data attributes. CHISTAR application components are designed using the cloud component model approach that comprises of loosely coupled components that communicate asynchronously. In this paper, we describe the high-level design of CHISTAR and the approaches for semantic interoperability, data integration, and security.

Analyzing Massive Machine Maintenance Data in a Computing Cloud

We present a novel framework, CloudView, for storage, processing and analysis of massive machine maintenance data, collected from a large number of sensors embedded in industrial machines, in a cloud computing environment. This paper describes the architecture, design, and implementation of CloudView, and how the proposed framework leverages the parallel computing capability of a computing cloud based on a large-scale distributed batch processing infrastructure that is built of commodity hardware. A case-based reasoning (CBR) approach is adopted for machine fault prediction, where the past cases of failure from a large number of machines are collected in a cloud. A case-base of past cases of failure is created using the global information obtained from a large number of machines. CloudView facilitates organization of sensor data and creation of case-base with global information. Case-base creation jobs are formulated using the MapReduce parallel data processing model. CloudView captures the failure cases across a large number of machines and shares the failure information with a number of local nodes in the form of case-base updates that occur in a time scale of every few hours. At local nodes, the real-time sensor data from a group of machines in the same facility/plant is continuously matched to the cases from the case-base for predicting the incipient faults-this local processing takes a much shorter time of a few seconds. The case-base is updated regularly (in the time scale of a few hours) on the cloud to include new cases of failure, and these case-base updates are pushed from CloudView to the local nodes. Experimental measurements show that fault predictions can be done in real-time (on a timescale of seconds) at the local nodes and massive machine data analysis for case-base creation and updating can be done on a timescale of minutes in the cloud. Our approach, in addition to being the first reported use of the cloud architecture for maintenance data storage, processing and analysis, also evaluates several possible cloud-based architectures that leverage the advantages of the parallel computing capabilities of the cloud to make local decisions with global information efficiently, while avoiding potential data bottlenecks that can occur in getting the maintenance data in and out of the cloud.

Synthetic Workload Generation for Cloud Computing Applications

We present techniques for characterization, modeling and generation of workloads for cloud computing applications. Methods for capturing the workloads of cloud computing applications in two different models - benchmark application and workload models are described. We give the design and implementation of a synthetic workload generator that accepts the benchmark and workload model specifications generated by the characterization and modeling of workloads of cloud computing applications. We propose the Georgia Tech Cloud Workload Specification Language (GT-CWSL) that provides a structured way for specification of application workloads. The GT-CWSL combines the specifications of benchmark and workload models to create workload specifications that are used by a synthetic workload generator to generate synthetic workloads for performance evaluation of cloud computing applications.

Healthcare Data Integration and Informatics in the Cloud

An information integration and informatics framework for healthcare applications leverages the parallel computing capability of a cloud-based, large-scale distributed batch-processing infrastructure built with commodity hardware. The result is new flexibility for developers of advanced healthcare applications.

Cloud-Based Information Integration & Informatics Framework for Healthcare Applications

We propose an Information Integration and Informatics (III) framework for healthcare applications that leverages the parallel computing capability of a computing cloud based on a large-scale distributed batch processing infrastructure that is built of commodity hardware. Healthcare information integration and informatics presents a potential for building advanced healthcare applications given the massive scale of data which is collected by EHR systems. Traditional EHR systems are based on different EHR standards, different languages and different technology generations. EHRs are mainly designed to store individual-level data on patient-provider interactions. EHRs capture and store information on patient health and provider actions. In this paper we provide a use case of the proposed III framework for development of a healthcare application for epidemiological surveillance. Epidemiological research involves collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data for describing and monitoring a health events. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed III framework for developing advanced healthcare applications that are backed by massive scale healthcare data integrated from heterogeneous and distributed healthcare systems and a scalable cloud infrastructure.

A Dynamic Resource Management and Scheduling Environment for Embedded Multimedia and Communications Platforms

We present a framework, OpenCLosE, for dynamic resource management and scheduling of applications written in open compute language (OpenCL) for heterogeneous multimedia and graphics platforms, such as those found in multimedia smartphones and automotive infotainment clusters. We describe the design of a resource manager and master scheduler for the OpenCLosE environment, that allows efficient realization of multiple applications within a multitasked platform.