Jasmin L. Wason

A distributed scientific data archive using the Web, XML and SQL/MED

We have developed a web-based architecture and user interface for fast storage, searching and retrieval of large, distributed, files resulting from scientific simulations. We demonstrate that the new DATALINK type defined in the draft SQL Management of External Data Standard can help to overcome problems associated with limited bandwidth when trying to archive large files using the web. We also show that separating the user interface specification from the user interface processing can provide a number of advantages. We provide a tool to generate automatically a default user interface specification, in the form of an XML document, for a given database. This facilitates deployment of our system by users with little web or database development experience. The XML document can be customised to change the appearance of the interface.

Implementation and utilisation of a Grid-enabled problem solving environment in Matlab

In many areas of design search and optimisation one needs to utilise computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods in order to obtain a numerical solution of the flow field in and/or around a proposed design. From this solution measures of quality for the design may be calculated, which are then used by the optimisation methods. In large models the processing time for the CFD computations can very well be many orders of magnitude larger than for the optimisation methods themselves; and the overall optimisation process usually demands a combination of computational and database resources; therefore this class of problems is well suited to Grid computing. The Geodise toolkit is a suite of tools for Grid-enabled parametric geometry generation, meshing, CFD analysis, design optimisation and search, databasing, Grid computing, and notification within the Matlab environment. These Grid services are presented to the design engineer as Matlab functions that conform to the usual syntax of Matlab. The use of the Geodise toolkit in Matlab introduces a flexible and Grid-enabled problem solving environment (PSE) for design search and optimisation. This PSE is illustrated here with two exemplar problems.

A grid-enabled problem solving environment (PSE) for design optimisation within Matlab

The process of design search and optimisation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is computationally and data intensive, a problem well-suited to Grid computing. The Geodise toolkit is a suite of Grid-enabled design optimisation and search tools within the Matlab environment. The use of these tools by the engineer is facilitated by intelligent design advisers targeted initially at CFD. The role of remote computation and data access in constructing a Grid-enabled problem solving environment is discussed. The use of the Geodise toolkit for design optimisation from within the Matlab environment is considered with an exemplar problem.

Implementation of a grid-enabled problem solving environment in matlab

In many areas of design search and optimisation one needs to utilize Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods in order to obtain numerical solution of the flow field in and/or around a proposed design. From this solution measures of quality for the design may be calculated, which are required by optimisation methods. In large models the processing time for the CFD computatioas can very well be many orders of magnitude larger than the optimisation methods; and the overall optimisation process usually demands a combination of computational and database resources therefore this class of problems is well suited to Grid computing. The Geodise toolkit is a suite of tools for Grid-enabled parametric geometry generation, meshing, CFD analysis, design optimization and search, database, and notification tools within the Matlab environment. These grid services are presented to the design engineer as Matlab functions that conform to the usual syntax of Matlab. The use of the Geodise toolkit in Matlab introduces a flexible and Grid-enabled problem solving environment (PSE) for design search and optimisation. This PSE is illustrated here with an exemplar problem.

Delivering data management for engineers on the grid

We describe the design and implementation of a database toolkit for engineers, which has been incorporated into the Matlab environment, to help manage the large amount of data created in distributed applications. The toolkit is built using Grid and Web services technologies, and exchanges XML metadata between heterogeneous Web services, databases and clients using open standards. We show an application exemplar of how this toolkit may be used in a grid-enabled Computational Electromagnetics design search.

The GRID: Computational and data resource sharing in engineering optimisation and design search

We present our GRID architecture for engineering optimisation and design search. Our system will allow seamless access to an intelligent knowledge repository, a state-of-the-art collection of optimisation and search tools, industrial strength analysis codes, and distributed computing and data resources. We focus on the underlying open standards technologies required to implement the system, and give exemplars of how they are being exploited at present. Of particular importance is the interchange of data throughout the system, for which we have adopted W3C standards (e.g. XML), and the ability to link together each of the components in the form of Web services. In particular we demonstrate how Condor may be offered as a Web service.

Optimization of integrated Earth System Model components using Grid-enabled data management and computation

In this paper, we present the Grid enabled data management system that has been deployed for the Grid ENabled Integrated Earth system model (GENIE) project. The database system is an augmented version of the Geodise Database Toolbox and provides a repository for scripts, binaries and output data in the GENIE framework. By exploiting the functionality available in the Geodise toolboxes we demonstrate how the database can be employed to tune parameters of coupled GENIE Earth System Model components to improve their match with observational data. A Matlab client provides a common environment for the project Virtual Organization and allows the scripting of bespoke tuning studies that can exploit multiple heterogeneous computational resources. We present the results of a number of tuning exercises performed on GENIE model components using multi‐dimensional optimization methods. In particular, we find that it is possible to successfully tune models with up to 30 free parameters using Kriging and Genetic Algorithm methods. Copyright

Databases, workflows and the Grid in a service oriented environment

As the Grid moves towards adopting a service-oriented architecture built on Web services, coupling between processes will rely on secure, reliable, and transacted messages and be supported by databases. We have built a generic toolkit targeted at design engineers, which provides convenient methods to access a grid-enabled repository. In this paper we report how we have developed it further, and integrated it into a workflow toolkit to support a range of activities that design engineers have previously attempted to perform by multiple ad-hoc methods in the workflows used to improve designs. It also presents opportunities for improving the process of design search in a variety of ways that would have been otherwise hard to implement. We show the potential of our grid-enabled data repository in the context of workflow management, engineering optimisation process monitoring and steering.

Grid services in action: grid enabled optimisation and design search

We are developing a Grid Enabled Optimisation and Design Search system (GEODISE). It offers grid-based access to a state-of-the-art collection of optimisation and design search tools, industrial strength analysis codes, and distributed computing and data resources.

An Architecture for Archiving and Post-Processing Large, Distributed, Scientific Data Using SQL/MED and XML

We have developed a Web-based architecture and user interface for archiving and manipulating results of numerical simulations being generated by the UK Turbulence Consortium on the United Kingdoms new national scientific supercomputing resource. These simulations produce large datasets, requiring Web-based mechanisms for storage, searching and retrieval of simulation results in the hundreds of gigabytes range. We demonstrate that the new DATALINK type, defined in the draft SQL Management of External Data Standard, which facilitates database management of distributed external data, can help to overcome problems associated with limited bandwidth. We show that a database can meet the apparently divergent requirements of storing both the relatively small simulation result metadata, and the large result files, in a unified way, whilst maintaining database security, recovery and integrity. By managing data in this distributed way, the system allows post-processing of archived simulation results to be performed directly without the cost of having to rematerialise to files. This distribution also reduces access bottlenecks and processor loading. We also show that separating the user interface specification from the user interface processing can provide a number of advantages. We provide a tool to generate automatically a default user interface specification, in the form of an XML document, for a given database. The XML document can be customised to change the appearance of the interface. Our architecture can archive not only data in a distributed fashion, but also applications. These applications are loosely coupled to the datasets (in a many-to-many relationship) via XML defined interfaces. They provide reusable server-side post-processing operations such as data reduction and visualisation.