NMI: Instruments and Sensors as Network Services: Instruments as First Class Members of the Grid

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This proposal researches a Common Instrument Middleware Architecture (CIMA)to improve accessibility of instruments and to facilitate their integration into the Grid. The proposed middleware will be based on current Grid implementation standards and accessible through platform independent standards such as the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) and the Common Component Architecture (CCA). Emphasis will be placed on supporting a variety of instrument and controller types including creating a small implementation that can be used with tiny wireless controllers such as the Berkeley Mote sensor package as well as embedded PC-104- and VME-based controller systems. The proposed CIMA implementation will be evaluated in three settings representing a spectrum of shared instrument applications: X-ray crystallography at a synchrotron source, real-time acquisition of network performance data with embedded monitors, and small sensor network nodes using Berkeley Mote wireless sensors. The end product will be a consistent and reusable framework for including shared instrument resources in geographically distributed Grids.Broad impact and intellectual merit. The proposed work will have important ramifications in the development of many instrument-driven Grid computing projects, and by extension, to many science education programs. Further implications exist for the development of industrial standards for networking instruments and international e-Science collaborations, as well as developing and evaluating new ubiquitous computing methodologies. The co-PI's are active in the Global Grid Forum, the DoE CCA Forum, and other Grid and HPC standards efforts, and together with industrial and DoD projects these will be used to evolve and promulgate the results of the proposed work. The co- PI's also have a track record of mentoring students from underrepresented groups, and have education projects at all levels from K-12 to postdoctoral.