IMR-MIP DANSE - Distributed Data Analysis for Neutron Scattering Experiments

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The Spallation Neutron Source (the "SNS"), under construction in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with a budget of $B1.411, is the world's largest science construction project. In 2006 it will start to produce intense beams of neutrons to be used as probes of materials. The instruments that control these beams, and detect the neutrons scattered from specimens, are state-of-the-art. Neutron scattering experiments performed at the SNS will produce data of unprecedented detail on the positions and motions of atoms and spins in materials, molecules, and condensed matter. Under the IMR-MIP program at the NSF, a conceptual engineering design effort is being supported to build software for the analysis of data from the SNS and other neutron facilities in a system called DANSE - distributed data analysis for neutron scattering experiments. The DANSE project includes a central resources activity, and subprojects in the different subfields of neutron scattering science at different institutions around the U.S. The lead institution is the California Institute of Technology. The scientific subprojects are led by faculty at Michigan State Univ. (diffraction), at Iowa State Univ. (engineering diffraction), the University of Maryland (reflectometry), the University of Tennessee (small-angle scattering), and Los Alamos, and Caltech.DANSE uses a new software architecture based on the data flow paradigm. Analysis is performed with reusable software components that can be connected across a network using standardized data streams. Components are integrated into a coherent interpretive framework using the open source language Python so that custom analysis procedures can be constructed easily at runtime. The architecture enables high performance computing on distributed resources and opens access to the future cyber infrastructure of grid-based computing. DANSE provides an unprecedented opportunity to merge data analysis, theory, and simulation into a uniform computing environment. The goals of the DANSE project are to build a software system that 1) enables new and more sophisticated science to be performed with neutron scattering experiments, 2) makes the analysis of data easier for all scientists, and 3) provides a robust software infrastructure that can be maintained in the future.The Spallation Neutron Source (the "SNS"), under construction in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with a budget of $ 1,411,000,000, is the world's largest science construction project. In 2006 it will start to produce intense beams of neutrons to be used as probes of materials. The instruments that control these beams, and detect the neutrons scattered from the specimens under study, are state-of-the-art. Neutron scattering experiments performed at the SNS will produce data of unprecedented detail on the positions and motions of atoms in materials. The raw experimental data acquired with these instruments are not simple to interpret, and new software is required to transform the data into useful forms. Beyond such data reductions that are available today, there is an opportunity to interpret data using several major advances in computational materials science that have occurred over the past decade. Under the IMR-MIP program at the NSF, a conceptual engineering design effort is being supported to build a software system called DANSE - distributed data analysis for neutron scattering experiments. The DANSE project includes two parts. The first is a software engineering effort to build a framework that permits the interoperability of modular software components. The second is an effort by scientistsat different institutions around the U.S. to develop the software components needed for data analysis for the different subfields of neutron scattering research. The lead institution is the California Institute of Technology. The scientific subprojects are led by scientists at Michigan State University, Iowa State University, the University of Maryland, and University of Tennessee. The goals of the DANSE project are to build a software system that 1) enables new and more sophisticated science to be performed with neutron scattering experiments, 2) makes the analysis of data easier for all scientists, and 3) provides a robust software infrastructure that can be maintained in the future.