SI2-SSE: SciDB - A Scientific DataManagement System

当前的关系数据库系统（rdbms）是为业务数据处理市场设计的，而不是为科学用户（例如，天文学家、物理学家、化学家、海洋学家或地球科学家）设计的。总的来说，科学用户要么抱怨并使用rdbms，要么更经常地“推出自己的”数据管理软件。大型强子对撞机（LHC）和美国国家航空航天局（NASA）的行星地球任务等重大项目已经在定制软件系统上花费了数百万美元，但对其他项目的适用性有限。因此，在一代科学应用程序之后，共享数据管理基础设施有限。SciDB是一个专注于构建一个面向科学用户需求的开源DBMS的项目。我们在与一些科学家密切合作的基础上制定了scib的要求。数据管理特性包括一个嵌套的数组数据模型（而不是rdbms的表格模型），其操作与科学数据相适应，一个不覆盖的存储模型（允许与历史结果交互），以及对不确定性、命名版本和来源信息的支持。目前，在一个由15名科学家组成的咨询委员会的协助下，有一个由17名程序员和科学家组成的分布式团队在积极地设计和实现SciDB。该团队主要关注围绕SciDB设计的研究问题，并且大多数贡献者以志愿者的身份参与该项目，或者由他们的个人组织支付报酬。在2009年8月的VLDB会议上给出了第一个工作的概念验证SciDB原型的演示，并计划在2010年9月发布SciDB的第一个公开版本。这项NSF拨款的目的是通过额外的科学导向特征来增强SciDB，包括时间旅行、版本、不确定性和来源。NSF吗?在我们的帮助下，我们期望在拨款期结束时开发出一个功能齐全的系统。

Current relational database systems (RDBMSs) were engineered for the business data processing market, and not for scientific users (e.g, astronomers, physicists, chemists, oceanographers, or earth scientists). By and large, science users either grumble and use RDBMSs or, more often, "roll their own" data management software. Significant projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the NASA Mission to Planet Earth, have spent millions of dollars on custom software systems, with limited applicability to other projects. As such, after a generation of science applications, there is limited shared data management infrastructure. SciDB is a project focused on building an open-source DBMS focused on the needs of science users. We have developed the requirements of SciDB based on a close collaboration with a number of scientists. Data management features include a nested array data model (rather than the tabular model of RDBMSs) with operations attuned to scientific data, a no-overwrite storage model (allowing interaction with historical results), and support for uncertainty, named versions and provenance information. At this point, there is a distributed team of 17 programmers and scientists working actively on the design and implementation of SciDB, assisted by an advisory committee of 15 scientists. This team is primarily focused on the research issues surrounding the design of SciDB, and most contributors are involved in the project as volunteers or are paid by their individual organizations. A demo of the first working proof-of-concept SciDB prototype was given at the VLDB conference in August 2009, and a first public release of SciDB is planned for September 2010. The purpose of this NSF grant is to enhance SciDB with additional science-oriented features, including time travel, versions, uncertainty and provenance. With NSF?s help, we expect to develop a full-function system by the end of the grant period.