PFI:AIR - TT: Cost Effective Solutions for Storage and Access of Massive Imagery

PFI:AIR - TT：海量图像存储和访问的经济高效解决方案

• 批准号: 1602127
• 负责人: Valerio Pascucci
• 金额: $ 19.94万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-05-01 至 2017-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1602127&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; AIR; TT; Cost; Effective

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on the potential to revolutionize how microscopy and medical devices are used and the science questions that they can answer. When image data size is no longer a restricting factor, new domains of study become possible relating the micro-scale to macro-scale, such as understanding the neural connectomics of the visual cortex. By removing the barrier of time, effort, and expertise to use large imagery, VisStore will enable scientists to scale their existing workflows. Such capability would open new investigations into fundamental biological processes, the origin and progression of diseases, and ultimately the drugs and procedures for curing them. Although initially tailored to life sciences applications, VisStore can be integrated in microscopy for new devices and emerging disciplines, such as precision medicine, material sciences and semiconductors. Furthermore, VisStore has the potential to ease the transition from current workflows to fully online cloud-based ones. Furthermore, VisStore and the hierarchical streaming infrastructure have the potential to become the de-facto standard for large volumetric images. This Accelerating Innovation Technology Translation project will support R&D to build a prototype of VisStore, a plug-and-play device for easy storing, archiving, accessing, distributing, and processing massive volumetric images coming from microscopy or medical devices. It translates research discovery toward commercial applications in the microscopy market which continues to grow, topping $4.1 billion in 2014 with an anticipated CAGR growth of 7.1%, while the addressed cyber-infrastructures to reliably store, easily access, and efficiently process such data have not kept pace. This has led to a discrepancy between the quality of data that could be produced, and what actually is used, as scientists unnecessarily restrict image sizes to match computational capabilities. Brute force solutions for scaling to massive images are expensive, difficult to maintain, and require expertise usually out of reach for smaller institutions. VisStore is a combined software/hardware/cloud solution that enables ease of use for image data of any size. No more complicated than a USB drive, VisStore allows users to easily access, process, and distribute giga and terapixel 2D and 3D images within a workgroup, a company, or even globally distributed environments. The technology behind VisStore enhances the state-of-the-art for handing massive image volumes. Modern software tools often stop scaling when data size exceeds main memory, and this has been a limiting factor for microscopy imagery. When dealing with image data, the hierarchical streaming software infrastructure implemented in VisStore essentially extends the memory hierarchy of a workstation to both an external network-attached hard drive (NAS), and even cloud-based storage. With each component acting as a cache, VisStore achieves performance through on-demand data access to proprietary file layout that minimizes the amount of data transferred between levels, enabling efficient scaling to images of any size. This will support development for: (i) automated ingestion and conversion of images coming from microscopy or medical devices; (ii) a simple user interface and tool to manage local and remote storage of data; and (iii) a tool to select and export data for integration with existing workflows. The project engages the Moran Eye Center, the Associated Regional and University Pathologists, Inc. (ARUP) laboratories and the Oregon Health & Science University to develop and tests a prototype acquiring giga- and teravoxel images and test its commercial value to translate this technology from research discovery towards a commercial reality. In particular, the graduate and undergraduate students supported by the project will be directly involved in these entrepreneurial activities. They will cooperate directly with the early adopters of the technology at the collaborating institutions and receive hands-on experience in how to identify and resolve their pain points and ultimately translate the raw technology into a product with commercial value.

该PFI：AIR技术翻译项目的重点是彻底改变显微镜和医疗设备使用方式的潜力，以及它们可以回答的科学问题。当图像数据大小不再是一个限制因素时，将微观尺度与宏观尺度联系起来的新研究领域成为可能，例如理解视觉皮层的神经连接组学。通过消除使用大型图像的时间、精力和专业知识的障碍，VisStore将使科学家能够扩展其现有的工作流程。这种能力将开启对基本生物过程、疾病的起源和发展以及最终治疗疾病的药物和程序的新研究。虽然VisStore最初是为生命科学应用量身定制的，但它可以集成到显微镜中，用于新设备和新兴学科，如精密医学、材料科学和半导体。此外，VisStore有可能简化从当前工作流程到完全在线的基于云的工作流程的过渡。此外，VisStore和分层流媒体基础设施有可能成为大体积图像的事实标准。该加速创新技术转化项目将支持研发部门构建VisStore原型，VisStore是一种即插即用设备，可轻松存储、存档、访问、分发和处理来自显微镜或医疗设备的大量体积图像。它将研究发现转化为显微镜市场的商业应用，该市场持续增长，2014年达到41亿美元，预计复合年增长率为7.1%，而可靠存储，轻松访问和有效处理这些数据的网络基础设施却没有跟上步伐。这导致了可能产生的数据质量与实际使用的数据之间的差异，因为科学家不必要地限制图像大小以匹配计算能力。用于扩展到大规模图像的蛮力解决方案昂贵，难以维护，并且需要小型机构通常无法获得的专业知识。VisStore是一个结合了软件/硬件/云的解决方案，可轻松使用任何大小的图像数据。VisStore并不比USB驱动器更复杂，它允许用户轻松地访问，处理和分发千兆像素和兆像素的2D和3D图像，无论是在企业，公司，还是全球分布的环境中。VisStore背后的技术增强了处理大量图像的最先进技术。当数据大小超过主内存时，现代软件工具通常会停止缩放，这一直是显微图像的限制因素。在处理图像数据时，VisStore中实现的分层流媒体软件基础设施基本上将工作站的内存层次扩展到外部网络连接硬盘驱动器（NAS）甚至基于云的存储。每个组件都充当缓存，VisStore通过按需访问专有文件布局来实现性能，最大限度地减少级别之间传输的数据量，从而有效地扩展到任何大小的图像。这将支持以下方面的开发：（i）自动摄取和转换来自显微镜或医疗设备的图像;（ii）管理本地和远程数据存储的简单用户界面和工具;以及（iii）选择和导出数据以与现有工作流程集成的工具。该项目涉及莫兰眼科中心，相关的区域和大学病理学家，公司。（ARUP）实验室和俄勒冈州健康科学大学开发和测试获取千兆和兆像素图像的原型，并测试其商业价值，以将这项技术从研究发现转化为商业现实。特别是，该项目支持的研究生和本科生将直接参与这些创业活动。他们将直接与合作机构的技术早期采用者合作，并获得如何识别和解决其痛点的实践经验，并最终将原始技术转化为具有商业价值的产品。