SI2-SSE: SciDB - A Scientific DataManagement System

当前的关系数据库系统（RDBMS）是为商业数据处理市场而设计的，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NASA地球使命等重大项目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，在一代科学应用之后，共享数据管理基础设施有限。SciDB是一个专注于构建开源DBMS的项目，专注于科学用户的需求。我们在与许多科学家密切合作的基础上制定了SciDB的要求。 数据管理功能包括嵌套数组数据模型（而不是RDBMS的表格模型），其操作与科学数据相协调，无覆盖存储模型（允许与历史结果交互），以及对不确定性，命名版本和出处信息的支持。 在这一点上，有一个由17名程序员和科学家组成的分布式团队，在15名科学家组成的咨询委员会的协助下，积极致力于SciDB的设计和实现。这个团队主要专注于围绕SciDB设计的研究问题，大多数贡献者都是作为志愿者参与项目的，或者由他们各自的组织支付报酬。在2009年8月的VLDB会议上给出了第一个工作概念验证原型的演示，并计划在2010年9月首次公开发布SciDB。这笔NSF资助的目的是通过额外的科学导向功能来增强SciDB，包括时间旅行，版本，不确定性和出处。 在NSF？我们希望在资助期结束前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.