ACSys Capabilities
Object Technologies and Systems
Overview
A research theme of "Object Technologies and Systems" has been
established under ACSys to provide an integrated "systems" approach to
the ACSys Programs.
Topics covered by the theme will be:
- Cooperative working and telepresense support
- Digital libraries and active archives
- Data warehousing
- Distributed computing
- Transaction models for orthogonal persistence
- Scalable persistent object stores
- Orthogonally persistent Java (OPJ)
- Optimisation of OPJ and Java VM performance
- Versioning of object instances and classes
Opportunities to demonstrate these technologies in other applications
will be developed. Planned demonstrations are in defence and
value-added meteorological services and and geospatial information
systems support.
A rapidly growing demand for networked information stresses the need
for effectively managing large amounts of complex data. This
information explosion is characterised by heterogeneity of data and
increased requirements for scalability, efficient data stores and
portability across a range of platforms from high performance servers
to PCs.
Object technologies provide a viable means to handle large complex
data. The Theme will provide the technological support for ACSys
programs and projects to make use of emergent object technologies.
While much commercial attention is focused on relational and
object-relational approaches to persistent data management, it seems
to be increasingly clear that the mismatch between the relational
paradigm and object orientation will be insurmountable for some
classes of problem. Furthermore, commercial object oriented databases
are unable to fulfill these requirements in a scalable or portable
manner.
Our objective is the creation of data management solutions that bridge
this gap and so lead to more general solutions that those offered by
current technologies.
1. R&D Contracts
Organisations can request ACSys to undertake collaborative R&D projects
under contract. Examples of these contracts are:
- To explore the application of OTS to specific applications
- To develop system solutions to practical problems within the
organisation
- To demonstrate the capabilities of OTS systems for analysing specific
datasets
a) Capabilities:
- Implementation of distributed computing systems, with notable abilities
and experience in high performance middle-ware involving Java, CORBA and
Web-based technologies.
- Design and construction of image and geospatial data repository with
special experience in handling large object data systems. Substantial
experience of hierarchical multimedia systems (such as robotic tape silos)
and how they can be integrated with arrays of disks to provide a
high-performance but cost effective bulk storage system.
- Design and development of large data archives for rapid access.
- Development of geospatial and remotely sensed data involving large data
repositories and time critical applications.
- Development of Web-based delivery systems, where a web-based client
interface is used to access processing and storage services on remote
resources.
- Architecture, design and development of distributed systems that
take scalability beyond SMP limitations.
- Design and development of specialised development tools that help
to break the complexity of large-scale object management systems. In
particular, the development of specialised Java virtual machines and
Java runtime environments.
- Design and construction of specialised massive object repositories
like statistical or financial warehouses. These scalable object stores
typically have specific requirements like historic views, instance
versioning, schema integration, extended transactional models or
inter-operability.
b) Achievements:
- DSTO/DGIS - contract research work for the Imagery Management and
Dissemination (IMAD) group of DSTO built an imagery archive management
system using Java and CORBA technologies and ideas drawn from the
DISCWorld metacomputing middleware development project. This was
demonstrated as the first operation application under DSTO's EXC3ITE
information infrastructure project. DSTO have placed a repeat
contract for enhancements to the system.
This work has attracted interest from the US National Imagery
Mapping Association (NIMA) who proposed the Geospatial Imagery Access
Services (GIAS) standard to which our software complies. NIMA have
asked we work in collaboration with them in development of an new
standard for Geospatial Imagery eXploitation Services (GIXS).
- CROP - collaborative project with Agregon Pty Ltd built a prototype
agricultural information services interface to high performance
computing infrastructure, using design ideas from the DISCWorld
middleware system. Agrecon have expressed their desire to further
develop the prototype into a production system.
- Firespotter demonstration showing how bushfires and fire damage
information can be extracted from satellite imagery and now of
interest to local government geospatial data management community.
- DHPC-I/DISCWorld - research project developing advanced metacomputing
middleware for managing storage and processing services across wide
area networks. This project provides a common theme for 7 PhD topics
and has spawned 4 successful honours projects, and over 20
publications in its 18 months duration to date. Recent technical
developments include object transport mechanisms between wide areas;
high performance Java application library components; and a
transparent filesystems interface for remotely accessing distributed
tape robots. This has project has led to invited journal publications
in metacomputing; invitations to join the IEEE Cluster Computing
Taskforce and the Java Grande Forum in the USA.
- MDDV - collaborative project with the Bureau of Meteorology in
Melbourne and its Regional Office In adelaide. The project has
investigated remote visualisation technologies and has developed a
meteorological data delivery system that uses a wide area client
server interface to the international MARS standard system developed
by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
currently being evaluated by the Australian Bureau. This project has
deployed expertise developed under the RDN CRC to help the Bureau make
use of broadband networking technology such as ATM.
- Emergency services response and planning demonstrations carried out in
collaboration with the GIS Centre of Adelaide (GISCA) with whom we are
now merged.
- Leading research achievements in the areas of highly scalable
object management, transactional models and their implementation, and
transparent semantic extensions to the Java languages.
- Demonstration of orthogonally persistent Java in a large-scale
industrial context. This project is working with the Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS). We have analysed and designed a clean, portable
and scalable solution for the ABS "Business Register" application that
address its special transactional and object versioning requirements.
- Development of first prototype of a high performance
orthogonally persistent Java (HPOPJ).
- Development of a first implementation of a highly scalable,
single-image transactional storage systems.
- Development of a first prototype of the ABS "Business Register"
demonstrator.
2. Consultancies and Secondments
Organisations can request ACSys to undertake consultancies in the area of
Object Technologies and Systems. Examples of consultancies include:
- To evaluate technologies and tools for their potential use and
application.
- To assist with the design of object systems and solutions.
- To develop and review proposals for the installation of object-oriented
systems within an organisation.
a) Expertise
- Architecture, design and integration for cluster computing at both local
area and wide area network levels.
- High performance networking and how to install and utilise broadband
networking and switching infrastructure.
- Systems Integration and how to operate heterogeneous clusters of Unix and
NT computers alongside high performance storage and processing systems.
- Large scale data management design. We have the capability of designing
systems for large data archives.
- Software integration with CORBA and Java middleware - we have in depth
knowledge of how to deploy CORBA and other middleware apart from our own
middleware.
- Middleware systems design and review. We are able to review middleware
solutions proposed by third parties and bring our own experiences to bear
on feasibility and optimisation decisions.
- Multiprocessor and cluster computing systems design and installation. We
have the expertise to design and build large scale clusters of PCs into
multiuser and dedicated single platforms.
- Parallel code design and porting. We have substantial experience in
porting legacy applications codes to run on parallel supercomputers.
- Geospatial imagery and metadata systems analysis and design. We have
experience in the state of the art standardisation effort in this area and
are able to review and critique designs and systems, based on experience
from our own developments.
- Scalability analysis. We have developed specialised methodologies
and tools for the analysis of performance and scalability in object
stores.
b) Achievements
- We are building a 128 processor system for a department of Adelaide
University and have the capability to design, build systems for SME's as
well as to train maintenance their own staff for operation.
- Various Technical Reports to Telstra on ATM and Experimental Broadband
Network.
3. Education, Training and Technology Diffusion
ACSys undertakes a range of activities in education, training and
technology diffusion. Organisations can request specific activities
tailored to their interests and requirements.
a) Capabilities
We have many years experience with Java, C++ and CORBA programming as well
as Object Design methodologies and parallel and distributed computing
technologies.
b) Achievements
- Developed 12 lecture course in Distributed and High Performance
Computing. Taught to Honours level students at University of Adelaide,
Flinders University and University of South Australia.
- Developed two day course on Core Java Programming, presented to staff at
Adelaide University as part of departmental adoption of Java as a teaching
language.
- Taught Sun certified Java course (Java Programming, Introduction to Java,
and Java Networking) for Sun customers including Genasys and EDS and Suns
own programming staff and staff of SA Government departments including
DEHAA. (Group staff are Sun accredited trainers)
- Taught CCSSE courses in Systems Administration (Unix and NT) to EDS and
other Adelaide companies and government departments.
- Taught CCSSE courses in C and C++ programming to EDS, Motorola, and SA
Government departments.
- Developing Networked and Mobile Computing Course, taught 1 day courses to
local Adelaide companies.
- Demonstrated distributed computing application on an experimental
broadband network at Telstra TRL EBN meeting (Melbourne) and at ATUG
meeting in Sydney.
- CEOS Demonstrations to Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (Canberra).
- Contributed to Geospatial Imagery Access (GIAS) standard of US National
Imagery Mapping Association (NIMA), part of US DoD.
- Courses in Java and Object Server technology for the undergraduate
and graduate programs in Computer Sciences.
4. Prototypes and Products
ACSys has developed a range of software prototypes and products which are
being commercialised under licence to commercial participants in ACSys.
Organisations have the opportunity to licence or obtain licences to this
software through ACSys or its licensees.
a) Documented Software
- ERIC: client server, web based satellite archive browser
- TEPPIC: web-based image classification tool
- TETHIS: digital terrain imaging system
- CROP Prototype: prototype local area PC crop data processing tool
- DworFS: wide area distributed file system
- DSS: wide area distributed storage management system
- DRAMs: client/server-server remote data manipulation mechanism
- OLGAS: large scale image archive management system
- PSI-Shore: Highly scalable object store
- HPOPJ: High Performance Orthogonally Persistent Java
- BR: Prototype of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Business Register application.
b) Software Design Documents
DISCWorld Architecture Design: metacomputing environment for wide area DC
c) Licences
- CROP: non exclusive license to Agrecon
- OLGAS: non exclusive license to DSTO
5. Contacts