NPAC has a diverse set of projects, which are unified by a common theme of applying computer science in the real
world for academic, business and the community. Further NPAC has a uniform and to some controversial technology
approach that is based on the assumption (assertion) that Web technology (software, interfaces, protocols, standards,
and systems) represents the most powerful software base that has ever been developed. As it implements a general
distributed computing model, we find that it can be used pervasively in the range of projects summarized below under
broad categories.
Base Web Technology research and development
with particular application to collaboration and
multimedia systems.
We believe that web-based collaboration will be critical in many applications and are pursuing several research and
deployment activities. TangoInteractive was developed to support a prototype Command and Control system but is
being applied actively in education and several commercial areas. We have developed state of the art video and audio
digital servers and
clients
and are using these as components of large systems. Our expertise in databases
and their integration with the Web is used in many projects.
Click here to access the Multimedia Page
Applications of Web Technology to High Performance Computing.
This includes the new WebFlow Java Server approach to software integration; leadership of the national investigation of Java as a language for
computational science; an advanced Java message passing library; Web interfaces to HPCC technologies
including batch and interpreted nodes; and collaborative Java visualization
applets for scientific computation. Our work with the DoD PET program includes an examination of CORBA
and the Web for the event driven simulations of great importance in many defense applications.
Applications of Web Technology to Healthcare
Here collaboration between medical doctor David Warner and Physicist Ed Lipson has produced breakthrough low cost interfaces for disabled
individuals. Telemedicine and Web based patient record
databases are also focus areas of this research whose Interventional Informatics approach is pioneering multi-sensory
human computer interfaces in their GrokBox.
Classic Parallel Computing technology and Applications
Here the PCRC collaboration is generating the infrastructure to support interoperable
SPMD programs while a new Darpa funded activity will generate tools for performance modeling of parallel programs on diverse architectures. We have
deployed a public domain HPF front end and a set of HPF test application modules. We always link this technology to
practical applications and currently we are working on such diverse simulations as colliding black holes and predictions of financial derivatives. We are
starting a new project with the national GEM group to develop the computational infrastructure to support earthquake
prediction.
Education and Training in practical computer science (aka computational science) in both web and high performance computing arenas
Here we have a set of technology development and delivery programs that are led by those funded through the DoD PET
(Programming Environment and Tools) Program. Our work in the National High Performance Software Exchange
falls into this area. Combining Tango collaborative tools with our rich WebWisdom
delivery mechanisms has given us a national leadership position in the technologies to support distance education.
Industrial outreach in leading edge relevant computer science
This is gathered into the InfoMall program funded by New York
State but also includes work with industries around the country. This varies from database
support for web sites to new codes for modeling financial instruments.
