Wales Universities
Join Global Research Team - Provide Advanced Visualization and
Modeling Resources for Grid Computing
Cardiff University and the University of Wales, Swansea, have
teamed with Hewlett-Packard, BAE SYSTEMS and the Institute of
High Performance Computing in Singapore, to use grid computing
for the exploration of advanced, collaborative simulation and
visualization in aerospace and defense design.
As the electronic systems used in the aerospace
and defense sectors become increasingly elaborate, the process
of designing, visualizing and simulating the operation of these
systems is critical. This is particularly the case for computational
electromagnetics, or CEM, which poses some of today’s
most complex and compute-intensive engineering problems.
CEM is vital not only to ensuring that the
radar cross-section of complex platforms is understood, but
that internal electrical systems are compatible, and that those
systems can respond appropriately to external inputs, such as
lightning strikes or electromagnetic radiation.
Grid experts in the Welsh e-Science Centre
at Cardiff University and the University of Wales, Swansea,
are working with researchers at HP Services and HP Labs and
BAE SYSTEMS' Advanced Technology Centre (ATC), to grid-enable
the applications that the ATC uses to create and test its most
sophisticated designs, including future concepts such as the
More Electric Aircraft and the All Electric Ship.
Using existing nodes at the Institute of High
Performance Computing, Singapore and BAE SYSTEMS' ATC and advanced
visualization and modeling resources from Cardiff University
and the University of Wales, Swansea, the organizations will
roll out a functioning, geographically dispersed grid that will
be used to explore advanced techniques for industrial simulation
and grid security.
"This project will significantly help
to develop grid technologies for industrial applications,”
said Alex Hardisty, manager, Welsh e-Science Centre at Cardiff
University. “The idea of an 'extended enterprise,' or
'virtual organization' in which organizations with specialized
skills come together to solve complex computational problems
is a key element of the grid computing vision."
The grid-enabled computational electromagnetics
project is funded by the UK's Department of Trade and Industry
as part of the UK e-Science Programme. The first phase of the
project began in November 2003.
