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The Instrument Middleware Project encompasses several projects aimed at improving access to scientific instruments and sensors.
Common Instrument Middleware Architecture The Common Instrument Middleware Architecture (CIMA) project, supported by the National Science Foundation Middleware Initiative, is aimed at "Grid enabling" instruments as
real-time data sources to improve accessibility of instruments and to facilitate their integration into the Grid. CIMA middleware is based on current Grid implementation standards and accessible through platform
independent standards such as the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) and the Common Component Architecture (CCA). Emphasis will be placed on supporting a variety of instrument and controller types.
The CIMA implementation will be evaluated in three settings representing a spectrum of shared instrument applications:
* X-ray crystallography at a synchrotron source
* Remote interaction with robotic telescopes
* Small sensor network nodes
The end product will be a consistent and reusable framework for including shared instrument resources in geographically distributed Grids. A primary challenge addressed by this research program is the lack of a generalized approach to instrument middleware that allows existing and new instruments to be integrated into Grid computing environments. Other issues to be explored include extending the accessibility of instruments to new classes of users, use of instruments by software agents, and increasing the longevity, flexibility and durability of software systems for instruments.
For more information refer to: Instrument Middleware Project
portal
Support for this work by the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.
Program: NSF Cooperative Agreement OCI-0330568 and MRI CDA-0116050
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