Submitted to
Steve Bartley, Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, steve.bartley@East.Sun.Com
and
Matthew Powell, Visual Numerics Inc., powell@boulder.vni.com
Prepared by:
Christopher Beattie, Dept. of Mathematics, beattie@math.vt.edu
Ron Kriz**, Depts. of Engr. Sci. & Mech. and Matls. Sci. & Engr., kriz@wave.esm.vt.edu
Calvin Ribbens, Dept. of Computer Science, ribbens@huron.cs.vt.edu
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University
Blacksburg, Virginia
January 5, 1996
1. Introduction
The purpose of the document is to propose the creation of a visual computing
environment at Virginia Tech with Sun (SUN) Microsystems Computer Company and
Visual Numerics Inc. (VNI) as industrial partners in collaboration with our
proposed Advanced Communications and Information Technology Center (ACITC). Related to this
proposal are other proposals such as the Virginia Tech Virtual Corporation:
Medical Imaging and other key research organizations such as the Mobile and
Portable Radio Research Group (MPRG) and the NSF Science
and Technology Center (NSF-STC) on
High Performance Polymeric Adhesives and Composites. Both of these organization
have established themselves as having purchased and used Sun workstations as an
integral part of their research and will participate in continuing this
relationship by supporting this proposal. Consistent with this proposal are the
University Research Computing Initiative and the University Phase II
Plans for both research and information systems
We propose to break the barriers in existing educational and research programs by
creating a distributed visual computing environment. This will require the
construction of a new SUN-VNI Scientific Modeling and Visualization
Classroom and an upgrade of the existing Sun Sparc workstations in the
Laboratory for Scientific Visual Analysis (LSDA). With these new and upgraded resources our
objective will be to create a distributed visual computing environment that when
combined with existing and proposed programs will stimulate the interplay between
instruction<->R&D<-> jobs as outlined in the University Research Computer
Initiative. This interplay will especially benefit our industrial partners that
are already associated with existing R&D programs both on- and off-campus. This
approach will also track nicely into the type of industrial partnerships that the
University is targeting for the proposed Advanced Communications and
Technology Center (ACITC). From an
earlier Sun Educational Grant , April 17, 1991, SUN donated $31,745* in equipment
and the NSF-STC purchased $45,402* (*educational discount included) for the
creation the Laboratory for Scientific Visual Analysis. Also over the last five
years Visual Numerics (formerly Precision Visuals and IMSL) has made generous
software gifts to the Laboratory for Scientific Visual Analysis in the form of
free PV-Wave visual data analysis software and free software maintenance and
support on all Unix workstations; estimated value of $55,000. With these
gifts we created a visual data analysis lab where over 80 educational and
research projects had the opportunity to explore the use of visual data analysis
tools. A summary of educational and research programs related to the Laboratory
for Scientific Visual Data Analysis are posted on the web at http://www.sv.vt.edu.
2. What We Learned
Much has changed since our initial efforts in 1991: the network and multimedia
authoring tools, although often seen as independent from visualization tools,
have proved to be invaluable links with visual data analysis tools. In several
case studies we have observed that the same visual tool that helped a researcher
discover a new property was also used to educate students in the classroom and
colleagues and sponsors at conferences using multimedia and network browsers.
From these experiences we observed a higher regard for using visual data analysis
tools, multimedia authoring tools and distributed network tools. Together these
tools have been used in numerous projects and from this experience we can define
our next step in the construction of a laboratory - classroom - office visual
computing environment that will span many disciplines across campus onto
individual researcher and educator desktop workstations.
Both SUN and VNI are world leaders in their respective areas
of creating distributed computing workstation environments and visual data
analysis tools respectively. With this expertise together with our own efforts
and experience at Virginia Tech we propose to create a classroom-laboratory that
will link with numerous laboratories and individual workstations across campus
that want to explore the use of Visual Data Analysis (VDA) tools in their
research and educational programs. With the emphasis of distributing resources
there will still be a need for a classroom and laboratory where the visual
computing community can gain access to resources not yet available in their own
laboratories and offices. The laboratory-classroom will eventually be located in
the proposed Advanced Communications and Information Technology Center (ACITC).
More specifically we propose to work closely with SUN and VNI in the development
and distribution of visualization and network-based software systems that will
facilitate access and distribution of hardware and software resources across
campus. Collaboration with the existing University Center for Human Computer
Interactions will allow us to work with SUN and VNI in the development of the
next generation of VDA and Web browser tools such as JAVA. The proposed
classroom-laboratory will be provide access and distribution of the latest Web
browser and VDA technology. Although some of this development will overlap with
the present NSF-Instructional Infrastructure Grant ($1.5M / 3 years) that will
develop new educational technology, additional programming development will
require funding for a full-time Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) to work
with SUN and VNI as partners in developing new educational based network and VDA
"tool kits". Existing Human Computer Interface funded projects would evaluate
the usability of these tools as "case studies".
To facilitate the link between existing visual computing resources in the
classroom-laboratory and other laboratories and individual desktop workstations
the University began the process of upgrading to an ATM campus network in spring
1995. This network can provide 155-Mbps links (OC-3) between existing parallel
computers on campus as well as individual workstations. We will also study the use
of MPI and PVM to link parallel computers across campus. Future plans call for a
state-wide ATM network that can encourage alliance interaction with industry,
government, and other academic institutions in Virginia.
4. Summary of Relevant Current Local Projects
Recently the University has acknowledged the growing interest in supporting on-
and off-campus activities in information technology by the creation of the
Human-Computer Interaction Center. When combined with the existing resouces of:
Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV),
(http://www.bev.net),
the
Human Computer Interface Resource Facilities, (http://pixel.cs.vt.edu/~rreaux
/hci/research/facility.html), the Laboratory for
Scientific Visual Analysis, (http://www.sv.vt.edu), the Multimedia Laboratory
(http://www.multimedia.vt.edu) and existing hardware resources (SGI-Power Challenge,
Intel Paragon, and IBM SP2), Virginia
Tech is in a unique position to form a partnership with SUN and VNI to distribute
educational network based and VDA "tool kits".
Virginia Tech is also a charter member of the Virginia/ICASE/Langley Program
in High Performance Computing and Communication (VILap-HPCC; see
http://www.cs.odu.edu/HPCC/hpcc.html). VILaP is a fellowship program
that supports students working towards the Ph.D. degree in Computer
Science or related disciplines, and whose dissertation topics include a
strong emphasis on applications of interest to NASA. The purpose of
the program is to enhance NASA's ability to conduct
computationally-intensive aspects of its research mission,
and to educate applied computer scientists capable of lifelong
contributions to "Grand Challenge" problems.
Existing NSF research programs that would participate in the SUN-VNI partnership are:
These courses, among others, can contribute to and benefit from the
partnership with SUN and VNI. Our long term plan is to organize some of these
courses into a minor in supercomputing, computer graphics, and computer
networking. Based on our industrial partners' needs, summer courses can be
included into the curriculum that will serve as specialized training and degree
programs for our industrial partners. This plan could be incorporated as a
component in the proposed Virtual Corporation Proposal mentioned earlier.
5. Planning Document for the Construction of the Proposed Classroom
A planning document for the proposed classroom has been posted on the web as an independent document where the details such as Rationale, Governance, and Examples of Classroom Usage are discussed.
6. Benefit to SUN and VNI
SUN: (Total purchases: $115,402, propose to develop network tool kits)
VNI: (Total purchases: $22,450 ($10,625 proposed), propose to develop VDA tools kits)
SUN & VNI:
7. Requested Equipment, Software, and GRA
8. Resumes of Principal Investigators
Christopher A. Beattie, Department of Mathematics
3. Proposed Visual Computing Distributed Environment
Existing educational course curricula that would contribute to this proposal are:
Total money spent by University: $186,477
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Equipment and 1/2 GRA (SUN):
Item No. Description of Articles Quantity Unit Price Amount
1.0 S20SX-71-32-P95: SPARC station 6 $ 12,177 $ 73,062
with the Solaris User Environment
Model 71 with One 75-MHz Super SPARC II
Processor, with 1-Mbyte Super Cache
SX 24-bit Color Accelerated Graphics and
Imaging Workstations 20-inch Color Monitor,
SX 4-Mbyte Frame Buffer, 32 Mbytes,
2.1-Gbyte Internal Fast SCSI-2-Disk
2.0 X164P: 64-Mbyte Memory Expansion 6 $ 2,490 $ 14,940
3.0 Type 5 Country Kits for U.S. 6 N/C N/C
and Canada Only UNIX X3540A
4.0 X578A: Sun CD 2Plus Internal CD-ROM 6 $ 240 $ 1,440
5.0 X560A: Internal 1.44-Mbyte Floppy Disk 6 $ 90 $ 540
Drive
6.0 ?????: SPARC ULTRA 1 2 $ ??,??? $ ??,???
?___________________________________?
?___________________________________?
?___________________________________?
Equipment Total: $ ??,???
Hardware Maintenance for 3 years: $ ??,???
Software Maintenance for 3 years: $ ??,???
Graduate Research Assistant for 1 year $ 9,000
SUN TOTAL: $ ___,___
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Software and 1/2 GRA (VNI):
Item No. Description of Articles Quantity Unit Price Amount
1.0 PV-Wave version 6.0 15 $ ??,??? $ ??,???
2.0 IMSL C-Fortran Subroutine Set 15 $ ??,??? $ ??,???
Software Support & Maintenance for 3 years: $ ??,???
Graduate Research Assistant for 1 year $ 9,000
VNI TOTAL: $ ___,___
Ronald D. Kriz, Departments of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Materials Science and Engineering
Calvin J. Ribbens, Department of Computer Science