NRC/CISTI%20April%2030,%202003

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NRC/CISTIApril 30, 2003
PART III
Western Canada Research Computing Grid
Presentation to
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The Vision
LEGEND
Grid Storage
Scientific Visualization
Advanced Collaboration
Computational Resources
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Computational Facilities

• High Performance Computing
• Large shared memory system (256cpu
  SMMP)
• Cluster of multi-processors
  (144cpu CluMP)
• Commodity Cluster (1500cpu)
• Distributed storage (25TB75TB)
• Local and centralized
• Test storage wide area networks
• Collaborative Environments
• GridRooms GridStations, AccessGrid,
  Grid_Collaboration and visualization

flexible acquisition strategies
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The challenge

• Many Research Teams with Diverse Needs
• Computer science, Chemistry, Earth and Ocean
  science, Engineering, Life sciences, Mathematics,
  Physics, Visualization Remote Collaboration
• SMMP, CluMP, Cluster (capacity vs capability
  computing)
• Rapidly Changing Environment
• Growing changing demand (new media,
  biocomputing)
• Changing HPC Solutions (distributed storage,
  heterogeneous grid)
• Increasing need for enhanced collaboration tools
• Individual institutions cannot meet these needs

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Computational Design of Catalysts (Ziegler)

• Design of transition metal catalysts that can
  transform hydrocarbons, olefins, O2 and N2 into
  valuable chemicals and new materials.
• WestGrid facilities will allow a major step
  forward with the inclusion of all factors into
  the simulation (solvent, dynamics and steric
  bulk)
• Example Polymerization of olefin to produce
  plastics with different structures and
  properties.

Olefin Polymeriztion
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Subatomic Physics (Vetterli, Rodning, )

• The goal of Subatomic Physics is to identify
  the building blocks of Matter and to determine
  their interactions.
• Explosion of data from new experiments at TRIUMF
  abroad ? x10 increase in computing storage.

Example TWIST

• Search for new physics Beyond the Standard
  Model
• State-of-the-art measurement of the decay
  parameters of the muon
• 70 Terabytes/year of data 20 Terabytes/year of
  simulations 125 cpus for analysis simulation

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Black Hole Collisions (Choptuik)
Research Accurate simulation of the
gravitational wave signals produced by colliding
black holes. Such signals are apt to be
detected in the near future by gravitational wave
detectors such as LIGO.
Example The animation shows the head-on
collision of two equal-mass black holes which
are formed from the gravitational collapse of
blobs of matter early on in the simulation.
Realistic case requires an increase in cpu
power by orders of magnitude
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Optimal Multiple Sequence Alignment (Schaeffer)

• Research
• Analysis of proteins in a cell can identify
  similarities and differences among species
• Heuristic methods approximate a good alignment
  for multiple DNA sequences, such as 10 sequences
  with 1000 base pairs which requires 1030
  computations
• Biologists are interested in longer sequences
• HPC Requirements
• The program is memory intensive and most
  effective on a parallel, shared memory computer

Now testing the program for a variety of
researchers, including Torontos Sick Childrens
Hospital
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Internet Modeling Design (Unger)

• Research
• parallel distributed simulation on SMP, MIMD,
• simulation emulation of advanced internets
• HPC requirements
• spectrum of multiprocessor platform architectures
• exclusive access to small through very large HPC
  platforms is required an average of 4 hours per
  week
• Evidence of research significance
• Total research funding over the past 5 years
  1.4M with 520,000 in cash from industry
• ASTECH Award for "Innovation in Science
  Technology
• Spinout company "Jade Simulations International"

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Internet Modeling Design (Unger)

• Research
• parallel distributed simulation on shared and
  distributed memory
• simulation emulation of advanced internets
• HPC requirements
• spectrum of multiprocessor platform architectures
• exclusive access to small through very large HPC
  platforms is required an average of 4 hours/week

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UofA Immersive Virtual Meeting (Boulanger)
Goal create a general human-machine interface
allowing engineers and scientists to communicate
their design and visualize remote data, producing
the equivalent of a virtual meeting place.
Live Stereo Texture and sound
Virtual Actuators
Collaborative Object And Data Manipulations and
Interactions
CAD Model or Scientific Data
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The WestGrid Solution ( May
8 Launch)

• Working together 8 institutions, 2 provinces,
  250 faculty researchers
• Institutional commitments cash, infrastructure
  and high level support staff
• Contributions by industry (28m CFI/Prov 20m
  Ind.)
• Complementary and cost-effective resources
• Researchers supported by collaboration,
  visualization and highly qualified personnel
• Build on a strong track record of sharing,
  resource utilization and project management

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Grid Infrastructure

• Uniform access to HPC resources
• single sign-on, common submission interface
• system wide accounting
• distributed computing
• Uniform access to data
• support file-catalogues and GridFTP
• Common grid infrastructure
• consistent environment supporting
  grid-applications and application portals
• e.g., Abacus, Gaussian, Matlab, Maple, ADF,

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Summary

• Leadership
• Collaboration
• Outstanding research and researchers
• Attract, retain and train HQP
• Unique regional facility with Grid Infrastructure
• Cost-effective shared facilities
• Comprehensive, diversified, and adaptable

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The Vision
LEGEND
Grid Storage
Scientific Visualization
Advanced Collaboration
Computational Resources
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Management
Governing Council
Executive Committee
Management Committee
Management Committee
Management Committee
. . .
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MACI Achievements

• Richard Levy (UofC) - Virtual Reconstruction of
  Historical Monuments a case study highlighting
  the potential uses of computer visualization as a
  tool in heritage resource management. (SiggGraph
  2001 Animation Festival)
• Robert Rankin (UofA) is a specialist in space
  physics, and one of the heads of the universitys
  Space Weather Program. He is the driving force
  behind magnetic storm research in Canada and
  works extensively with the Canadian Space Agency.
• Keramat Ali (UofL) new approaches in dynamics,
  classical and quantum, to broaden the efficiency
  scope of artificial recurrent neural
  networks. These networks are unavoidable
  necessary in real biological systems.
• Robert Hayes (UofA) in collaboration with
  industry, new design methodologies for automotive
  catalytic converters.  Spearheading what has
  become the most advanced research group in the
  world in this area.
• Arturo Sanchez (UofA) tropical dry forest
  management and environmental preservation in
  response to the impacts of free trade and
  globalization in Latin America. MACI computers
  provide the capacity needed to host this
  biodiversity database and myriad of GIS mapping
  images

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Virtual Reconstruction of Historical Monuments
(Levy)
Dr Richard Levy is leading the development of
3D computer visualizations in urban planning. 
Simulating the reconstruction of urban sites
through high performance computer visualizations,
Dr Levy has been able to successfully reconstruct
the twelfth century temple site of Phimai,
Thailand. A case study highlighting the
potential uses of computer visualization as a
tool in heritage resource management.
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Leadership in HQP

• Attracting and retaining high-quality faculty,
  postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and
  support staff
• Training HQP for the knowledge-based economy
• Supplying HQP to Canadian industry
• A world first --- top 50 private GigE network
• In production use by July, 2003