Software and Communication Platforms for High-Performance Collaborative Grid

Planned activities

• Work Package 1 – Hardware and software platforms
  • 1.A) Infrastructure level: Next generation optical network
    • 1.1 A) Traffic engineering and resilience in IP/MPLS networks over WDM networks.
      We will investigate resilience algorithms that chooses the layer at which disrupted connections are restored by stochastically choosing not only the restoration path but also the granularity of the restoration LSPs (RLSPs) utilized for recovering the failed connections.
    • 1.2 A) Control plane integration of IP/MPLS access/metro network with core WDM networks.
      We will study the actual implementations of new network functions that handle generalized Label Switched Path (GLSP). The network operations that we plan to investigate for unified management under GMPLS umbrella are: adjacency discovery, integrated protection/restoration in case of failure; add/drop and pass-through of GLSP, routing of GLSP.
    • 1.3 A) End-to-end support of QoS.
      The main challenging features of the access/metro/core network integration will be evaluated and analysed. It is interesting to see how to efficiently interface virtual circuit carrying traffic belonging to the same FEC (Forwarding Equivalence class) can be granted the same QoS throught different network segments in a transparent way.
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    1.B) Application level: Real-time collaborative e-learning environments
    • 1.1 B) Computer-supported virtual environments for collaborative learning.
      At the application level, bandwidth-demanding e-learning environments will be concurrently designed and implemented: i- Information Design, ii- Interaction Design, iii- Presentation (Visual) Design, iv- Implementation.
    • 1.2 B) Vision-based perceptive interfaces for natural interaction with learning environments - Explicit communication.
      Gesture recognition will be exploited for the identification of both static and dynamic hand gestures, integrated in a prototype e-learning system. In choosing the kinds of gestures, we will pay special attention to their “intuitiveness”, as we strongly think that VBIs are best exploited when they are used in addition to ordinary input devices (keyboard and mouse), non instead of them.
    • 1.3 B) Vision-based perceptive interfaces for natural interaction with learning environments - Implicit communication.
      Implicit communication will include expression recognition and classification of user “activities”: i- expression recognition will be employed to try to interpret the user’s “emotional status”; ii- classification of users’ “activities” will be exploited to understand (and possibly anticipate) their behaviours and acting accordingly.
    • 1.4 B) Other bandwidth-demanding applications.
      All the application platforms will contribute serving to the authorized users a set of tools that will make easier to work with remote colleagues, setup teaching lessons, learn and evaluate. The platforms to be developed include the following: i- e-Learning (Standard Conception); ii- Multimedia Document Management; iii- Knowledge Management; iv- Voice Over IP; v- On Line Collaboration.
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    1.C) Application level: Adaptive QoS. A self-sustained task at the application level is the exploitation of the availability of the coding and transmission standards of scalable options to provide compatibility among terminals and heterogeneous network segments.
    • 1.1 C) Analysis of the current multimedia collaborative standards.
      In a distributed environment, extension to multipoint communications where each point contributes a separate flow is to consider of potential interest and thus the framework of the standard could be enlarged to support these type of communications, providing tools for augmented reality in remote collaborative work.
    • 1.2 C) Scalability and multiple description.
      Modern video standards provide several ways to split a single stream into several layers. These may be used to provide different levels of details and in some cases routed in different ways. This structure may impact the way this type of traffic is handled within the network eventually assigning different priorities to the different sub-streams.
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    1.D) Device level
    • 1.1 D) Photo refractive effect.
      A part of the activity will be devoted to analyse the photo refractive effect in lithium niobate crystals, and to evaluate possible techniques to reduce the impairments it causes. Actually the non-linear applications of lithium niobate are restricted to laboratory experiments, because the only viable way to avoid the photo refractive damage is to keep the crystal at temperatures higher then 100°C, resulting in a significant deterrent in-field applications.
    • 1.2 D) Micro-structured fibres.
      Another part of the activity will be dedicated to analyse the non-linear properties of micro-structured fibres. Those fibres have the peculiarity to allow a strong control on both the effective area of the fibre and the dispersion curve they show. This could allow obtaining high control on the non-linear effects taking place along the fibre, that could thus be employed to perform signal management, at a purely optical level.
  
  
  
• Work Package 2 – Integration and assessment of solutions
  • 2.A) Infrastructure level: Assessment of networking solutions
    • We plan to set-up a simple ring network. The OADM, i.e. the node of the ring, is a switching element in a optical WDM network that establishes optical channels by sending a packet data stream on a tributary port onto a wavelength whose packets are collected only by the proper destination.
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    2.B) Application level: Assessment of software solutions
    • At the application level, bandwidth-demanding e-learning environments will be tested and eventually re-designed. In particular, controlled experiments in virtual and real classrooms will be undertaken, in a cyclical process of application platform test/re-design considering: i- Multidimensional virtual environments; ii- Vision-based perceptive interfaces; iii- Multimedia Document Management; iv- Knowledge Management; v- Voice Over IP; vi- On Line Collaboration; vii- e-learning.
  
  
  
• Work Package 3 – Joint experiments within the distributed laboratory
  • 3.1) Distance learning platforms
    • The main goal of this demonstration research line is the realisation of an Integrated Learning System that allows students and instructors, located in geographically dispersed areas, to access technological resources, such as sophisticated laboratory equipment, measurement devices and, in general, complex test systems, through a scalable networking infrastructure and a number of supporting multimedia technologies.
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    3.2) Remote measurements platforms
    • This research line is aimed at investigating the problems connected with the remote multi-party access to real laboratory environments and finding innovative and efficient operative solutions concerning: i- protocols to gain access to and control of specific laboratory instrumentation; ii- graphical user interfaces; iii- middleware architectures for the integration of multi-vendor domains; iv- providing increased and more efficient services to the final users.
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    3.3) Joint working platforms
    • The main objective of this research line is the realization of a software distributed environment for the synchronous sharing of applications among remote and mobile users allowing the use of heterogeneous hardware using different operating systems and different kind of communication systems. The project aims to promote new methods of work based on a seamless integration of new technologies and infrastructure, as it will support efficient synchronous collaborative work between virtual teams in a dynamic networked environment.