Development of the Integrated Physics Data Miner

175 Development of the Integrated Physics Data Miner--Quantum Research Services, Inc., 5410 Apex Highway, Suite W, Durham, NC 27713-9434; (919) 544-4952 Dr. William L. Dunn, Principal Investigator Dr. Karen E.J. Dunn, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER82466 Amount: $75,000 High energy physics experiments based at national laboratories such as Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) are conducted by large collaborations of scientists distributed over many institutions; these experiments generate enormous amounts of data. Data management systems are required that manage not only the data but also meta-data, i.e., data about the data such as processing history and particle interactions. The compilation and processing of the meta-data often requires as much effort from the physicists performing the analysis as the processing of the event data. Further, the meta-data is often kept in separate databases and not readily available to others. This project will design and create a centralized intelligent database manager that integrates various databases to facilitate use by all the collaborators. The design and construction of this system will be closely coordinated with physicists working on Fermilab experiments. In Phase I, an in-depth analysis of the requirements and criteria for upcoming experiments will be undertaken. Also, new software languages, protocols, and tools will be reviewed. Finally, a preliminary version of an integrated physics data management system will be designed, in cooperation with the researchers. In Phase II, a portion of the system designed in Phase I will be constructed to assure that it interfaces properly with other parts of the system. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: An obvious benefit of the proposed research is use of the developed software by Fermilab collaboration members in their analysis of future experiments. However, other high energy experimental groups that deal with similar data volumes can also benefit from elements of the system design. In addition, the developed technology will have application to other data-intensive projects, such as management of data for geographic information systems, satellite imagery, and space exploration.