Odysseus

Background and Challenge

The Global Workplace requires the facility for many users to pool their research findings or day’s output into a shared repository. This is similar to the scenario where sensor networks generate data and automatically transmit data to some receiving source. However, two problems exist with this type of work scenario. Firstly, there is the problem of interoperability where data emerging from workers or sensors is heterogeneous and cannot be integrated. Secondly, as new workers or sensors come online, the system needs to be modified to allow them to participate. At the very least, some form of interface software must be constructed.

Solution

One solution is treat all data or output as an XML stream and thus, resolve the problem of heterogeneity. However, XML data is very large compared to raw sensor data and this will require the repository to have a novel architecture to cope with large data volumes. This requires the development of a Peer-to-Peer XML Information System to handle issues regarding scale and volumes of data. The final step is to provide a template approach to user/sensor participation in the workplace in order that new users and sensors may come online without any affect on the system itself.

Research and Development

The researcher will be required to use an existing Peer-to-Peer implementation to build services to facilitate the Global Workplace. Specifically, this will involve a metadata service to provide genericity for workers and sensors by creating templates for participants and building the system to automatically create XML output for each participant. Additionally, it will be necessary to run a serious of experiments to determine where problems lie in terms of speed and processing of queries.

Supervisors and Mentors:
Dr. Mark Roantree