Newly developed middleware gives engineers desktop access to the power of the grid

A new breakthrough in software integration is giving increased computing power to aerospace engineers as a result of a successful joint programme between BAE Systems, EADS Innovation Works, IT Innovation and the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Sankt Augustin/Paris/Bristol. A new breakthrough in software integration is
giving increased computing power to aerospace engineers as a result of a
successful joint programme between BAE Systems, EADS Innovation Works,
IT Innovation and the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of
Southampton.

The successful integration of IT Innovation’s GRIA middleware into
commercial off the shelf problem solving environments (PSEs) is part of the
SIMDAT project, a European Commission funded programme. The solution
allows aerospace engineers to solve complex design problems by drawing
on computing power from IT assets from across a computing Grid.

“The system is so effective that the engineer wouldn’t know whether the
service is being provided by a Grid site or their local IT,” says Michael
Turner of BAE Systems, Advanced Technology Centre, “Organisations will no
longer have to change their tools and processes to take advantage of
computing Grids”.

As well as integrating the middleware with PSE’s the companies have
validated an approach for interoperation between different workflow tools.
This now means engineers from different organisations can continue using
existing workflow tools and models and still share data with colleagues in
other organisations who may be using different tools.

Guillaume Alleon from EADS Innovation Works comments, ”With these tools,
we are creating faster processes that are capturing our knowledge and
allowing greater collaboration between different groups dispersed all over
the world.”

In addition to linking visual workflow tools the University of Southampton
has integrated GRIA into MATLAB, a numerical computing environment and
programming language. This allows them to combine the University’s
OPTIONS optimisation toolkit with analysis services offered by BAE Systems
and EADS Innovation Works enabling product design and optimisation in
multiple locations and enhancing the functionality of MATLAB.

Using the combination of services provided by GRIA, which includes job
and data services, accounting tools and a registry system, the aerospace
partners have established a virtual organisation, using traditional project
management structures, operated from sites located across Europe.

The virtual organisation allows the prime contractor to manage the
programme and supply chain using components from across the SIMDAT
technology portfolio.

“Building our virtual organisation using GRIA allows us as prime contractor
to manage the access our partners and suppliers have to our data and
resources in a manageable but dynamic fashion, enabling the effective
management of multinational projects,” continues Michael Turner.


SIMDAT has received research funding of the European Commission under
the Information Society Technologies Programme (IST), contract number
IST-2004-511438. Maximum Community contribution to project: 11 Mio
Euro, Project start: 1 September 2004, Duration: 48 months, Partners
involved: 27. The project is co-ordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute SCAI
in Sankt Augustin, Germany.

Countries

Germany