Contact: Bob Ratliff
Mississippi State University scientists are exploring ways to get maximum benefits from computer-generated mathematical simulations of everything from high technology equipment to developing weather patterns.
MSU's National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center and Troy, N.Y.-based Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute recently received a $1.27 million NSF grant to develop a prototype system called EVITA to visualize large-scale datasets.
The MSU/ERC specializes in computational field simulation and is listed among the top 500 super-computing sites in the world.
Formally titled Efficient Visualization and Interrogation of Terascale Datasets, the three-year joint project is among only eight of 91 selected for funding this year through NSF's Large Scientific and Software Dataset Visualization Program.
"Today's high-speed supercomputers can be used to simulate anything from the performance of a nuclear submarine to movement of a developing hurricane," said EVITA team member and ERC research engineer David Thompson. "Thoroughly interpreting the billions of bits of data generated by those simulations, however, remains difficult and can take hundreds of computer and man hours."
Analysis of weather data and naval vessel performance are specific areas getting the focus of the MSU scientists.
EVITA's goal is to rank the data generated by a simulation, then make them available in a compressed form, according to project design engineer James Fowler.
"EVITA will allow a user to browse through an enormous dataset and identify interesting areas for additional analysis," the assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering said.
"This is a key technology area," Thompson added. "As computers become more powerful and are able to do larger-scale simulations, there will be more need for this technology."
In addition to Thompson and Fowler, the Mississippi State EVITA team includes aerospace engineering professor Bharat Soni and assistant professor of computer science Raghu Machiraju.