LLNL, Livermore
NIF is the world's largest and most energetic laser experimental system, providing a scientific center to study inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and matter at extreme energy densities and pressures. This presentation discusses the design, architecture, and implementation of the NIF Data Repository (NDR), which provides for the capture and long-term digital storage of peta-scale datasets produced by conducting experimental campaigns. The NDR is a federated database that provides for the capture of: experimental campaign plans, machine configuration & calibration data, raw experimental results and the processed results produced by scientific workflows. The NDR provides for metadata, pedigree, quality, effectivity, versioning and access control for each of the data categories. A critical capability of the NDR is its extensive data provisioning capabilities and protocols that enable scientists, local and remote alike, to review the results of analysis produced by the NDR's analysis pipeline or to download datasets for offline analysis. The NDR provides for the capture of these locally-produced analysis results to enable both peer review and follow-on automated analysis.
LLNL, Livermore, California
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a 192-beam 1.8 MJ ultraviolet laser system designed to support high-energy-density science, including demonstration of inertial confinement fusion ignition. After each target shot lasting ~20 ns, scientists require data acquisition, analysis, and display within 30 minutes from more than 20 specialized high-speed diagnostic instruments. These diagnostics measure critical x-ray, optical, and nuclear phenomena during target burn to quantify ignition results that are compared to computational models. All diagnostic data (hundreds of Gbytes) are automatically transferred to an Oracle database that triggers the NIF Shot Data Analysis (SDA) Engine, which distributes the signal and image processing tasks to a Linux cluster. The SDA Engine integrates commercial workflow tools and messaging technologies into a scientific software architecture that is highly parallel, scalable, and flexible. Results are archived in the database for scientist approval and displayed using a web-based tool. The unique architecture and functionality of the SDA Engine will be presented along with examples.
