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Many numerical simulations and laboratory experiments produce large spatiotemporal data sets consisting of time snapshots of complex spatial structures.
These data sets are often animated in video format. SMARTS (Scientific Multimedia Analysis for Real Time Systems) is framework for organizing, comparing
and analyzing groups of such data sets in order to global issues such as how changes in experimental parameters affect behavior. The SMARTS
infrastructure is based on an object-oriented multimedia distribution layer (MDL) that provides an interface between distributed low-level databases and
high-level analysis functions, commercial tools and graphical user interfaces. The user can access SMARTS through a workspace model similar to that used
in MS Visual Studio. Key issues addressed by this system include complete preservation of computational history, organization into electronic notebooks
for support of publication, uniform access to commercial scientific tools, transparent access across systems and transparent archiving of data onto a
heterogeneous collection of media devices. This technical report gives an overview of SMARTS and serves as the working design document for its prototype. SMARTS is a framework designed specifically for but not restricted to the scientific analysis of spatiotemporal data sets. Although the standard interface tools used for entertainment and education are useful in this context, the framework described in this working paper emphasizes capabilities that help the user organize, analyze and classify groups of spatial-temporal data sets in a flexible manner. SMARTS supports exploration of structural similarities within collections of multimedia data sets. SMARTS also provides a platform for accessing other commercial tools in order to leverage the extensive visualization and analysis capacities of existing software, while placing an organizational structure on the results. SMARTS was motivated by problems encountered while analyzing real experimental data. Two experimental scientists, Michael Gorman and David Senseman, have been particularly influential in determining the requirements for such a system. Michael Gorman, a physicist at the University of Houston, has designed a combustion experiment that exhibits complex spatiotemporal behavior. The need for tools that facilitate online comparison of spatiotemporal data sets during parameter surveys was a motivation for this work. David Senseman, a biologist at the University of Texas at San Antonio produces movies of cortical activity that need to be analyzed and compared. The experiments provide important practical testing of the usefulness of these concepts. The initial formal design of SMARTS was done jointly by Kay Robbins and Todd Fichtemaier in a two-semester directed research project (Fall 1998 - Spring 1999). The design emphasized the object layer-infrastructure, its interaction with the underlying database and the support of logging to provide a complete audit trial for operations that were performed on the data. Implementation began in the Spring of 1999. Fernando Cano started working on the implementation in the Spring of 1999 and became the lead implementor for the Fall of 1999. He has contributed heavily to the design of the workspace and its interaction with the object layer. In the Spring of 2000, Brent Shumaker became the lead designer and worked through many of the implementation issues. Andrew Hudson and Jason Johnson joined the project as programmers at the beginning of Spring 2000. During the Spring of 2000, many details of the user interface were worked out. Andrew Hudson redesigned the views for creating type objects and other objects. Jason Johnson developed the database browser and object browser. Jeremy Stevens worked on serialization issues and data entry. Other students who have contributed to the implementation of SMARTS to date include Jian Kwan, Lea Leite, Keyin Tu and Qing Lai Jiang. Ray Hunley provided system support for the effort. The draft technical report discusses the SMARTS design. It is a work in progress.
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Draft Technical Report (PDF) - July, 2000 Design Overview (Presentation) - August, 1999 |
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National Science Foundation (ACI-9721348) Office of Naval Research (N00014-97-0029) |
| Kay A. Robbins | Web | (faculty, Project Leader) | |
| Fernando Cano | (undergraduate, Lead Designer Phase I) | ||
| Todd Fichtemaier | (graduate, Initial Design) | ||
| Andrew Hudson | (undergraduate, Programmer) | ||
| Ray Hunley | (graduate, System Support) | ||
| Qing Lai Jiang | (undergraduate, Video) | ||
| Jason Johnson | (undergraduate, Programmer) | ||
| Jian Kwan | (undergraduate, Programmer) | ||
| Lea Leite | (undergraduate, Matlab Prototypes) | ||
| Brent Shumaker | (graduate, Lead Designer Phase II) | ||
| Jeremy Stevens | (undergraduate, Programmer) | ||
| Keyin Tu | (graduate, Web Scripting) |