CAREER: Middleware and Programming Technology for Grid Computing

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this research is therefore to develop modular middleware and programming technology to address these challenges of grid computing: decentralized coordination, resource optimization, and programmability. The project will pursue research in the following: (1) it will provide efficient highly-customizable (easily programmable) decentralized coordination of pervasive information and computational services and agents, (2) it will investigate the use of physical and computational agents that are heterogeneous, both in terms of computation and communication capabilities, (3) it will fully explore resource optimization techniques considering the dynamic nature of grid environments, in which nodes can arbitrarily join and leave, and (4) it will apply developed techniques and software to scientific problems in large-scale and open grid computing environments. The proposed middleware will achieve decentralized coordination through efficient peer-to-peer communication protocols, global resource optimization through work-stealing and static and dynamic program analyses, and programmability through highly expressive programming and coordination abstractions and enabling easier and more effective applicability of grid computing technology to solve complex scientific problems executing on scalable high-performance computing or grid computing environments. The project also includes a comprehensive integrated education and outreach plan, such as the development of a special exhibit at the Troy Junior Museum to introduce high-performance computing to pre-college students from a largely low-income minority community, and the creation of a hands-on laboratory for grid computing, open source software development efforts, and curricular development of undergraduate and graduate courses on distributed computing over the Internet.