无缝式天文数据访问关键技术研究

Like nearly every other field of science, astronomy is now facing an exponential growth in the volume, complexity and even quality of data, both from actual measurements and from numerical simulations of processes and phenomena. This exponential growth is driven by the progress in information technology (IT), and consequently we see doubling of the information volume in astronomy every 12 – 18 months, with about 1 PB currently archived, and the data growth rate of ~ 2 TB/day for the astronomy worldwide. Data sets measured in tens of TB are now becoming common, and multi-PB data sets are on the horizon. Astronomers are facing a data deluge. Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery has been taken as the Fourth Paradigm for science. . The astronomical community has responded to these challenges with the concept of a Virtual Observatory (VO). When the concept of a "Virtual Observatory" (VO) was first discussed by future-looking astronomers in the mid-1990s, all thoughts were about distributed data and a common system to access it. But, information access on today''s web primarily works in the reverse: distributed tools accessing common data centers. Capability and ease-of-use improvements to the web typically now come in the form of nesting, aggregating or connecting tools. In the view of Seamless Astronomy, today''s "VO" should be thought of as the ever-improving set of data archives, tools, interconnections, and standards that strive to make astronomical research as "seamless" as travel research. An ever-increasing diversity of tools allows researchers to carry out a particular research task. However, most astronomers are largely unaware of these web-based tools, and instead still conduct online research in the same way they did a decade ago.. This project will research how to interconnect data archives and analyzing tools from both network and desktop in a seamless way, how to make the tools, their interconnections, and their connections to data resources useful and well-known to the astronomical community. Research topics mainly include uniform operation of local and network archives, massage passing between desktop tools and network services, collaboration of tools and services, resource and service discovery. Taking advantages of the above research progresses, give out a practical solution for seamless astronomical data access, and develop a prototype system to reconfirm the above research and to bring VO to astronomers in a seamless and transparent way.

天文学已经进入数据密集型时代，数据资源和分析工具日益丰富。虚拟天文台和信息技术的发展使得以互联网为载体的网络资源与服务百花齐放，这让天文学家有了更多的选择和个性化发展的空间，但同时也带来了选择过多、无从下手的困惑。本项目从数据的最终用户即天文学家的视角出发，研究如何无缝地访问本地和远程的服务和资源，在尽可能不改变天文学家现有研究方式和工作习惯的前提下把丰富的数据资源和先进的网络服务带给他们。针对天文数据的无缝式访问这一愿景所涉及的理论问题和关键技术开展研究，在网络数据与本地数据的无缝连接、本地软件与网络服务的连接、软件间的协同工作、资源与服务的发现等方面取得理论和技术上的突破，形成无缝式数据访问的解决方案，开发一套原型系统来验证这些研究成果。

项目组按照计划书中的研究计划，在广泛调研的基础上，针对天文数据的无缝式访问这一愿景所涉及的理论问题和关键技术开展研究，在网络数据与本地数据的无缝连接、本地软件与网络服务的连接、软件间的协同工作、资源与服务的发现等方面取得理论和技术上的突破，形成无缝式数据访问的解决方案，开发了一套原型系统FITS Manager来验证这些研究成果。.天文学已经进入数据密集型时代，数据资源和分析工具日益丰富。虚拟天文台和信息技术的发展使得以互联网为载体的网络资源与服务百花齐放，这让天文学家有了更多的选择和个性化发展的空间，但同时也带来了选择过多、无从下手的困惑。本项目从数据的最终用户即天文学家的视角出发，研究如何无缝地访问本地和远程的服务和资源，在尽可能不改变天文学家现有研究方式和工作习惯的前提下把丰富的数据资源和先进的网络服务带给他们。.项目执行期间，发表论文17篇，其中SCI论文3篇，EI论文1篇；获得软件著作权登记9个；培养博士研究生一名，硕士研究生一名。