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Networked Computing for the 21st Century
Netamorphosis |
 
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Overview
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On March 11-13, 1998, Congressional representatives, administration officials, and the general public had an opportunity to view the future of the Internet firsthand at "Netamorphosis," a demonstration of technologies and applications being developed by the Federal NGI R&D initiative. In cooperation with Highway 1 and the High Performance Computing and Communications Consortium, representatives from the White House, seven Federal agencies, academia, and industry showed members of Congress how further development of Internet technologies will lead to advancements in healthcare, the environment, manufacturing, defense, and education. The demonstrations were mounted by the agency members of the LSN Working Group -- DARPA, DOE, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, NSA, NSF, and VA. Support and technical contributions were also provided by Bell Atlantic, Cisco, Highway1, IBM, Internet2/University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), and MCI. 
Senator Bob Kerrey (D-Nebraska) discusses the Netamorphosis
demonstrations with Presidential Advisory Committee Co-Chairs Bill Joy
(Sun Microsystems) and Ken Kennedy (Rice University).
Netamorphosis demonstrations were made possible by a state-of-the-art networking systems including NSF's vBNS and DARPA's ATDnet. However, all demonstrated applications require further advancements in networking technologies to make them fully functional, widely available, and affordable. Demonstrations included: |
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ARPS
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Researchers at the University of Oklahoma, with Federal funding from NSF, NOAA, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), demonstrated a prototype numerical weather prediction system developed to forecast intense small-scale spring and winter storms up to several hours in advance. In some cases, the system can pinpoint their locations within one or two counties. "This new technology has the potential to save lives and millions of dollars in weather-related revenues lost each year in commercial aviation, agriculture, surface transportation, power and communications utilities, and recreation," said Kelvin Droegemeier, Director of the University of Oklahoma center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS), and one of the demonstration's participants. "In forecasting, speed is the name of the game. Unfortunately, current limited network capacities prevent CAPS from providing all available data to forecasters and other end-users in a timely manner. We need about a factor of 100 more bandwidth, and it is just not available right now. This is where the NGI Initiative will provide a valuable service," said Droegemeier. Other Netamorphosis demonstrations included: |
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Automating the construction site
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TETRA, a versatile robotic crane, is one of several experimental technologies being investigated at NIST's new National Construction Automation Testbed (NCAT). These technologies will be used in developing standards for wireless tracking, positioning, and control of machines at construction sites and for supporting interactive construction management systems. At NCAT, researchers are developing an infrastructure for modeling, simulating, and automating dangerous or error-prone construction tasks; remote site-management; and up-to-the-moment access to all site-related information, from architectural designs, to subcontractor schedules, to the status of machinery. Anticipated benefits include improvements in safety, productivity, and quality.
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Cave5d
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Cave5D uses atmospheric and oceanographic data to create interactive virtual reality simulations of wide area environments such as the Chesapeake Bay. Simulations are viewed in 3-D on the ImmersaDesk. Researchers study the effects of physical phenomena such as wind, rain, and chemical pollutants on ecosystem behavior. For example, simulations can help scientists and environmental and fisheries managers forecast the likely path of an oil spill and analyze how winds and tides affect distributions of larval fish.
Demonstration of virtual reality simulation of wide area environments
such as the Chesapeake Bay environment using the Cave5D ImmersaDesk.
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Collaboratory for Drug Design
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A prototype collaborative environment for carrying out interactive 3-D studies of molecular structure among scientists at distant locations. The collaboratory is used for drug design, protein engineering, biomaterials design and fabrication, and bioremediation.
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Earth data from satellite to desktop
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With the Distributed Image SpreadSheet (DISS), scientists working at their own desks visualize, manipulate, and analyze massive amounts of data collected by Earth Observing System satellites and stored at specialized archive centers around the country. The current version of the DISS, available to researchers for evaluation, enables the analysis of large amounts of data produced by next generation satellite systems.
High performance connections between data repositories and the
scientists' desktops are critical to remote visualization. NREN and the
Distributed Image SpreadSheet allowed scientists to visualize, analyze,
and manipulate years of Earth Observing Satellite data at their
desktops. Pictured is an image of Hurricane Linda.
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Echocardiography over the NGI
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Interactive echocardiography generates full-motion video of cardiac structure and cardiovascular blood flow and delivers these images in real-time to physicians in remote locations. It is being used at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, satellite facilities in Ohio and Florida, and the clinic's outpatient labs. Echocardiographs are transmitted from the cardiac operating room to locations where cardiologists provide guidance even when they are not physically present in the operating room. Echocardiography images are also relayed from satellite facilities to the main facility for diagnosis. Remote echocardiography will be critical for the future international space station, in battlefield conditions, and in medically underserved areas around the world.
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Exploring Earth System on Second Web
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This environment for exploring the Earth system uses new 3-D Web technologies to teleport viewers into high-resolution, stereo/3-D explorations of tropical storms, forest fires, clear air turbulence, cyclones, and El Niño. Researchers and educators create and share Earth system data to study patterns and behaviors behind naturally-occurring and sometimes dangerous phenomena.
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News-on-Demand
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Informedia News-on-Demand provides "full content" search and retrieval from broadcast TV and radio news. Present applications include digital video library access for K-12 education and evaluation prototypes at DARPA and NSA.
Explanatory posters (left) were displayed for each demo, highlighting
the application, its NGI technology requirements, and sponsoring
institutions or agencies.
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Interactive video dialogues
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These multimedia voice-controlled scenarios engage users and video characters in face-to-face dialogues concerning realistic, dramatic situations using the IDI (Interactive Drama Inc.) Defense Language Institute's Conversim interface software. Interactive video dialogues have a wide range of training and education uses, from combat casualty triage training, to information kiosks, to language training. For example, military linguists located anywhere in the world can sustain language proficiency by routinely talking in virtual dialogue with native speakers.
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MAGIC
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The MAGIC information system allows interactive viewing of large geographic areas in 3-D by retrieving and merging massive volumes of remotely located data, including aerial and satellite imagery, and data describing topography, weather, buildings, and other objects. MAGIC is applicable to military personnel planning a mission or assessing battle damage, emergency teams fighting a forest fire or organizing hurricane relief efforts, and environmental workers evaluating flood conditions.
The MAGIC information system (left) demonstrated interactive viewing of
large geographic areas in 3-D by retrieving and merging massive volumes
of remotely located data.
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MMC
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The MMC, linking five national research facilities, allows scientists and researchers to use state-of-the-art instruments to study the structure and composition of metals, ceramics, and alloys, and to conduct basic and applied research in materials science -- especially strength and fracture toughness, corrosion and wear resistance, critical fields and transport current in superconductors, electronic and magnetic properties of metallic alloys, ceramics, semiconductors, artificially layered superlattices, and the properties of catalysts and engineered materials.
Setting up the camera for the MMC collaboratory demonstration. The MMC
allows scientists and researchers to use state-of-the-art instruments to
study the structure and composition of materials.
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Nanotechnology research
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The Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) can measure and manipulate atomic structures (measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter), whose images have been magnified to a workable human scale. The Field Ion Microscope is used to shape the STM's probe, or tip, so it can accurately measure these structures. Manufacturing researchers use the STM and its close relative, the Atomic Force Microscope, as quality control tools for developing standard measurements of small-scale products and their component parts, such as computer chips and their circuitry.
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Octahedral hexapod
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The hexapod is an innovative experimental metal-cutting machine tool with the potential to deliver an unprecedented combination of versatility, speed, accuracy, and portability. Industry and university researchers are working with NIST to investigate the hexapod's potential performance advantages, from lower production costs to faster methods for making parts, molds, and dies.
NIST exhibitors demonstrated real-time control and interaction of the
octahedral hexapod.
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Real-time functional MRI
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The "brain in action" allows remote viewing of brain activity while a patient is performing cognitive or sensory-motor tasks. Neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, and brain scientists investigate brain function to diagnose and treat brain diseases. This application will enable neurosurgeons to develop surgical plans for removing a tumor based on an understanding of the cognitive and sensory-motor abilities located near the tumor site.
Michael Ackerman of NIH/NLM outlines how biomedical research
applications and healthcare will benefit from developing NGI
technologies.
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Security technology
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A NIST prototype of Internet security protocol technology created a secure virtual private network, over the commercial Internet, for the telerobotic control data being transmitted between the Highway 1 demonstration site and the NIST campus. More than 60 commercial vendors of Internet technology, Internet service providers, universities, and Federal laboratories use this technology as a basis for further research into Internet security and as a reference from which to build and test commercial products.
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SF Express
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SF Express is a military training tool that integrates data on weather; terrain; land, sea, and air assets; and other strategic factors to create simulated battle environments. DoD personnel will create realistic distributed synthetic environments for training and mission rehearsal.
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Visible Human Project
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The project has produced a digital image library of normal male and female human anatomy, combining CT, MR, and digital anatomical images that allow the creation of 3-D renderings of any part of the human body. This library serves as a common reference point for studying human anatomy, as a source for common public domain data for testing medical imaging algorithms, and as a testbed and model for constructing other network-accessible image libraries. Physicians, educators, artists, mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and industry researchers incorporate Visible Human data into applications ranging from virtual reality surgical simulations and crash simulation models to kindergarten curricula and multimedia artwork.
The Visible Human Project has produced a highly-detailed digital image
library of normal male and female anatomy. Images can be accessed for
testing medical imaging algorithms, and as an atlas of the human body by
healthcare researchers and users. Such uses require the high bandwidth
and data security and integrity that are a major focus of NGI R&D
efforts.
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