Supercomputing in the Palm of Your Hand - November 2006
Understanding the next generation problems in computational science and engineering requires access to increasingly sophisticated supercomputing and visualization resources. Traditionally the researcher has had to be based at desk-based computer terminals or workstations with powerful 3D graphics capabilities.
The innovation to be demonstrated by the author at presentations in 2006 by Britain’s early stage research engineers relates to a significant breakthrough that has been achieved in the UK e-Science RealityGrid project (www.realitygrid.org); one of six original UK pilot projects funded by the EPSRC e-Science Core Programme.
The author has engineered a revolutionary mobile user interface that empowers the researcher to interact with computer simulations and 3D visualizations (running on remote supercomputers) via a wireless PDA or mobile phone. Whilst it is recognised that PDAs and mobile phones have extremely limited compute, graphics and memory capability, this truly groundbreaking innovation in systems engineering has been able to overcome these serious limitations. The system can present complex, interactive 3D graphics in real-time on a handheld device (Refer to figure). This is probably the first time this has been achieved in the world.
This groundbreaking ‘world first’ innovation in systems engineering has overcome the serious hardware limitations of PDAs and mobile phones to present complex, interactive 3D graphics in real-time on a wireless handheld device.
A second and equally important aspect of this innovation is the way it allows the researcher to access and interact with their data whenever they want (24/7) and wherever they may be. The teams of computational chemists within the RealityGrid project expressed a particular desire, and current lack of support, to be able to interact with supercomputing applications outside of working hours and away from their ‘desk’ environments. They have since been amazed by what has been achieved through this mobile front-end; claiming it was almost as if having a supercomputer in the palm of your hand.
Following successful demonstrations of this innovation, both at the UK e-Science All Hands Meeting (www.allhands.org.uk) which was held from the 18th – 21st September 2006 in Nottingham and at a meeting of the DaVinci Health Technology Innovation Network (www.davinci-net.org) which was held on 13th June 2006 at Loughborough University, it became clear from feedback that there was a considerable, commercial interest in expanding this groundbreaking technology into the clinical domain.
The author has recently become involved in a collaborative endeavour with the local NHS Trust Glenfield hospital in Leicestershire. Following the considerable success of this groundbreaking mobile innovation within the RealityGrid project, it will shortly be enabling surgeons and medical consultants, as well as other clinical professionals, to interact (securely via a remotely connected PDA or mobile phone) with volumetric 3D visualisations of MRI and CT cardiac data. The data will be scanned and visualised as normal on the hospital site, but will become readily accessible to health professionals in ways that have never been possible until now.
I. R. Holmes, Research School of Systems Engineering