Visualizing data cubes on the grid

摘要

The Distributed Volume Renderer (DVR) is a tool for visualizing data cubes by making them selectively transparent. DVR runs best on clusters of computers when memory and CPU power is plentiful. AstroGrid and the Australian Virtual Observatory have built a grid of services to allow users of DVR remote access to computer clusters running DVR, and to data archives. Our system is built using OGSI-compliant grid services, accessed via a web portal. We find that the basic concepts of the grid - services as commodities, registries of services, controlled access to remote computers - enhance the system; but the specific grid technology used is awkward and makes development slow and error-prone.