Research and Development
Scientific Profile
In addition to the IT services for the HZDR and the HGF, the Department of Information Services and Computing (FWC) is driving a number of research and development topics in a variety of research areas.
Embedding into Helmholtz Funded Research
In the current period of program-oriented funding from the HGF, the central department is involved in the “Data Management and Analysis” topic of the research program "Matter & Technologies". We contribute our experiences in the areas of research data management, high performance computing and artificial intelligence.
Research Data Management
HZDR operates multiple research infrastructures and as such also has the responsibility for the data generated by those experiments. We develop solutions in these areas as internal projects but also as part of national and international collaborations.
Project parts are:
- Set up of the publication platform RODARE(1) that enables publication of primary and secondary data, software and documents
- Development of a central data management platform for data that is currently analyzed
- Attaching all relevant meta data sources, so that data sets are automatically publishable from the very beginning in the data chain
- Support in the establishment of a central laboratory information management system and central log books for our experiment owners and users
Third-party funding of these activities
- EVERSE(2) (EU)
- LEAPS-INNOV (EU)(3)
- InvenioRDM(4)
- HELIPORT(5) (HGF)
- HERMES(6) (HGF)
- ExPANDS(7) (EU, concluded)
- RDMatDB(8) (BMBF, concluded)
Machine Learning / Parallel SImulations
The Department of Information Services and Computing (FWC) supports scientists in generating, using and optimizing computational simulations of complex physical phenomena. A special fiels of expertise is in the area of many-core computing (e.g. GPUs or Intel Xeon Phis). The current focus areas are:
- A Helmholtz AI(9) Local Unit has been established at the HZDR to support the scientists of the research field Matter in in the application of artificial intelligence. It consists of a Young Investigator Group headed by Dr. Jeffrey Kelling and a Helmholtz AI Consultant Team(10) headed by Dr. Peter Steinbach.
- Co-development of software in the vicinity of PIConGPU(11)
- Optimization of ultra-fast CT reconstruction for the ROFEX(12) Detector
- Dynamic analysis of laser beam profiles in laser driven particle accelerators(13) to mitigate impeding damage to the laser optics
- Combining multiple methods for determining the molecular structures(14) in a liquid solution via a web application
- Analysis and optimization of the runtime behavior of (parallel) applications used at HZDR (e.g. OpenFOAM)
Software Development
FWC operates a competence cluster for software development(15) services within the framework of HIFIS(16) (Helmholtz Federated IT Infrastructure Services) at the HZDR. This includes a development platform, training and support for high-quality, sustainable software development.
- The Department of Information Services and Computing (FWC) is an active participant in various groups around the topics of identity management solutions in federated environments as well as information-security in cloud computing environments.
- The Helmholtz Incubator "Information und Data Science" connects experts from all Helmholtz Centers and supports the digital transformation of the research activities of the Helmholtz Association.https://www.helmholtz.de/forschung/challenges/information-data-science/(17)
In-Situ and Ex-Situ Visualization
The Department of Information Services and Computing (FWC) providesa virtual reality laboratory(18) for displaying large data sets of simulation or experiment data in 3D. One area of long standing expertise is interactive simulation of fire-fighting missions(19) using immersive visualization (VR).
Conferences and Workshops
FWC is organizing its own conferences and workshops(20) on these issues.
Publications
On the topics mentioned "Information and Services" is actively participating with own publications(21).
URL of this article
https://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pOid=37420