1. A DATA GRID ARCHITECTURE FOR REAL-TIME ELECTRON MICROSCOPY APPLICATIONS F. Mighela 1, C. Perra 2 1 Telemicroscopy Laboratory, 2 DIEE

2. Contents Introduction Remote SEM Virtual Laboratory project Grid architecture Conclusions Perspectives 10/06/20142INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy

3. Introduction The reasons of the remote microscopy: – Sharing lab resources – Widespread of SEM – Collaborative activities – Extended Training Change the SEMs working approach 10/06/20143INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy

4. Remote SEM First project: LIMINA laboratory – Server application resident on a PC close to the instrument – Client application installed on the remote users PC – Server video to stream specimens images 10/06/20144INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy

5. Remote SEM 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy5 CLIENTSERVER MICROSCOPE REQUEST ANSWER

6. Server/client approach for Remote SEM Pros Remote operator has the same interactivity with the instrument as the local operator Sharing instruments between scientists Consulting and expertises Cons Remote user has to install a dedicated application on own computer If there are more than one instrument, the management becomes onerous 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy6

7. Virtual Laboratory project Actual project: Telemicroscopy Laboratory: – Before: one Scanning Electron Microscope – Now: three Scanning Electron Microscopes and one Transmission Electron Microscope The idea of a virtual laboratory has been considered 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy7

8. Virtual Laboratory Project 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy8 SEM Telemicroscopy Laboratory @ University of Sassari SEM CGS Laboratory @ University of Cagliari SEM Telemicroscopy Laboratory @ Pula Centre TEM Pharmanes @ Pula Centre

9. Virtual Laboratory Requirements – Security access; – Security connection; – Real-time interaction; – Interoperability; – Real-time streaming video; – Concurrent access by multiple users to the same resource; – Public network availability. 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy9

10. Virtual Laboratory Requirements Other favourable aspects: – Common set of commands; – Main commands are independent from the microscope manufacturer, but are depending just on the instrument class; A GUI unique for all instruments. 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy10

11. Virtual Laboratory Requirements Which technological solution can satisfy all these requirements? We suppose the Grid technology! 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy11

12. Grid technology... allows sharing resources... gives a reasonable degree of security connection... allows the communication between software developed with different platforms It could be the right solution to develop a system to share electron microscopes 10/06/201412INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy

13. Grid technology features – Sharing resources and knowledge between different organizations; – Interoperability; – Services; – Controlled access; – User identification; – Internet protocols; – World Wide Web technologies. 10/06/201413INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy

14. Grid configuration 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy14 APPLICATION LAYER MIDDLEWARE LAYER RESOURCE LAYER NETWORK LAYER GRID PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE

15. A Grid for a Virtual SEM/TEM Laboratory 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy15 APPLICATION LAYER Control application Video streaming application Workflow application RESOURCE LAYER Data storageStreaming server Microscopes server MIDDLEWARE LAYER Resources access control Server video control Microscopes control NETWORK LAYER Communication protocols Security protocols

16. A Grid for a Virtual SEM/TEM Laboratory Possible Grid system solutions: – Condor – Legion – Entropia – Globus Toolkit –...... 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy16

17. A Grid for a Virtual SEM/TEM Laboratory Literature shows that the most used system for developing Grid solutions is the Globus Toolkit in every realized version. We suppose to explore a first solution using Globus Toolkit 4. 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy17

18. A Grid for a Virtual SEM/TEM Laboratory Contemporary we will continue to explore the other Grid system solutions, in order to not exclude some architecture that could better reach our requirements. 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy18

19. Conclusions A project of a Virtual Laboratory on a Grid architecture has started; Preliminary analysis has been done describing the high level architecture; The GT4 has been choose to implement a first version Virtual Laboratory Grid. 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy19

20. Next steps Test the Globus Toolkit 4 (GT4) software instrument to create the Virtual Laboratory Grid; Continue to analyze Grid systems; Develop a dedicated streaming video; Test the video application on Digital TV systems. 10/06/2014INGRID 2008 - 9/11 April - Ischia - Italy20

21. Thank you for your attention f.mighela@diee.unica.it