ERIS MEDIATOR PROJECT

Phase 1 (1995) and Phase 2 (1995-1996) were performed in cooperation with ISX corporation.

See (INEL-ERIS)

Objective

1. To advance mediation technology in breadth and scope
2. Bring mediation technology into practical use
3. Use mediation technology as a prototype to resolve the diverse information problems that arise when information from the many datasources that contain information relevant to environmental cleanup at INEEL must be integrated.
4. Demonstrate the effectiveness of mediation technology in dealing with such data

Phase 1 result

Phase 2 result

Phase 3 results

Participants:

Stanford

The INEEL Data Integration Mediation System (HTML)
The INEEL Data Integration Mediation System (Postscript)

Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

Final report

Work Scope

Potential research areas include but are not limited to:

1. Identifying and defining additional "human knowledge" that mediators could capture and utilize. Provide a means to capture, encode, and save corporate knowledge.
2. Identifying and defining additional functionality which provides increased "intelligence" and "knowledge" appropriate for mediator software components to perform and provide.
3. Identifying and defining a method and architecture for the mediator to provide information about the mediator's "knowledge" and "capabilities" to an end-user.
4. Defining a method and architecture for performing translation between "domain-specific" ontologies.
5. Identifying and defining a method and architecture for accessing "metadata" from one source and "real data" from a separate source.
6. Identifying and defining a method and architecture for using mediators to perfor m of information.

1. Developing customer requirements
2. Adaptation to modern technology
3. Transition to economical platforms
4. Transition to economical and reliable software maintenance
5. Requirements for integration of information from disjoint data
6. Introduction of means to upgrade security and verification of data
7. A simplification of the overall architecture for long-term needs.

Technologies that Stanford will consider to bring to bear include:

1. Business model analysis to structure detailed requirements
2. Advanced data modeling, with algebraic capabilities for transformation of data structures and their processing
3. Mediator technology to integrate information from heterogeneous data sources
4. Flexible relations for dealing with mismatched data
5. Object-oriented information creation from relational/legacy data
6. Documentation using standardized terminologies.

The approach will be:

1. Initial meetings among Stanford and INEL personnel to identify and agree upon the area(s) of research that will be performed and to establish milestones.
2. INEL site visits to conduct Knowledge Acquisition (KA) sessions to solicit more detailed information about the operational environment.
3. Perform detailed functionality requirements definition, analysis, and documentation.
4. Formulation, definition, and documentation of a supporting mediated software architecture.
5. Identification, definition, and documentation of the technology requirements to support the added functionality of the mediator software components and the underlying mediated architecture. Technology requirements will address hardware and software needed for both the development and run-time environments.
6. Design, development, testing, implementation, and documentation of new and modified software components and the corresponding underlying mediated system.
7. Provide support for demonstration and implementation of all incremental ( interim release) and final, functional prototype software components.
8. Present materials at Peer Reviews of concepts, requirements, application design specifications, mediator architecture, software component functionality, software architecture design, and software components specifications, documentation, and incremental prototypes.

Terms

As part of the proposed effort, an assessment and implementation team will be formed consisting of Dr. Gio Wiederhold of Stanford University and supporting university personnel as well as INEL personnel. By this combination of people and organizations, actual problems presented by INEL can be addressed via the research technology available at Stanford and other sources and can then be applied in implemented solutions. This will allow the INEL to leverage and capitalize on mediator research already conducted. In addition, it is anticipated that this combination of people and organizations will allow for a significant cross-flow of technology and information, assuring that not only will the INEL obtain functional software, but also mediator application development capabilities that will serve it well into the future.

Deliverables include:

1. Identified and agreed upon area(s) of research and milestones
2. Detailed Added-functionality Requirements Specifications Document
3. Detailed Mediated System Software Components and Architecture Specifications Document
4. Detailed Technology Requirement Specifications Document
5. Source code for all incremental (interim release) and final, functional software components demonstrating the additional functionality
6. Final documentation for all software components developed and/or modified.

   These deliverables will be consistent with the following assumptions:

   1. Stanford University will follow configuration management procedures defined by the INEL DAP for any software component+s source code and documentation.
   2. Document contents will be defined and agreed to by both Stanford University and INEL DAP during initial meetings that discuss the details of the specific deliverables.
   3. All documentation will be delivered in Microsoft Word 6.0 or higher format.

   Statement of Ability to Perform Work:

   Dr. Gio Wiederhold, Stanford University Professor of Computer Science, has extensive experience in the database and structures domain and completed three years at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) as a program manager in Information Integration Technology. Previous ARPA research conducted at his direction provides the foundation for much of the technology intended for development and deployment as part of this project. His background and the expertise of the support organizations available to him provide unique capabilities necessary for the completion of this project.

   The Computer Science Department at Stanford University is rated as a prime Computer Science Research Center in the world. In addition to its faculty, staff, and students it provides excellent technical resources for experimental and theoretical research. The department supports a world-class Computer Science Library, including various computerized search services. The department operates an infrastructure network connecting small and large computer systems for research, education, and administration to each other and the Internet. Within the Computer Science Department, the Stanford Database Group runs a growing workstation cluster with approximately 20 workstations. The Facilities staff maintains an up-to-date software environment, including a Sybase DBMS, an Oracle DBMS, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) software, and a Commercial-off-the Shelf (COTS) Object-Oriented DBMS.

   Detailed Cost Proposal:

   Omitted

   RESUMES:

   Stanford Principal Investigator:

   Dr. Gio Wiederhold is a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. He also holds courtesy appointments in Medicine and Electrical Engineering. As a member of the Computer Systems Laboratory, the Starlab, the Medical Information Science Program, and the Center for Integrated Systems, he is active in the application and development of knowledge-based techniques to database management, information systems, and software construction. This research direction, intitiated with the KBMS project at Stanford in 1977, has now become an active research field in its own right. Results derived from this work are found in general system design, medicine, information systems, and planning applications.

   From 1991 to 1994, he was the Program Manager for Knowledge-Based Systems at ARPA, initiating programs in Intelligent Integration of Information (I3) and in Persistent-Object Bases. He also participated in establishing directions for a Software Foundations program, specifically in composition technology for large, multi-site systems.

   Before joining the Stanford faculty, Gio led the development of flexible real-time data-acquisition, file and database systems to support clinical research. Recent research into workstations for design and experiment planning integrates these interests.

   Gio is a member of the ACM publications board, having completed six years as Editor-in-Chief for ACM's TRANSACTIONS ON DATABASE SYSTEMS, and focuses now on refereed electronic publications. He is still an Associate Editor of Springer-Verlag's M.D. COMPUTING magazine. Wiederhold has more than 250 publications in computing and medicine, including a widely used McGraw-Hill textbook on DATABASE DESIGN, a later book on FILE ORGANIZATION FOR DATABASE DESIGN, a monograph on DATABASES FOR HEALTH CARE with the Springer Verlag, and a 1991 textbook on MEDICAL INFORMATICS, co-authored with Ted Shortliffe. He has been chairman and program chairman of several conferences.

   He received a degree in aeronautical engineering in Holland in 1957 and shortly after came to the United States. After gaining 16 years of industrial experience, he returned to school and earned in 1976 a Ph.D. in Medical Information Science from the University of California in San Francisco. He has been on the Stanford faculty since that time. He is a member of the AAAS, AAMI, AIAA, ACL, ACM, and a fellow of the ACMI, the IEEE and the ACM. He has been a member of the ACM since 1960.

   He has consulted for many governmental and commercial enterprises, among them the United Nations Development Programme, the US Department of Health and Human Services, various US defense agencies, and of course with the Silicon Valley innovators.

   Professor Wiederhold's permanent address is Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2140, or gio@cs.stanford.edu.