The Laboratory for the Ocean Observatory Knowledge INtegration Grid (LOOKING) is primarily a research effort into the identification, synthesis, and assemblage of existing and emerging concepts and technologies into a coherent viable cyberinfrastructure design. The goal of this effort is to federate ocean observatories into an integrated knowledge grid.
From a scientific perspective, LOOKING is developing a viable design for the cyberinfrastructure of a coherent and durable research network that supports dynamic harnessing of resources ranging from physical assets (e.g., instruments, network segments, power, compute/storage/visualization grids), through retrospective informatics and analytic services, to coupling of real-time sensing networks with predictive modeling services. The design is to address scalability, extensibility, and reconfiguration. Fulfilling these requirements will enable LOOKING to achieve the ultimate vision of a fully autonomous sensor network capable of evolving and adapting to changes in the user requirements, available technologies/software/middleware, or environmental changes during the life cycle of the ocean observatory paradigm.
From a system engineering perspective, LOOKING is defining the system-level cyberinfrastructure architecture requirements, developing working prototypes that enable the seamless operation of a federated ocean observatory strategy, and implementing elements on test-beds of opportunity. Once the cyberinfrastructure is defined and prototyped, revisiting existing and emerging hardware designs under a strong system-engineering framework will be required to ensure compatibility to produce a state-of-the art ocean observatory cyberinfrastructure.
Goals
To research the cyberinfrastructure needed to address following scientific objectives:
- Fully and quantitatively characterize selected volumes of the atmosphere, water column, and solid Earth including physical properties, dynamics, and life.
- Receive information about interrelated system elements in real-time
- Recognize departures from the norm and observe emergent phenomena
- Conduct interactive experiments within the environment
- Reconfigure our observational-sampling systems in response to events
- Assimilate in situ data into models as feed-back to measurement protocols
- Continue/expand this real-time interaction within our oceans for decades.
Objectives
To design and prototype an end-to-end framework for a distributed cyberinfrastructure enabling the following capabilities for the next 2 to 3 decades:
- Seamless integration of data flow to and from, ocean-based sensors and actuators
- Operational control of observatory wet infrastructure devolved to the end user
- Modern Grid data management system
- Integrated remote computer systems for modeling and data assimilation
- Secure flexible, scalable designs for autonomous operation of interactive sensor webs
- Tools for analyzing, summarizing, and visualizing data, and,
- Inter-operation and data exchange with other observatories.
