Virtual Computational Laboratory

by Christopher Adasiewicz; Illustration by Loren Kirkwood

Using the new Internet tool he and some graduate students created, UIUC Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Umberto Ravaioli can share computational science programs with students, researchers, and companies on the World Wide Web-without ever releasing the code.

Ravaioli's system, the Virtual Computational Laboratory, takes advantage of the interactive power and versatility of NCSA Mosaic and the Web. Visitors to the Virtual Computational Laboratory hyperlink to one of the available applications, input relevant data, and watch calculations and visualizations unfold in real time. Behind the scenes, the Virtual Computational Laboratory transparently links the user to whatever machines are necessary to run the program.

Because the Virtual Computational Laboratory runs the actual code, not a simulation, users can manipulate the program's variables to create "an endless variety of results-just as you could if you had the code on your machine," Ravaioli says.

Popular with industrial users

The idea is catching on. Hundreds of users access the Virtual Computational Laboratory daily; some of these users include research scientists from General Motors, Ford, and Caterpillar Inc., an NCSA industrial partner.

Automobile researchers are particularly interested in code that simulates end-milling processes. Instead of requesting the actual code, downloading it, compiling it, and-inevitably-fixing errors, these researchers can audition the programs via Virtual Computational Laboratory without any hassle.

Simplicity in usage

"Trying to compile someone else's code is a mess. Every machine is a bit different," says Sridhar Iyer, former UIUC graduate student working with Ravaioli. "The Virtual Computational Laboratory fixes that problem because the code never leaves the programmer's workstation. If the program bombs, it's not your worry-it's not on your machine," Iyer adds. "More importantly, it's very easy for the developer to go back and fix problems because there's only one copy of the software to worry about, not hundreds distributed over the globe."

Students are benefiting from the system as well. "Before the Virtual Computational Laboratory, we spent more time teaching students how to use the computer systems than how to solve the problems they were using the systems for," Ravaioli says. "With the Virtual Computational Laboratory, students see results without extensive training in programming. It makes science a little more friendly."

And the Virtual Computational Laboratory makes running a variety of applications easier: "The Virtual Computational Laboratory is a unified front-end for different simulations," Iyer says.

Developed with NSF funds

In fact, the system was originally designed for educational use as part of an NSF-funded project in Curriculum Development in Computational Science and Engineering. NCSA Director Larry Smarr and UIUC Dean of the College of Engineering William Schowalter are the co-principal investigators.

In fall 1994, Ravaioli introduced the Virtual Computational Laboratory in his Electrical and Computer Engineering 439 course, Advanced Theory of Semiconductors and Semiconductor Devices. Ravaioli and his team demonstrated the system at the Supercomputing '94 conference in Washington, DC. The exhibit links to the home page of UIUC's National Center for Computational Electronics.

Sharing across the 'Net

Because many research groups worldwide already maintain a presence on the Web, Ravaioli predicts that use of the Virtual Computational Laboratory will spread rapidly. "This goes beyond education; we're talking also about remote collaboration," says Ravaioli. "We're building something equivalent to the computer version of a conference call. Not only can you share comments and graphics, you can share computational science across the Internet."

Christopher Adasiewicz, former student intern in the NCSA Director's Office, recently graduated in journalism from UIUC. In the fall he will enroll in the master's program at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

"We are building something equivalent to the computer version of the conference call. Not only can you share comments and graphics, you can share computational science across the Internet." Umberto Ravaioli (Photo by Thompson-McClellan)

access / Summer 1995 / NCSA