Campbell, Roy H. Mickunas, Dennis M. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Experimental Software Systems: Dynamic Resource Management for a Network-Centric Operating System
This project researches the operating system and resource management concerns for next generation network-centric, user- and application-oriented distributed systems that accommodate frequent change. The rapid growth and change of computing and digital communication taxes scientific and engineering endeavors involving computation. The research builds upon an innovative service model in which the distributed system customizes itself to better the fulfillment of user and application requirements. In this model, a user is no longer an entity that is local to one specific machine -- each user is a machine-independent entity that exists in the network and can transparently carry its profile across different hardware and software. A network-centric operating system manages and allocates the resources to support the user on heterogeneous platforms. Resource management encompasses a framework for architecture-awareness. This forms the basis for adaptable quality of service, dynamic security, and self-configuration. The approach supports distributed desktops, mobile workspaces, and legacy applications across a spectrum of resources including mobile Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), embedded systems, workstations, and supercomputers using wired and wireless communications media. Simply put, the goal is to manage the overhead associated with computer technological advances by factoring adaptive dynamics and reconfiguration into the resource management mechanisms and algorithms of distributed operating systems.
