Federation Grid Features
Federation Grid is a standards-based environment that is flexible, scalable and interoperable.
Standards-based
The grid uses open-standards and industry standards to ensure interoperability. The standards supported by Federation Grid include:
- HLA: High Level Architecture is a U.S. Department of Defense developed standard for distributed simulations. It acts as middleware layer to dynamically transfer data between applications in real-time.
- WCF: Windows Communication Foundation is a messaging protocol for distributed applications that is used to communication between .NET applications.
- RTMP: Real Time Messaging Protocol is an Adobe standards used for communication between Flash applications.
- Magnetar XSG: Extensible Scene Graph is an HLA-compliant scene graph standard currently under development. XSG is used to describe and structure everything that makes up an interactive application.
- WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation describes graphical content for .NET applications.
Flexible
The structure of the grid changes dynamically to meet the requirements of the grid applications. Resources, such as computational power and data storage, are shared so that no one system sits idle while another is overburdened. The grid automatically allocates resources to maintain smooth performance no matter whether there are a few users or thousands of users.
Self-scaling
Unlike traditional client-server systems, increasing numbers of users do not lead to overloading the grid. The grid uses small amounts of user resources to increase its capacity to support each new user. Each computer that is connected to the grid uses the resources it needs at any point in time, donating unused resources when it has them, and borrowing resources as they are needed.
Extensible
The grid is built as a series of components and services working together to create the grid environment. Major functions, such as a network gateway and a repository service, are built as individual components. Use the available components and build your own plug-in components to handle special requirements.
Platform Independent
The grid can be used by multiple platforms, including desktop computers, handheld devices, and consoles. All the platforms come together in one heterogeneous environments to communicate through standards and form the grid.