Distributed Systems Group
Research projects
DRUM – Distributed Transactional Building Information Management
DRUM develops advanced software technology to make building information modeling (BIM) more usable in practical building projects. The semi-open, heterogeneous, and fragmented nature of building projects as well as the contractual boundaries, need to protect expertize, and the danger of legal disputes makes the naive notion of centralized BIM database unrealistic. Instead, there is a need for distributed information management solutions that recognize the reality that BIM consists of multiple partial models (e.g., architectural model, structural model, mechanical model, construction process) that have complex relationships (one model being an elaboration of another, two models having spatial clashes, and so on).
The technology should address the need for controlled sharing of partial models, the ownership of and responsibility for the information created, transactional changes to multiple interrelated models (including distributed versioning and history maintenance), the product-driven definition of design and construction workflows, and workflow execution driven by occurrences of complex events. The architectures studied range from cloud computing to distributed event-based systems.
DRUM belongs to the PRE project coordinated by RYM Oy and funded by Tekes. The time frame of project is 11/2010 – 12/2012 and the main industry partner is Tekla, the others being Logica, Skanska, Progman, Solibri, and M.A.D. The research is conducted in collaboration with Georgia Tech and VTT.
DIEM – Devices and Interoperability Ecosystem
The smart environment and device interoperability requires interoperability in three levels: transferring bits through communication channels, using services of different devices, and understanding the meaning of information unambiguously.
DIEM is developing an information interoperability platform for smart environments. It is based on the idea to share the information of embedded devices in RDF format and using common ontology models to ensure that information is understood similarly by participating devices and applications. The information is processed in an event-based manner: participating agents can subscribe to information they are interested in, and the platform notifies them of any changes to that information.
Distributed Systems Groups is developing an incremental subscription matcher for the interoperability platform. It will match SPARQL queries against the updates to RDF graph in an incremental fashion using algortihms such as RETE and LEAPS.
DIEM is coordinated by Tivit Oy and funded by Tekes. The time frame of project is 9/2008 – 12/2011 and the main industry partner is Nokia. The research is conducted in collaboration with and VTT and Åbo Academi.
OtaSizzle – Ubiquitous Social Media for Urban Communities
OtaSizzle studies social digital services in a campus environment. It develops new services and introduces them to a community of users covering students, employees, and partners of the Aalto University.
The OtaSizzle platform (Aalto Social Interface) provides both a flexible programming environment for creating new social interaction services and an infrastructure for deploying and testing them in real-life settings on the campuses of the Aalto University. The most successful service so far is Kassi that enables the exchange of favors and resources within a local community, such as a campus.
Distributed System Group has been responsible of the development of both the Kassi service and the social networking platform Aalto Social Interface.
OtaSizzle is coordinated by Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT) and funded by donations from private companies and communities to the “Technology for Life” campaign of the Aalto University under the MIDE research programme. Resaerch is carried out in collaboration between HIIT, Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Communications and Networking at Aalto University. The time frame of the project is 2/2008-12/2012.
ServiceCloud – Service Interoperation and Ccomposition in Digital Ecosystems
As the number of digital services grows – both in the net and in ubiquitous environments – and as the multi-device access to services gets smoother, users will in time be surrounded by a cloud of services. A whole realm of
new concerns – not dealing with individual services but the relationships of services – will emerge. For instance, how can services work together (interoperation), and how can they be used as building blocks in other services (composition)?
Currently, service interoperability is generally insufficient and cumbersome, composite services are unstable and fragile, and the lack of business models and revenues make the future of many services uncertain. This unfortunate state of affairs is affected by a complex set of interrelated factors ranging from technology and tools to design, user experience, usability, business models, and legal issues including contracts and licenses. The objective of this initiative is to gain a multidisciplinary understanding of these factors.
ServiceCloud is funded by Aalto Service Factory and the time frame is 2010-2011.
High-Performance Complex Event Processing for Smart Space Applications
This research activity will study, implement and evaluate software solutions for detection of complex situations and complex event patterns relevant in smart space applications. The event data is described in RDF and complex events are specified as SPARQL queries. The focus in the task is in performance evaluation and refinement of incremental matching algortihms – such as RETE, TREAT and LEAPS, and combinations of these – in smart space application contexts.
Research is funded by EIT (European Institute for Innovation and Technology), and the time frame is year 2011.
