As the basic elements of COBS are in place, the next steps in the COBS project
involved extending the range of configuration options, experimenting with
combinations of configuration at different layers in the COBS system and
continuing our work with sample applications. Among the planned projects are:
dynamic resource management -
The COBS configuration facility
allows the application to make significant information available to the
run-time system. We intend to explore mechanisms for using this information
to make scheduling and resource management decisions for both computing and
communication resources.
vertical configuration -
Application information can also be
used to perform top-to-bottom configuration of the protocol stack in order to
derive and provide quality of service requirements, select amongst available
network interfaces, and enable security and compression techniques.
scientific applications -
Work continues on a variety of
applications which hope to exploit the COBS system. Among these are
scientific applications such as molecular dynamics [ES96b] and
global climate modeling [KSS 96] which can benefit from improved
perfomance. The use of COBS will also be explored in a variety of
collaborative and interactive situations, including display processing and
interactive steering for the scientific applications.
COTS applications -
Together with a commercial vendor we are
exploring the application of COBS to a distributed work-flow management
system. The utilization of COBS in this domain would enable the creation of
seamlessly integrated and easily managed distributed systems and applications.
We are also continuing work with IBM to develop event-based collaborative work
environments.
DoD applications -
A joint Georgia Tech/Honeywell
project also shows promise of improving programability and functionality
through application-level configurability. This project seeks to facilitate
efficient use of processing and communication resources through dynamic
relocation of an applications functional components.
96] which can benefit from improved
perfomance. The use of COBS will also be explored in a variety of
collaborative and interactive situations, including display processing and
interactive steering for the scientific applications.