SBIR-STTR Award

The Department of Energy (DOE) has declared the nuclear structure and reaction databases at the National Nuclear Data Center to be a national resource and has established as a high priority efforts to modernize its database structure and access. Databases are currently supported by software written for a single operating system using older technology. The lack of compatibility, the reliance on older technology, and marginal funding have limited the ability of the National Nuclear Data Center to apply new technologies in its support of nuclear data dissemination. Java database technologies will be developed to support the access and dissemination of nuclear data. The technologies will be platform independent, allowing the software to be used on multiple platforms, including desktop computers, and it will more transparently support mirror nuclear data sites. A migration path will be designed, allowing the technology to be phased into usage within the U.S. and International Nuclear Data Communities. Phase I research will design a model for the Java database system by focusing on its application to the Nuclear Science Reference database. Software prototypes will be constructed that allow users to search the database on a single computer and across several distributed databases. Phase I efforts will be used to develop a plan in Phase II for applying the technology to most of the databases at the National Nuclear Data Center.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
This technology will initially target the nuclear structure and nuclear reaction databases at the National Nuclear Data Center. It defines an important solution for accessing and disseminating information and does so in a platform-independent, cost effective manner. These Java technologies will provide general database solutions for Internet-based computing.

The DOE has declared the nuclear databases at the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC) to be a national resource, and the database structure and access have been established as high priority. The lack of software compatibility, reliance on older technology, and marginal funding have limited the ability of the NNDC to apply new technologies in its support of nuclear data dissemination. In this project, Java database technologies will be developed to support the access and dissemination of the nuclear data. The technologies are platform independent, allowing the software to be used on multiple platforms, including desktop computers, and will support mirror nuclear data sites. In Phase I, a model for the Java database system was developed and implemented as a software prototype. Extensive tests were performed using Nuclear Science References and the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File. Results showed that the prototype technology, even when used on an obsolete desktop computer, provided performance comparable to that currently in use at the National Nuclear Data Center. Phase II will fully implement the Java database technology, importing information from the NNDC into the Java database system. Tests will be performed on several computer platforms that support Java.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
A number of database products could be produced from this project. The software can be distributed as a stand-alone application, as software components for larger systems, and as applets or helper applications that manage Internet data retrieval. It is a platform independent solution that will provide cost effective information management.