ACL is a part of the scientific and educational center “Supercomputing Technologies” of the North-West Federal District. Research advisor of the Laboratory is professor Peter Sloot.
Hardware-software complex in the laboratory of Peter Sloot operates in three ways: prediction of epidemics’ development, prevention of floods, and detection of criminal and terrorist threats in social networks. Decision support system based on laboratory supercomputer will help to understand how to operate gates on the dam in the Gulf of Finland, if the water level is raised.
The system will not only consider hydrometeorological reports, but also the situation in the vicinity of the dam. Then the machine will calculate what consequences for the environment will emerge at a given position of valves: what damage will be like for the city, navigation, ecology, etc. Particularly useful such a system is in emergency situations when the decision must be taken as quickly as possible, and the cost of failure is high.
The developers call their project a "system of preventing floods of the second generation", such systems hasn’t been implemented anywhere else yet. By the way, Peter Sloot was born in Amsterdam where the issue of coexistence with the sea and deep rivers is no less acute than in St. Petersburg.
Super computer resources will be used not only in solving local problems - computers will be connected to international networks. We are talking about a cluster of several dozen supercomputers, located in Russia and abroad, they can work together to solve very important tasks.
Besides the actual computing power, a Situation Center of virtual reality where the results of computer simulation are displayed is created in the ITMO laboratory. The volume of incoming information is so great that researchers should be literally immersed in it. Stereoscopic effects will provide visibility: experts will be surrounded by picture and sound, creating a sense of presence. Management of data in virtual reality will be attainable without using any buttons, just with the help of a wrist. Most of the funding (from 80 million rubles invested in laboratory infrastructure) is concentrated in the Situation Center.
The basic principle of the laboratory is based on the concept of eScience (“electronic science”). eScience includes high-tech computer technology as a basic tool for development of new methods of scientific research and stimulation of acquiring of new knowledge in various subject areas.
Laboratory activities are aimed at diversifying the research process in University ITMO (in the form of specific scientific and technological problem solving and pursuance of research in accordance with the international level of scientific development) to enhance and improve the effectiveness of educational and scientific and practical activity of masters, bachelors, graduate and doctoral students.
