NASA space scientists tend to use integrated data of multiple types. For example, the observations collected by the exosat satellite are made up of database rows, images, spreadsheets (spectra, lightcurves), text indexes, etc. Also, the different data types come from heterogeneous management systems. For example, databases may be stored in Ingres, Sybase, or Oracle; text in troff, tek, or ascii. The purpose of this project is to develop a universal book management system (UBMS) that presents a global view of integrated data types in terms of a virtual "book" object. It will be built atop the NASA-developed David system to support data access from heterogeneous management systems. In addition, UBMS will support program-callable utilities, so that user-specific applications (e.g., a high-energy astrophysics science archive research center) can be built from it. In phase i, the UBMS will be designed, a subsystem prototype will be built and demonstrated on a relevant multiple type data set (e.g., exosat date), and a presentation will illustrate how UBMS can support the building of user-specific applications. The thrust of phase ii would be the implementation of the UBMS design developed in phase i and its integration with the NASA-developed David system for accessing heterogeneous distributed data. Nasa space scientists tend to use integrated data of multiple types. For example, the observations collected by the exosat satellite are made up of database rows, images, spreadsheets (spectra, lightcurves), text indexes, etc. Also, the different data types come from heterogeneous management systems. For example, databases may be stored iningres, sybase, or oracle; text in troff, tek, or ascii. The purpose of this project is to develop a universal book management system (UBMS) that presents a global view of integrated data types in terms of a virtual "book" object. It will be built atop the NASA-developed David system to support data access from heterogeneous management systems. In addition, UBMS will support program-callable utilities, so that user-specific applications (e.g., a high-energy astrophysics science archive research center) can be built from it. In Phase I, the UBMS will be designed, a subsystem prototype will be built and demonstrated on a relevant multiple type data set (e.g., exosat date), and a presentation will illustrate how UBMS can support the building of user-specific applications. The thrust of phase ii would be the implementation of the UBMS design developed in phase i and its integration with the NASA-developed David system for accessing heterogeneous distributed data.
