AICES (Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science)

AICES represents a new doctoral program under the auspices of the Excellence Initiative of the German state and federal governments. The RWTH Aachen University—one of the leading technical universities in Europe—has been establishing educational structures to meet the future research challenges in computational engineering science (CES). AICES is spearheaded by 15 RWTH institutes from 4 departments, and it includes participation from the Research Center Jülich  and the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf. The VR Group at the Center for Computing and Communication of RWTH Aachen University develops innovative methods of interactive visualization in order to establish an intuitive analysis of the conducted simulations within the scope of the AICES projects.

Further Information: AICES Homepage

Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CIL)

The Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CIL) of RWTH Aachen University aims to extend and facilitate the use of blended learning in university courses to improve the teaching and learning quality for students and to lessen the administrative effort for lecturers. It offers a wide range of services to support lecturers in utilizing eLearning technologies in their courses.

Further Information: http://www.cil.rwth-aachen.de/english-summary/

Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries"

The Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries" is a collaboration between 18 institutes of the RWTH Aachen University. This project pursues the aim of developing new technology and concepts to enhance the competitiveness of successful economic production in Germany.
The VR Group as part of this inter disciplinary project is responsible for the reduction of applied assembly resources within the process optimization by enabling virtual production technology . Furthermore, they are in charge of making process data available in coupled simulation systems , realistic virtual visualization of machine tools and combination of several highly specialised simulation systems for the acquisition of interphysical effects.

Further Information: Homepage

Cooperation between the HPCVL and RWTH Aachen University

November 2008

Cooperation between the Center for Computing and Communication of the RWTH Aachen University, Germany (RZ) and the High Performance Computing Virtual Labatory (HPCVL)

The long-term partnership in the context of Sun Microsystem's (Sun) Center of Excellence program results in a closer cooperation between the RZ of and the HPCVL. A Memorandum of Understanding builds the framework for the exchange of experience and common research related to high performance computing.

RZ is a central IT provider of the RWTH Aachen University, Germany with a focus on high performance computing and virtual reality.

HPCVL is a central HPC facility for five universities and two collegues in Ontario, Canada.

CPC-Software Windchill (ProVerStand-Server for NRW)

Das Institut für Konstruktionstechnik (IKT) der RWTH Aachen hat in einer Landeslizenz die Software Windchill der Firma Parametric Technology GmbH (PTC) lizensiert. Das Produkt Windchill gehört in den Bereich der sogenannten CPC-Systeme (Collaborative Product Commerce). Die Software ermöglicht das verteiltes Konstruieren von komplexen technischen Systemen.

Neben der reinen Softwarelizenz beinhaltet das Projekt auch  inhaltlichen Support durch das IKT und das Betreiben eines Windchill-Landesservers durch das RZ der RWTH Aachen, den die Hochschulen und Fachhochschulen in NRW für Forschung und Lehre nutzen können. Das Projekt hat den Namen ProVerStand (Produktentwicklung über Verteilte Standorte).

D-Grid - German Grid Initiative

The D-Grid project has been launched in 2005 with the intention to build a lasting Grid-Infrastructure in Germany. The project was provided in the first period until 2008 of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FMER) in the context of the E-Science Initiative. The develloped infrastructure is provided to support  the German science and should help to establish methods of the E-Science.

Forum Information Technology

Innovative ideas and questions cannot be restricted to given boundaries or disciplines. Therefore, at the ende oft he eighties, a group of open-minded thinkers, all of whom are professors at RWTH Aachen University (RWTH Aachen), ventured to review the traditional university departmental structures. The result was setting up of five Interdisciplinary Forums for Space Research, Environmental Science, Material Science, Information Technology and Technology & Society.´What started smal has in the meanwhile grown to quite a considerable size: Today nearly everxy second university professor oft he RWTH Aachen University takes part in at least one forum. In the Forum Information Technology for example electrical engineers and the medical professors develop imaging porcedures for medical diagnostic purposes.The Interdisciplinary Forums can most effectly described as follows:

• A co-operation network of scientists thinking beyond and acting above their traditional boundaries.
• Potential partners for interdisciplinary initiatives
• Stimulation for new approaches in science and education
• Virtual research laboratories for the handling of complex questions.

Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)

The Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance (JARA) aims at establishing an archetype of an internationally recognized partnership between RWTH Aachen University and the Research Center Jülich.

The Center for Computing and Communication of RWTH Aachen University supports the scientific cooperation within the section JARA-SIM. The main purpose of this section is to develop a shared infrastructure for educational and research activities in the field of scientific visualization and supercomputing.

Further Information: http://www.jara-excellence.de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=1&changelang=2

OpenMP - Focus on Shared-Memory-Parallelization at the CCC

Since 1998 the High Performance Comuting Team of the Center for Computing and Communication (CCC) of the RWTH Aachen University is engaged in the topic of Shared-Memory-Parallelisierung with OpenMP.

Parallelization of the GraS-Model for Detailed Spatial Prediction of Grassland Succession

The intensification of agriculture causes a high loss of species-rich grasslands. In Central Europe, these semi-natural grasslands belong to the landscapes with the highest biodiversity. Only a well-directed management will maintain these valuable areas.

Scalable Infrastructure for the Automated Performance Analysis of Parallel Codes (SILC)

Driven by growing application requirements and accelerated by current trends in microprocessor design, the number of processor cores on modern supercomputers rapidly grows from generation to generation. This imposes scalability demands not only on applications but also on the software tools needed for their development. At the same time, the optimization of parallel codes becomes more difficult due to increasing system complexity. Funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, the goal of the SILC project (Scalable Infrastructure for the Automated Performance Analysis of Parallel Codes) is therefore the design and implementation of a scalable and easy-to-use performance measurement infrastructure for supercomputing applications. This infrastructure, which will be called Score-P, will serve as the basis for several already existing performance-analysis tools developed by partner institutions. The enhanced tool suite will be used to tune the performance of academic and industrial simulation programs. Please find more information on the SILC web site

UNITE (UNiform Integrated Tool Environment)

High-performance clusters often provide multiple MPI libraries and compiler suites for parallel programming. This means that parallel programming tools which often depend on a specific MPI library, and sometimes on a specific compiler, need to be installed multiple times, once for each combination of MPI library and compiler which has to be supported. In addition, over time, newer versions of the tools also get released and installed. One way to manage many different versions of software packages, used by many computing centers all over the world, is the "module" software. However, each center provides a different set of tools, has a different policy on how and where to install different software packages, and how to name the different versions.

UNITE tries to improve this situation for debugging and performance tools by

• specifying exactly how and where to install the different versions of tool software packages (including integrating the tools to the maximum possible degree),
• defining standard module names for tools and their different versions, and
• supplying pre-defined module files which provide standardized, well-tested tool configurations,
• but still being flexible enough to be able to co-exist with site-local installations, restrictions, and policies.

Further information including detailed documentation and source code can be found at the UNITE website.

Virtual Institute - High Productivity Supercomputing (VI-HPS)

Sponsored by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers the Virtual Institute - High Productivity Supercomputing (VI-HPS) aims at improving the quality and accelerate the development process of complex simulation programs in science and engineering that are being designed for the most advanced parallel computer systems.

The Center for Computing and Communication of the RWTH Aachen University is focussed on improving the usability of the state-of-the-art programming tools for high-performance computing developped by the partner institutions

Virtual Reality Center Aachen

The Virtual Reality Center Aachen (VRCA) was established as a consortium of the Forum Informatik in order to concentrate and strengthen the numerous research and educational activities in the field of Virtual Reality at the RWTH Aachen. The Virtual Reality group  coordinates and organizes the activities since the foundation of the VRCA. 

Further Information: Homepage of the VRCA

Windows High Performance Cluster Competence Center - WinHP3C

RWTH Aachen University has entered into a cooperation treaty with Microsoft with the intention of developing here in the Center of Computing and Communciation the application of Windows operating system in the range of High Performance Computing (HPC). Engineering should be supported by the use of a highly productive infrastructure under Windows HPC server 2008, as well as by the know-how under OpenMP or with MPI. Microsoft has established the Center for Computing and Communication of the RWTH Aachen University as a european Cluster Competence Center with the focus on Windows High Performance Server 2008. The achieved results should be opened to the public. The RWTH Aachen University has created as well the German HPC User Group Meeting. Please find further information here on the WinHP3C webside.