Uncertainty & Climate
Governance
Resources:

The SDS Lab resources include the following:

1. A visualization center in the main Boston campus

2. A dedicated computer cluster hosted by the university Information Services

3.Computing Cluster
The dedicated SDS Lab computing cluster, named “Enterprise”, consists of a head node with eight quad-core Xeon processors and 64 GB of RAM. It is connected to fifteen compute nodes via a gigabit Ethernet switch. Each of the compute nodes contains two quad-core Xeon processors and 64 GB of RAM. While each node has a 465 GB disk for local storage, the main disk space for the cluster is being provided by a PowerVault MD1200 containing twelve 3 TB drives. It is controlled by an NSS server with 128 GB of RAM and two quad-core Xeon processors. Thus, Enterprise comprises a total of 120 cores on the compute nodes and 32 cores on the head node, 152 processing cores in all. The cluster uses the LSF scheduler. It can use MPI or Sun Grid Engine for parallel processing. Enterprise is maintained by Northeastern University’s Information Services. In addition to this dedicated cluster, the SDS Lab members have access to standard computing resources at Northeastern University and elsewhere.

4.Visualization Facility
The SDS Lab visualization facility, located in the downtown Boston campus of Northeastern University’s Forsyth building, comprises a 650 square foot space. A ceiling mounted fixed 1-chip DLP projector from Red Thread is installed, which has 6000 ANSI lumen, 1920x1200 resolution projector with a standard zoom lens with dual lamps. The projector will project onto a 66"x106" fixed wall mount screen. The signal from a desktop computer with a DVI graphic adapter card splits and goes simultaneously to the 24" Dell Ultrasharp 1920x1200. Accomodation to connect a laptop using analog VGA or Digital HDMI can be made at the lectern. The 24" monitor serves as a preview as well as an annotation monitor in the system. A fixed wall mounted 8" touch panel controls the different AV functions in the room. Wall mounted speakers reproduces any audio from the desktop PC in the room. Volume control is via the 8" touchpanel. A fixed ceiling mount PTZ camera is installed on the side opposite to the screen. This camera can be plugged into either the laptop or desktop computer for local Skype usage. A wireless lapel microphone is provided as well to interface with the desktop or laptop to provide a microphone input into the computer for Skype type application. Control of the camera will be through the touchpanel as well as through the handheld IR remote control. A lectern is provided that houses the equipment for the system as well as the 24" monitor for preview/annotation.

More details and specifics are available upon request