Blog: Dan E. Linstedt

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Is Modeling in your future?

In my studies of nanotech reports, massive scale computing, and extreme parallelism I constantly come across items that lead to the same end. They all have similar findings, they all proclaim the same thing, it seems a universal axiom is bubbling to the top. Information Modeling is at the heart of successful processing and integration on a grand scale.

In this blog I will explore some interesting experiments that have been conducted in DNA computing which is one of the pre-cursors to the actualization of the Nanohouse.

Don't get me wrong, the computational side is very important as well, and in fact - to get the scalability, FORM AND FUNCTION MUST CONVERGE, and the FORM (the data models) must be flexible, and dynamic in nature. This is where Nanotech and Biotech comes in; they are currently defining the use of "wet-technology" or natural world models in our current technological world.

"Computational Mechanisms in Bio-Substrates... Leverage massive parallelism, Harvest Nature's toolkit." (1)
"Computational models of Cells - Natural Computation" (1)

The study goes on to discuss how DNA computing is scalable, programmable, and can exist in a 2D and 3D landscape; they also discuss the nature of self-assembly - a concept reserved for Nanotechnologists. In one of my earlier papers and references to DNA computing, 1 gram of DNA can store multiple terabytes of information. This certainly leads to the notions of a compact nanohouse.

The impact of 3d modeling has already been discussed, in the ability to fold relationships, see data in a new light, and begin to program systems based on "landscape" notions, or proximity in height, width and depth. The notions of "model driven development" are central to the development of nanotechnology.

A parallel can be drawn when we look at business development and understanding, particularly in terms of SOA. When we go to build SOA, the "data models" underneath make all the difference in terms of scalability, and flexibility. When I look at VLDB / VLDW - it's the same thing all over again, MPP systems are the tip of the ice-berg, and shared-nothing architectures rely HEAVILY on the model of the data underneath in order to achieve maximum performance of the queries.

If we add the DARPA term: SPATIO-TEMPORAL modeling to the mix, we can begin to uncover the power of 3D modeling. "Capturing interactions in the network of Gene-protein interactions"(1) - If we can capture the affects of interactions between data sets, and weigh their significance using neural computation models we can begin to dynamically compose and decompose relationships in massively parallel fashion. Beyond that, we can also begin to establish those that are of more importance to us based on historical content and knowledge or small-context discovery. This would be the self-assembly component of the Nanohouse.

(2) lists many different programs that DARPA is involved in, while many of these remain closed to the public, their titles are informative and show a heavy convergence in the Nanotech area.

Another report:
"An overview and categorization of existing research in DNA based computation, the possible advantages that different models have over conventional computational methods, and potential applications that might emerge from, or serve to motivate, the creation of a working Bio-molecular Computer." (3)

Shows that bio-molecular computing requires specific modeling methods, and that models can have an impact in both the type of computing as well as the abilities of the computational device - to serve it's purpose. The Nanohouse is built from the neural model in the brain, as a massively parallel system tied together with specified form and function, it can scale beyond our current dreams.

If you have some interesting links you'd like to share, or thoughts about the future of Nanohousing, I'd love to hear them.

Sources:
1. DARPA Military Briefing, http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/solicitations/closed/01-26_briefing1.pdf
2. DARPA Listing of Programs, http://www.darpa.mil/dso/programs.htm
3. http://publish.uwo.ca/~jadams/dnaapps1.htm

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