Bringing instruments into a Grid: An empiric approach

Grid systems are composed of computational elements (CE) and disk storage (SE). Next-generation Grid solutions must include support for accessing instruments and sensors as part of the Grid to facilitate a "grid of instruments". We describe an Instrument Element (IE) system that extends Grid services to interact with remote and distributed small devices that control and monitor physical plants and similar settings, thus achieving effective operation and common connections with these remote instruments. Our system utilizes instrument classification to implement different methods for interaction with the different instruments, based on their capability to interact with the world. We present a collection of applications that successfully integrate and utilize our framework, thus showing strong evidence to the usefulness and flexibility of our ideas and system.