Nor-tech, a Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance partner is doing some crazy cool things in the world of High Performance Computing (HPC) using our Seagate Enterprise Capacity hard drives and fellow Cloud Builder Alliance partner: Elliptical Mobile Solutions. Check it out:
Guest Post by: Dom Daninger, VP of Engineering at Nor-tech.
FAA research for commercial space travel made possible by sealed cluster from Nor-Tech
As commercial aviation companies prepare to usher in an age of space tourism, regulatory bodies such as the Federal Aviation Administration are tasked with the challenge of conducting research and collecting data to establish safeguards for the emerging industry. One area of concern is the amount of cosmic radiation passengers and crew of suborbital commercial space flights will be subjected to as they reach altitudes up to 100 km above the Earth.
It is expected that the short duration of suborbital missions will likely result in lower exposure than the crew and passengers of long duration commercial air flights. Nonetheless, it is necessary that providers of commercial suborbital missions are able to provide passengers with reliable information regarding the effects of radiation and the anticipated exposure the crew and passengers will accumulate from their missions.
In order to conduct radiation propagation studies, the medical research arm of the FAA required an HPC Compute solution that could function securely in the field, outside of the data center and in varying physical conditions. Due to security concerns pertaining to the work being done on this Super Computer system, it was required that the system not be connected to the Internet.
The Solution
The FAA approached Nor-Tech to develop a custom HPC solution. Nor-Tech’s extensive experience and innovation in the field of portable and ruggedized clusters made them uniquely qualified for the project. Additionally, among the major tier one manufacturers, Nor-Tech’s was the only proposal that came even close to their budgeted price.
Nor-Tech spent two and a half years working with physicists, medical doctors, physical engineers, and technicians at the FAA to learn the intricate details of their requirements.
Leave A Comment