[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4615-4617]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-1751]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Research
Energy Research Financial Assistance Program Notice 95-13:
National Information Infrastructure
Agency: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Action: Notice inviting grant applications.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Scientific Computing of the Office of Energy
Research (ER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hereby announces its
interest in receiving research grant applications to support DOE's
program in the President's National Information Infrastructure (NII)
initiative. The DOE program is integral to and supportive of the multi-
agency NII initiative through the High Performance Computing and
Communications (HPCC) program which has been in place since 1992.
DOE supports NII's goals through the Information Infrastructure
Technology and Applications (IITA) component of the HPCC program by (1)
supporting research and development to solve important scientific and
technical challenges; (2) reducing the uncertainties in industrial
research and development through increased cooperation between
government, industry, and universities and by continued use of
government and government-funded facilities as a prototype user of
early commercial NII products; and (3) supporting the underlying
research, network, and computational infrastructures on which NII
applications are based.
DATES: To permit timely consideration of awards in FY 1995, formal
applications submitted in response to this notice must be received by
March 15, 1995. Earlier submission is encouraged.
ADDRESSES: Formal applications referencing Program Notice 95-13 should
be forwarded to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research,
Acquisition and Assistance Management Division, ER-64, (GTN),
Washington, DC 20585. Attn: Program Notice 95-13. The following address
must be used when submitting applications by U.S. Postal Service
Express Mail, any commercial mail delivery service, or when hand-
carried by the applicant: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy
Research, Acquisition and Assistance Management Division, ER-64, 19901
Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Anne Scott, Program Manager,
Office of Scientific Computing, Office of Energy Research, ER-30/GTN,
U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585. (301) 903-9958. E-mail
to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NII program announced by Vice President
Gore in 1993 encapsulates the promise of the Information Age to
transform our society. Historically, communication and computing
technology, i.e., leading edge information technology, has been a
powerful instrument of change in our society. The National Information
Infrastructure program seeks to enhance national competitiveness and
improve the quality of life of the general populace. The principles and
goals of the NII are: (1) Promote private sector investment; (2) extend
the ``universal service'' concept to assure that information resources
are available to all at affordable prices; (3) promote technological
innovation and new applications; (4) promote seamless, interactive,
user-driven operation of the NII; (5) ensure information security and
network reliability; (6) improve management of the radio frequency
spectrum; (7) protect intellectual property rights; (8) coordinate with
other levels of government and with other nations; and (9) provide
access to government information and improve government procurement.
The DOE program is to approach these goals by supporting the NII
through the Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications
(IITA) component of the HPCC program and requests applications for
grants to support research in the following areas:
I. Wide Area and Distributed Network Based Technologies To Support
Energy Demand and Supply Management
The management of energy demand is a serious concern for two
reasons: there is the dependence on imported oil and gas, which affects
the balance of payments, and there are environmental concerns with
respect to the burning of fossil fuels. The utility companies use
telecommunications to support their principal business of managing and
providing energy to their customers. However, the evolving nature of
the [[Page 4616]] corporate utility business requires the development
of new distributed network technologies in areas such as
interoperability, authentication, privacy control, and multicast data
aggregation in order to enhance the existing capabilities of utilities
for real-time energy demand and supply management. In addition, the
technologies and infrastructures that support energy consumers and
utility providers may be leveraged to accommodate other service
providers by providing access to services and resources over the NII.
Grant applications are sought for the development and implementation of
both wide area based and distributed network tools, technologies, and
protocols that enable energy utilities to improve efficiency,
conservation, billing and customer service, and promotes end user
interaction and control over their use of energy. These tools,
technologies, and protocols must be scalable and operable over both the
Internet and NII. Applicants are expected to be familiar with the
current state of the art in these areas, especially in regard to issues
dealing with how the consumer interfaces and connects to both the
utility and the National Information Infrastructure. These technologies
may include, but are not limited to:
--distributed computing technologies to integrate residential
information and energy appliances in addition to computer-based energy
monitoring and control systems; to enable energy management in
commercial public buildings; and to provide end users an interactive
interface to delivery systems and to the Internet and NII through these
delivery systems;
--distributed data handling and analysis tools for the compilation,
interpretation and intelligent use of energy production and usage
statistics;
--security systems to ensure customer privacy and prevent unauthorized
access;
--demonstration or prototype projects to evaluate energy demand
management applications over the Internet and the NII.
II. Wide Area Network (WAN) Based Hierarchical, Distributed Database
and Data Storage Technologies and Techniques
The advances in high performance computing and communications,
combined with the sophisticated demands of both Grand and National
Challenge applications, have accelerated the need for distributed,
fast, interoperable and scaleable technologies and techniques for
storing, manipulating, and querying large data sets to handle the
increased amounts of information. As a result, query techniques that
are independent of database structures have become more important.
Grant applications are sought for the development and implementation of
technologies and techniques for managing large datasets using WAN-based
storage and database tools and protocols.
III. Wide Area Network (WAN) Based Collaboration Technology, Remote
Facilities Usage, and Application Development
The need to efficiently share information and facilities remotely,
in addition to the growing requirement for telepresence and
telecommuting capabilities, requires enhanced collaborative
technologies and techniques such as packetized video/audio streams and
multimedia conferencing, shared whiteboards and concurrent editing/
markup capabilities. Grant applications are sought for the development,
implementation, and advanced uses of WAN-based technologies and
techniques for providing real-time, interactive voice, video and data
exchange across the Internet and other large distributed heterogeneous
networks in addition to the demonstration of emerging technologies in
an NII application context such as education, remote facility
utilization, or environment applications.
IV. Wide Area Network Authentication and Security
The growth of networking, as evidenced by the increased usage of
the Internet and the attention devoted to the National Information
Infrastructure, will continue at its current rapid pace. The components
of large interconnected networks, local networks, hosts, computers,
information, data, applications and users, all require some level of
security. As the number of individuals, businesses, schools and other
entities using networks grows, so does the need for more sophisticated
authentication and security tools. Conversely, as information
technologies become ubiquitous via the NII, it is important to protect
the privacy of the end users of the NII. Grant applications are sought
for the development, implementation, or advanced integration of
scalable, WAN-based security and privacy tools and protocols in the
areas of application and user interfaces, information search and
retrieval, and data storage and transmission that can operate across
the Internet and other large distributed, heterogeneous networks.
V. Gigabit Technology Research
Energy demand and supply management, heterogenous distributed
computing and virtual collaboratory environments will continue to drive
high performance communications to meet both the aggregate and high end
resource application requirements. Grant applications are sought for
the development and/or demonstration of technologies to enable
communications networks, such as the Energy Sciences network (ESnet),
to support the aforementioned requirements for future information and
data intensive network applications. These can include, but are not
limited to: advanced collaboratory audio/visual tools; management and
control of heterogeneous traffic across local, metropolitan, and wide
area ATM networks; and network evolution and management tools (e.g.,
for IPv6, IP over ATM, IPv4, multicast, and ATM to ATM).
In all the above areas, tools, technologies, protocols, services,
and demonstration projects proposed should be scalable and
interoperable with the heterogenous NII and Internet technologies and
services at both the hardware level and at the software gateway levels.
For example, a multiprotocol router gateway to residences/industrial
buildings should also work over a wide variety of access media.
Applicants are also expected to be familiar with the current state of
the art in the area of their application submission.
Collaborative research and innovative partnering among
investigators at industrial firms, universities and National
Laboratories are encouraged. It is expected that grants will be awarded
in the range of $100,000 to $500,000 for periods of one to three years.
The FY 1995 Federal program is summarized in ``High Performance
Computing and Communications'' Technology for the National Information
Infrastructure--a Supplement to the President's Fiscal Year 1995
Budget. This report can be requested by calling (301) 903-9958. A
report, ``The Information Infrastructure: Reaching Society's Goals--
Report of the Information Infrastructure Task Force Committee on
Applications and Technology,'' has been issued for public comment that
addresses eight areas, including electrical power, in which NII
applications can enhance the quality of life. This report is available
by calling (301) 975-4529.
In evaluating the scientific merit of the applications submitted,
the [[Page 4617]] following additional criteria will be considered: (1)
use and integration of current Internet and NII services; (2) potential
for impact on and advancement of NII applications, such as those called
out by the Committee on Applications and Technology, especially Energy
Demand and Supply Management; (3) potential for marketable and/or
deployable technology and systems; and (4) innovative partnerships.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program
is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR Part
605.
Issued in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1995.
D.D. Mayhew,
Director, Office of Management, Office of Energy Research.
[FR Doc. 95-1751 Filed 1-23-95; 8:45 am]
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