Front End I News
CERN uses Coverity’s Static Analysis tool to fix over 40,000 defects in Hadron Collider software
CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, has been using Coverity’s Static Analysis tool to improve the integrity of the source code found across a number of projects analysing data from CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). According to Coverity since integrating its solution, CERN has managed to eliminate more than 40,000 software defects that could otherwise have had a significant impact on the accuracy of its pioneering particle physics research. One of LHC’s core software ingredients, ROOT, is a software program used by CERN’s physicists to store, analyse, and visualise petabytes of data about the LHC experiment. “Better quality software translates to
better research results,” said Axel Naumann, a member of CERN’s ROOT Development Team. “Coverity’ development testing solution, Coverity Static Analysis, has been able to discover the rare, unpredictable cases that can’t be recreated in a test environment.” The integrity of ROOT’s software is integral to the research conducted at CERN. Every second, scientists at CERN oversee 600 million particle collisions that are intended to help redefine the way we
view the universe. The collisions, which involve trillions of protons travelling at almost the speed of light, take place in the LHC, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. The experiments conducted around the LHC generate approximately 15 petabytes data per year, equivalent to 15,000 standard disk drives. Given the size and scale of these experiments, CERN has implemented a number of processes to ensure data generated by the LHC experiments is accurate and as bug free as possible.
“ROOT is used by all 10,000 physicists, so software integrity is a major issue,” added Naumann. “A bug in ROOT can have a significant negative impact on the results of the LHC experiments and physicists' data analyses.” CERN has been even more successful in its quest to achieve software integrity through the installation of Coverity Static Analysis, a development testing solution that leverages sophisticated analysis techniques for finding and eliminating hard-to-spot code defects early in the software development lifecycle, as the code is being written, when they are the easiest and least expensive to find and fix.
Within the first week of implementing Coverity Static Analysis, CERN’s ROOT Development team found thousands of possible software defects that could have impacted software integrity and research accuracy, including buffer overflows and memory leaks, with very few false positives. To improve the integrity of CERN’s source code, the ROOT team spent just six weeks on resolving the errors and continues to use the solution in production daily to prevent further software defects from occurring. The remit of Coverity’s solution has also expanded to include the software underpinning specific LHC experiments, which equates to 50 million lines of code. Coverity Static Analysis is now used by thousands of developers across CERN and by using Coverity's web interface, even
non-professional developers have been able to understand and remediate errors in the software, as well as the reports produced from the analysis.
“By implementing Coverity Static Analysis, CERN is now able to safeguard the integrity of its LHC experiments,” said Jennifer Johnson, Global VP Marketing at Coverity. “The quick detection of complex, uncommon and hard-to-detect errors, means that software developers are further motivated to find and fix errors early in the software development cycle. This helps CERN achieve better governance of its entire software development process, obtain far more accuracy in its research experiments, and ultimately helps the entire organisation in its quest to better understand the universe.” No mean achievement!
Government pledges £50m towards Global Research and Technology Hub
Is the UK government finally responding to demands for a long-term strategy to put science and engineering at the heart of the UK's economic recovery? The announcement at the Conservative Party Conference that the UK government was pledging £50m towards developing a Graphene Global Research and Technology Hub to help commercialise graphene – the material expected to replace silicon in computer chips - as well as a further £145 million "earmarked" for the establishment of more UK-based supercomputers, along with more money to support additional computer-scientists and facilities, has to be seen as a significant step.
The announcement, while welcomed by the scientific establishment, will be money well spent but for a lot of government critics it was seen as an afterthought, just one of a very few number of new ideas so far announced by the Government to help manufacturing and industry in the UK.
Graphene is the strongest material 4 October 2011
known to science and it is a far better conductor of electricity than copper and there are a host of innovative new applications for the material from solar cells to optical communications systems to touch screens. The UK has particular strengths in graphene research with centres of excellence at a number of leading universities. UK researchers are in a worldwide race to develop commercial uses for graphene and there are a range of graphene-related projects currently taking place. The University of Manchester is leading the charge in the UK led by the Nobel Prize winners Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov. They discovered the material at the university in 2004.
According to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osbourne, who made the announcements at the conference the government’s intention is to, "fund a national research programme that will take this Nobel prize winning discovery from the British laboratory to the British factory floor. "We've got to get Britain making things
again.
"Countries like Singapore, Korea, America are luring [researchers] with lucrative offers to move their research overseas," he added.
Components in Electronics
The £50m announced for graphene R&D came in addition to a further £145 million that was set aside for the establishment of more UK-based supercomputers, along with funding to support more computer-scientists. Areas that will benefit from the investment are software development, computer power, data storage, wide bandwidth networks, cyber security and authentication, people and skills. According to the University and Science Minister David Willetts, "I'm very happy; even in tough times we are investing in science". Professor Sir Peter Knight, President of the Institute of Physics, said: "We're delighted that the Government recognises the role science can play in creating a vibrant, diverse economy for the future of the UK - investment in science delivers great returns economically and intellectually". However, in a statement the director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (Case) Imran Khan, while applauding the announcements warned that they came, "in the wake of enormous cuts to the nation's science and engineering base.” Analysis by Case and released last month showed that there will have been a cut of £1.7bn in funds for research and
development by the end of this Parliament in 2015.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC) and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) are currently working to determine a business case for graphene and the best way to commercialise it.
The University of Manchester is one possible location for the hub, but there will be an application process in the coming months. Universities and other institutions interested in graphene research will be able to bid for Government funding. There are currently graphene centres of
research excellence at Manchester, Cambridge, Lancaster, Exeter, Bath, Oxford and Durham universities and Imperial College London.
www.cieonline.co.uk
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