On 20 December, at the Meshcheryakov Laboratory of Information Technologies, Head of the MLIT Sector of Development and Maintenance of the JINR Digital Ecosystem Sergey Belov successfully defended his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Technology. The topic of the dissertation was big data methods and technologies for solving problems of high energy physics in distributed computing environments. The approach developed by the author is being used in the ATLAS Experiment at CERN. Sergey Belov’s opponents and the experts who spoke at the defence expressed a shared opinion that in terms of relevance, the scale of the work done, and the pioneering nature of the research, the dissertation exceeds the level required for awarding a Candidate’s degree.

Sergey Belov proposed an approach to automating some stages of modelling physical events in high-energy physics based on describing metainformation about events to transfer it between processing stages and using a knowledge base in a distributed computing environment. He developed new methods, models, algorithms, and software tools for creating a system for storing and accessing simulated physical data for experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. As part of the dissertation, he created a specialised knowledge base of simulated MCDB events for distributed computing environments. The developed Monte Carlo simulation event database and modelling metadata description tools were used to increase the automation of the official modelling chain of the CMS Experiment in 2010-2013, and the developed HepML markup language is used by the CompHEP and CalcHEP Generator Programs.

According to the author’s scientific supervisor, Doctor of Technology, MLIT JINR Scientific Leader Vladimir Korenkov, Sergey Belov actively participated in supporting data transmission monitoring in the Dashboard Project and creating the Wordlwide LHC Computing Grid Monitoring System on a new technological platform, the ProdSys2 Physical Modelling and Analysis Support System, and an information system for the distributed computing ATLAS Grid Information System.

Sergey Belov proposed an approach to creating scalable monitoring of the ATLAS experimental data transmission in a distributed computing environment. Software packages based on this approach are used in ATLAS, namely in CERN’s new MONIT Data Transmission Monitoring System. In addition, Sergey Belov developed tools for analysing statistics on access to data from the ATLAS Experiment. In these works, he first introduced methods and technologies of big data analytics.

In addition, as part of the dissertation, he created a software package for analysing the demand for data sets in the globally distributed repositories of the ATLAS Physics Experiment, which is currently being used to determine the effectiveness of data management strategies and optimise it.

“Sergey Belov’s dissertation is of great scientific, technological, and practical importance, as he participated in many pioneering works on developing large computer system monitoring, distributed data management of large-scale scientific projects, the creation of big data analytics platforms, and the JINR Digital Ecosystem,” Vladimir Korenkov emphasised in his commentary on the results of the defence.

Sergey Belov started working at MLIT in 2003 as a student at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). At that time, the Large Hadron Collider began actively implementing computing projects, including LCG (LHC Computing GRID) and EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE projects). A Russian grid segment (RDIG, Russian Data-Intensive Grid Consortium) was in development as well. “Sergey Belov was very engaged, and in a short time, together with another MIPT Master Igor Tkachev, they created a system for monitoring and accounting for the use of RDIG resources,” Vladimir Korenkov said.

Sergey Belov was the main contractor for the creation and modernisation of a grid monitoring system for the SKIF-GRID Scientific and Technical Program of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, a system for monitoring and accounting for resource use of the GridNNS Project (the creation of a grid infrastructure for the national nanotechnology network), coordinated works on the development of a data management system for the Russian Grid Network.

Summarising the methods of solving the high energy physics issues, designed for effective research in various fields of science using big data technologies, Sergey Belov developed an architecture and created a prototype of a digital platform for analysing complex socio-economic systems. On the basis of this prototype, applied research of the Russian labour market and the topics of publications in scientific journals were carried out.

More details on the MLIT website