Networks and IT Security
Sciences and Exploration Directorate - NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Additional Information About the HECN R+D Network

The GSFC High End Computer Network (HECN) R&D Network is a local, non-mission dedicated, R&D testbed network contributing to advanced network technology evaluations for the next generation high-end computer network at GSFC.

Additional information about the HECN R&D Network is available below.

Historical Evolution of the R&D Network Goals and Accomplishments

The late 1990's goals of the HECN R&D Network closely aligned with the national High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program's Next Generation Internet (NGI) goal 1 to conduct R&D in advanced end-to-end networking technologies and provide a 1,000-fold increase in end-to-end performance over 1997 capabilities to networking researchers. In pursuit of this goal the HECN R&D Network served as NASA's node on the Advanced Technology Demonstration Network (ATDnet), a high performance networking testbed in the Washington D.C. area, which interconnected optically with other DARPA-funded optical networks. This R&D included early deployment of optical networking technologies such as cross-connects and wave division multiplexing (WDM) add/drop multiplexers, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Packet over SONET (POS), and progressive scan High Definition TV (HDTV).Additional information is available: Part 1, Part 2

The mid-2000 goals of the HECN R&D Network involved evaluation of 10 Gigabit Ethernet and optical networks as described in the awarded GSFC FY04 IRAD proposal "Preparing Goddard for Large Scale Team Science in the 21st Century: Enabling an All Optical Goddard Network Cyberinfrastructure" submitted by Co-PIs Pat Gary (930) and Jeff Smith (423/585) with GSFC's Information Technology Pathfinder Working Group as Co-Is. The awarded effort established a "Lambda Network" (in this case using optical wavelength technology and 10Gbps Ethernet per wavelength) from GSFC's Earth science facility in Greenbelt, MD to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography through the University of California, San Diego over the National LambdaRail, a then new national dark optical fiber infrastructure. Additional information is available.

Recent Key Accomplishments Achieved from the R&D Effort

Current Goals and Plans