A Model-Driven, Science Data Product Registration Service

The Planetary Data System (PDS) has undertaken an effort to overhaul the PDS data architecture (including the data model, data structures, data dictionary, etc.) and to deploy an upgraded software system (including data services, distributed data catalog, etc.) that fully embraces the PDS federation as an integrated system while taking advantage of modern innovations in information technology (including networking capabilities, processing speeds, and software breakthroughs). A core component of this new system is the Registry Service that will provide functionality for tracking, auditing, locating, and maintaining artifacts within the system. These artifacts can range from data files and label files, schemas, dictionary definitions for objects and elements, documents, services, etc. This service offers a single reference implementation of the registry capabilities detailed in the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Registry Reference Model White Book. The CCSDS Reference Model in turn relies heavily on the Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language (ebXML) standards for registry services and the registry information model, managed by the OASIS consortium. Registries are pervasive components in most information systems. For example, data dictionaries, service registries, LDAP directory services, and even databases provide registry-like services. These all include an account of informational items that are used in large-scale information systems ranging from data values such as names and codes, to vocabularies, services and software components. The problem is that many of these registry-like services were designed with their own data models associated with the specific type of artifact they track. Additionally these services each have their own specific interface for interacting with the service. This Registry Service implements the data model specified in the ebXML Registry Information Model (RIM) specification that supports the various artifacts above as well as offering the flexibility to support customer-defined artifacts. Key features for the Registry Service include: - Model-based configuration specifying customer-defined artifact types, metadata attributes to capture for each artifact type, supported associations and classification schemes. - A REST-based external interface that is accessible via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). - Federation of Registry Service instances allowing associations between registered artifacts across registries as well as queries for artifacts across those same registries. A federation also enables features such as replication and synchronization if desired for a given deployment. In addition to its use as a core component of the PDS, the generic implementation of the Registry Service facilitates its applicability as a core component in any science data archive or science data system.