Development of 'Data-Free-Way' distributed database system for advanced nuclear materials

A distributed database system named 'Data-Free-Way (DFW)' is under development by a cooperation among three Japanese national research organizations to support the creation of advanced nuclear materials. The development of DFW started in 1990 as a five-year program with a support from Science and Technology Agency of Japan. Before starting the program, a preliminary survey of both domestic and foreign databases of nuclear materials had been made for two years. Then, subjects for the construction of DFW were extracted. To meet the subjects, the development and construction programs were established. The DFW is constructed on the computer network which connects engineering work-stations in the separate organizations. A relational database management system is used, a distributed material database is equipped on the hardware with specially designed common data structure. Data storage has been carried out continuously in each organization. The equipment of useful user-interface systems, such as retrieval, data entry and process supporting and image data handling systems, have also been constructed to make it friendly for users. The collection of nuclear material data from three research organizations and its mutual usage have become possible by the construction of DFW. (author)