FSML: Fusion Simulation Markup Language for interoperability of data and analysis tools

As the fusion community becomes more interconnected and problems become more complex, very close collaborative efforts are expected. This requires internetworking various codes, comparing solutions from multiple solvers, and sharing of data and data analysis tools. However, the data formats and data analysis tools used in fusion and plasma simulations are highly heterogeneous. Imposing one standard data format and one type of tools is unrealistic due to historical and practical reasons. In this paper, we propose to create the Fusion Simulation Markup Language or FSML - an XML based system for describing and accessing fusion and plasma physics simulation data of various formats used in the community. The system consists of syntactic and semantic metadata organized in specialized XML schemas and APIs written for accessing data from major data analysis and visualization tools. We present the preliminary results in formulation the FSML schema and APIs in AVS/Express modules, and demonstrate their application for two large three-dimension fusion simulation codes M3D and NIMROD. The results show that FSML schema and the set of tools developed provide a strong initial momentum and technology for the community effort to enhance data exchange and interoperability of analysis tools.