The Next Generation of Frames

FRAMES is a system that allows legacy disparate models and databases to communicate in a plug and play atmosphere.

Developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle, FRAMES 2.0 is a dynamic, reusable software interface structure that:

• establishes documented rule sets (which include as a criteria a minimum-set data transfer) to allow models to be added to the overall software structure.
• provides a common Application Programming Interface (data protocols) to enable data transfer between models.
• provides a way to perform sensitivity and uncertainty analysis on data from all kinds of deterministic models.
• contains a suite of tools for integrating, analyzing, and visualizing data.
• retains the model or database developer's choice of programming environment (languages, styles, tools) when inserting a software model into the FRAMES structure.

FRAMES has been used in applications for the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, American Chemistry Council, U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other federal and state agencies as well as private organizations.

One of FRAMES most popular applications is in the environmental arena, where its multiple "medium-specific" models (for example: air, water, and human impacts) as well as a database of chemical properties with associated environmental parameters have proven an effective way to solve risk analysis problems.